Does UT make the grade in its students' eyes?  Your school Student Government Association and faculty have all but condemned your GPAs to a new grading scale. It can join the elitist gang of institutions that are willing to give their students an A- but not an A+. 

When I spread my feelers to see how the student population at UT felt about the new grading scale, I was not surprised with the results. 

"Basically what I'm trying to say is that you'll (undergraduates) have to deal with a tougher grading scale next year," said Kevin Dalby, senior in journalism and electronic media.  The GPAs of graduating seniors are not in jeopardy, so they don't care. The new scale won't be implemented till fall of 2008.  Aside from the departing class, most students are grumbling over the detrimental effects it might have over the Hope Scholarship requirements and graduate school admittance.

In Monday's edition of The Daily Beacon, Opinion columnist Michael Lumley says life at UT is like a game that we all have to play along with to reach the end of the maze.  I agree with Lumley on this topic; life is a game and UT has decided to make the walls of the maze a tighter squeeze. The rules are becoming more rigid and some students find that an overtly academic competitiveness stifles their creativity and takes up too much of their time. 

My psychology teacher, Lee Dixon, a graduate student in psychology, said college is an experience.  If students are spending all their waking hours in the library studying, what type of experience is UT really providing for its students?  There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do; forget what I want to do.  UT is using students like lab rats, putting them in a spinning wheel and timing them to see how long they can run before collapsing. 

I think the main reason for the grade scale change is for UT not to be an outsider among the top universities of the nation, who apparently make the rules for the rest of the colleges in America to follow.  The ultimate question behind all the student concerns is if it will damage their academic standing. 

Todd Diacon, vice provost of academic affairs, said there won't be significant changes in students' GPAs, at least not as much as students fear. This doesn't change the principle of the matter. In Tuesday's edition of The Daily Beacon, an article by Sarah Bounse revealed a petty tactic used by Diacon to persuade the S.G.A. to approve the change in grading scales.  Diacon argued that S.G.A. members were mostly seniors and this change wouldn't impact them; therefore, they should support this proposal. 

I can't believe to what extent UT administration is willing to play the "game of life" or better phrased the "game of politics". At the end of the day, UT is a conformist school wanting to join the higher ranks and sees this change as a transition into a better position. In my eyes, to forsake your principles just to be socially accepted as superior is more of an inferior trait.