At Harvard, No More Final Exams?

When I once asked my Uncle Joe to name a couple of staples of his college academic experience he began with two of his most dreaded aspects: instruction delivered entirely in lecture format and the three hour final exam, especially those featuring a blank blue book.

Uncle Joe could not believe his ears when I told him that at MIT the lecture format was being tossed by the wayside though he acknowledged that development was basically positive. But his incredulity will no doubt top new heights when he learns that one of the premier educational institutions in America is rapidly phasing out that traditional final exam.

In the July-August issue of John Harvard’s Journal, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) of that venerable institution “adopted a bland-sounding motion” that revoked a longstanding tradition at the school:

“henceforth, ‘unless an instructor officially informs the Registrar by the end of the first week of the term’ of the intention to end a course with a formal, seated exam, ‘the assumption shall be that the instructor will not be giving a three-hour final examination’ and no slot will be reserved for it in the schedule.”

Once upon a time, the faculty members’ handbook dictated that courses were to end with examinations “unless instructors petitioned for an exemption.” But alas, the magazine reports that no professors had ever petitioned current dean of undergraduate education Jay M. Harris to forgo administering an exam.

But it seems that for those elders whose college experiences were defined by those hated blue books that the new policy actually reflects current practice at the school. Last spring, of 1,137 undergraduate-level courses scheduled at the school, just 259 finished with a final exam.

Though petitioning was not part of the current landscape, Harvard Magazine reported that until the 1940s, “requests to conclude a course without a final examination required a formal vote by the entire FAS.”

The move “to examine less and less and less and less” of course did not sit well with all professors, even some who voted for the language change to ensure the bureaucracy was up to date. Many wondered aloud whether those courses without exams would suffer diminished attendance late in a semester while others pointed out that the holdouts, those still delivering exams, were feeling pressured by the rancor of students seldom having to sit for exams anymore.

As for other reasons to eliminate the finals, some professors questioned their value as assessment tools while others frowned on the practice of having to proctor them.

The move, perhaps seen as a positive one by students, has immediately drawn criticism from the likes of Education Next:

From Education Next:

Harvard Wimps Out on Testing

Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to take — or grade — final exams? But wouldn’t it be nicer to know what students are learning?

We are left wondering: Without exams to prove it, how can students be sure that they are ‘generally educated’ when they graduate? How can the institution itself be sure? Or doesn’t it care?

Those criticisms will no doubt pale next to what Uncle Joe has to say when he hears that Harvard is about to eliminate what has always been one of the most stressful weeks in any student’s academic life. To be honest, I am not sure I will be able to put his thoughts on this site, not his exact words mind you.

Because no doubt it will begin with left-wing, liberal …….

What say you? Is it time for all schools to move in the same direction? Will you pressure your school’s faculty to follow Harvard’s lead?

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