Column:
Other campus keeps students from barely making B's
Central Methodist provides students with a loophole.
Published Feb. 5, 2009
If you can't pass a class at MU, don't worry, there's still hope. The nice folks over at Central Methodist University might offer a dumbass edition of the course in which your final grade, which will likely be inflated anyway, won't even go on your MU transcript. All that will show is that you completed the course.
Those who have taken advantage of this loophole will readily gloat about how wise of a choice it was to save the money and the possible GPA meltdown, and those who have not taken advantage will be the first to tell you how stupid it is they allow that and how they wish they would have done it.
I fall somewhere in the second category. I sure wish I would have known about the grade boosting, stress reducing anomaly before I took college algebra and attended five hours of class and two hours of tutoring per week, studied relentlessly, failed tests like it was my job, only got three credits and somehow squeaked out a B.
And I definitely wish I would have known about it before I took a microeconomics class with Sharon Ryan, the infamously tight-grading professor. I could've just driven over to the Central Methodist office-classroom combo that's located in a shopping complex about seven minutes from the heart of campus, sat down in the "classroom," talked about how the market is taking, maybe written some things in a notebook about price equilibrium, gotten out of there with an A and transferred the credit.
But instead, I'm an idiot. I took the hard versions of the classes, right here at MU, paid a little more than double what they cost, actually gave a decent effort, and still received a mediocre mark.
There are, however, some people who would argue that what I did was the right thing. Don't get me wrong, if I could do it over again, I would definitely take the discount brainless versions of microeconomics, macroeconomics and college algebra. But my lack of knowledge of the cop-out program left me with no choice than to do the right thing.
Even as a student who would gladly accept any kind of unfair advantage (legally) possible, I struggle to find a single benefit this could possibly give students, the University, or anyone for that matter, except Central Methodist, who doesn't matter as far as Mizzou students should be concerned. A degree from Mizzou should mean you met the demands they set. Those demands should not allow ducking out of any challenging class and taking a joke version at the local college/office next to Schnucks so you can pad your GPA and not have to challenge your mind in the classroom.
You might think that is an exaggeration, but I can honestly say the only classes I have had so far in college that have required studying outside the classroom and caused confusion inside the classroom are economics and college algebra. For some majors, that is far from the case, but a lot of students with similar classes would agree. These classes define in some students' minds what challenges them at this school. The fact you can dodge them altogether doesn't make any sense.
This school isn't too easy by any means, and has many reputable programs that can challenge any student, but the fact that these kinds of gaps in the system exist can make our school seem a tad bit less prestigious, especially when they are so easy to fix.
However there are, needless to say, several instances in which students transfer in with credits from other legitimate institutions and receive the credit they deserve, or even instances in which students stuck to the courses offered right here at MU. They did the work, and rightfully earned the credit. These high-achievers all have one thing in common -- they didn't take any classes at a strip mall.
