The 50% policy allows students to not turn in assignments but instead of receiving a zero, they receive a 50% in the grade book. I believe this new policy has its pros and cons.

One con of the new policy is that a student will receive a grade on an assignment they did not earn. If a student willingly chose not to turn in an assignment the obvious grade would be a zero, but if a student sees a 50% instead that may not motivate them to turn it in at all.

Even though a 50% is still an F, this still gives the student some points they did not earn. It could be different if the student tried to do the assignment and the score they earned was a 50%, but when a student did not try at all the receiving grade should be an automatic zero.

One of the pros with the new policy is it can give struggling students a chance to bring grades up when needed. A zero in the grade book can bring a student’s grade down tremendously and be difficult to bring back up. This can make a struggling student feel like there is no hope because even though they are trying everything in their power to get the grade up, the past zeros can continuously bring them down.

With the 50% policy, the past missing assignments wouldn’t put the struggling student in a position where they cannot work up to an acceptable grade. This could motivate them enough to keep trying and not settle for the failing grade. Overall this policy may seem inappropriate to some, but this may be a struggling student’s savior.