Arbitrary. Ambiguous. Contrived.

These are some of the words undergraduates from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences used to describe the system of graded class participation in NUS.

Class participation usually refers to contributions made by students during discussions in classes or on online forums.

Due to the fact that many modules offered by the FASS allocate at least 10 to 20 per cent of the final grade to “class participation,” it is often viewed as the key deciding factor between an ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade.

While its existence might push students to keep up to scratch with their module content, the more pressing issue is how this method of class participation is actually carried out in NUS.

Many are still in the dark as to how the grading system works or if any even exists.

Joel Tan, first-year arts and social sciences undergraduate, said, “I personally find the system very vague, like a stab in the dark, almost Calvinistic thing where you never know if you've said enough to get participation marks.”

Second-year political science major, Pirapong See, questioned if there was a standard protocol that formed the basis in grading. 

“It’s ambiguous. You can’t gauge it,” he said.

He also said how well a tutor remembers a student has an effect on the grades.

“It depends on the tutor. Even if you do talk a lot, if he doesn’t remember, there’s no point,” he added.

According to Brian Farrell, deputy head associate professor from the Department of History, class participation is based on more than just how often a student speaks up in class or online forums.

“It has to be a combination not only of how often you participate but in the manner in which you participate, the manner in which you engage,” Farrell explained.

Still, the fact that class participation is graded leads to cases of in-class “waffling,” where students speak up or post on the online forum for the sake of doing so in a bid to fulfil their class participation requirement. 

Second-year literature major, Pamela Ng said, “As with all other things that are going to be graded, it sometimes becomes a bit contrived. I feel pressured to talk in class regardless of whether I feel I have a well-formed question or not.”

Priding quality over quantity is viewed as the way to go because graded class participation might stifle an otherwise fluid and relaxed discussion session.

Tan said, “I think that attaching marks to class participation makes the whole thing unnecessarily on-edge when a more casual setting might still achieve great discussion without the arbitrary grading system.”

One consequence of this system of grading participation by students in class is that it tends to penalise those who are more reserved and hesitant about speaking up. 

“I think that the system disadvantages really shy people who don't speak up regardless of the marks, but who do contribute in small group discussions that don't necessarily get noticed by the tutor,” Tan said.

And not all universities have this practice of grading students by the things they say in class or write in forums.

In top universities, such as the London School of Economics and Social Sciences and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, graded class participation is not a feature.

In LSE, while tutors take into consideration class participation when writing references, an official grading system does not exist.

According to LSE sophomore Shibani Mahtani, this lack of a grading system “makes participation in class meaningful” and discourages “arbitrary comments for the sake of graded class participation.”

In NUS, some professors do remind their classes of the need for “substance” in class participation instead of “empty talk.”

Notably, a class in military history has issued a warning to students wanting to contribute to the discussion to save comments without historical basis “for the kopitiam.”

“Kopitiam” refers to the local coffee shop, where people are known to gather to eat and socialise by having casual conversations and discussions.

However, issuing a warning to students or enforcing a rule that requires students to maintain quality postings seem to be the exception rather than the norm.

Second-year political science major, Yusri Supiyan said distinguishing between “substance” and “empty talk” is what makes graded class participation “hard to judge.”

What counts as relevant participation is up to the discretion of the tutor.

Farrell, who teaches the class on military history,said the difficulty arises from trying too hard to quantify class participation.

He said, “It will vary not only from subject to subject but also from teacher to teacher. Participation is an art, not a science. So there really is a limit as to just what absolute concrete clarity anybody can be given regarding how they must participate.”

Nevertheless, he said, “Professors can and should try to be as clear as they can about what they expect in terms of participation, how often and what sort of participation.”

Some students The Observer spoke to were cautious about condemning the present system, and admitted that they could not think of “a better way to replace it, except maybe standardise it across tutors.”

Ng said, “It is ambiguous, but I think there’s no unambiguous way to do it. So, I'm still willing to accept that aspect of grading as a valid part of the whole evaluative system for a module.”

Other students maintained confidence in the professors’ abilities to distinguish between valid class participation and “waffling.”

“You can actually take note of those who “smoke” their way through, and those who actually understand, so I’m sure the professors can also see through it,” says second-year history major Fairus Jasmin.

Even though one can have doubts about the method of grading class participation, Farrell cautioned against being too critical of the system.

He said establishing a standard framework is problematic as it can hinder academic freedom.

“We really do, at this level, have to give teachers the freedom to explore how best to teach the subjects on which they are supposed to be authorities and we have to give students the freedom to sample a variety of different ways that you approach teaching and learning,” he said.  

Until a less arbitrary alternative comes along, graded class participation looks set to stay – where it will no doubt continue to befuddle undergraduates.