Some NYU dental students suggest the school has made an unfair assessment.
According to NYUNews.com, NYU College of Dentistry has chosen to reject a pass/fail grading system for the remainder of the spring semester as of April 22.
Dean Charles N. Bertolami and academic department chairs suggested in a statement sent to dental and dental hygiene students that remote instruction does not stray from the college’s usual teaching methods. Many dental students now listen to lectures through the college’s podcast system, rather than attend in-person meetings, according to the statement.
“Under ordinary circumstances, all of our didactic courses are given both in-person and also remotely through a longstanding podcasting system,” the statement read. “The vast majority of our students opt for the podcast rather than attending lectures in person. Accordingly, the transition to Zoom and podcasting is not a significant change for students from our existing operation. The dental school has never previously allowed students the choice of taking a course on a pass/fail basis.”
The statement also says that absent attendance at clinicals and simulated laboratories has given students extra time to study and as a result, student performance on exams has increased.
Some NYU dental students, including DDS second year student David Hodges, disagree with the school’s decision and suggested it was made off of an unfair assessment.
Hodges says that “Pass/fail grading systems are common in dental and medical schools,” “Columbia University and many others have programs that only have pass/fail grading and their students go off to great residency programs.”
He also criticized the late timing of the decision, which came nearly a month after most undergraduate schools and NYU School of Law released statements regarding their updated gradings systems.
An anonymous second year DDS student suggests that the restrictions put in place on backward navigation of exams, intended to stop students from cheating, only hurt honest students.
“If I do not have backwards navigation on an exam, it basically means I cannot move on to the next question without getting the one I’m on right,” says the student. This only incentivizes students to read notes and get answers from each other in order to complete the exam, the student pointed out.
Hodges notes that dental school programs are thinking about clinical operations, accreditation for lab work, graduation requirements for fourth-year students. “These are not excuses for forgetting about us and how students operate day-to-day.”
Unlike those of other NYU schools, students at the College of Dentistry have yet to make a change.org petition.
