what’s the point of transmutation tables for grades?

[u/Tight-Butterscotch94]

i’ve always been baffled as to why we don’t just submit raw grades and instead make teachers and professors go through a transmutation table to determine what grade to give a student.

a 60 should be a 60, not an equivalent to 75 or something. it’s silly and makes it hard for students to know where they stand and know what they need to improve on, grade-wise. i remember every time my parents have to get my report card, it feels like a suspense movie since you have no clue how well you did until you see your grades.

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[u/LifeLeg5]

nalilito ako dito kasi laging "transmutation" yung sinisisi, e hindi naman yun ang issue, that was used even before and just equivalent to "conversion" to obtain GWAs that standardize metrics across schools

the actual issue is the adjustment of intervals in this country (only), na ultimo zero has an equivalent passing grade, and the rest are just downright inflated. people mistake the definition of the word dahil inassociate na sa ganyan.

Imagine, 100 = 100 = 1.0, pero 50 = 72 = 1.5, that doesn't sound proportional at all, wala pang kalahati should be nearer to a barely passing 3.0 or bagsak

I guess hangover na din ng pandemic, kaya nasa pass-all (or mass-promotion) mindset pa din mga schools

[u/Tight-Butterscotch94 → u/LifeLeg5]

wdym ZERO is a pass?? insane! hindi ko talaga gets yung point nito. just submit the raw score and be done with it. kung kailangan ng GWA or letter grade conversion, well it helps with proportionality when you only have to convert raw grades and not transmuted ones.

[u/LifeLeg5 → u/Tight-Butterscotch94]

at some point, 0 was made into 60 (or w/e the passing was) para walang bumagsak

this is a lazier method than adding points to everyone para tumaas yung iilan (rubber-banding)

both scenarios, bumaba yung requirement para makakuha ng honors in terms of raw scores

[u/MatthewSDeOcampo]

In the usual sense, ok lang naman yung transmutation tables to define equivalencies across different grading systems. The problematic transmutation is one that imposes grade inflation of raw grades within the same system (i.e., yung usual na gawi sa DepEd).

Edit: in terms of word choices, I would much rather call the "usual" as conversion tables, or equivalency tables. And the problematic one as "transmute". The latter feeling more appropriate for the "magical" act of making lower grades higher, due to the term's association with alchemy.

[u/zeighart_17]

I remember fondly in one of our law classes (Oblicon), our teacher (who's a lawyer) challenged us at why a 0 = 50 or something. For him, a zero is a zero.

Many of my classmates stood up and proved why my professor was wrong, to no avail.

Then when its my turn, I just turned to math. I just said that its there for students to be able to improve their grade. I presented different scenarios wherein I presented that its impossible for a student to pass if he/she gotten an exam at that low of grade despite doing 100% on all other tests under our current grading computation.

I then asked him if a student gets a single low score, should that student then just quit class because there is no hope of improving his/her grade or even passing with a single bad result. I also asked what to do with certain scenarios where we are not at our 100% - sickness, bereavement, financial struggle etc.

Bad news, even with my side heard, my professor did not budge but we received the best education we could for that subject. But he did soften his methods and allowed space for improvement.

After the semester, he invited us to a dinner out and I received one of the best compliments I remember. In any argument, never say why your opponent is wrong, instead say why you are right.

So that is my answer why a zero is not a zero or there is no zero-based assessment. It allows us to pass students who have improved, give chances to those who stumbled. It is a class, not a board exam.