Best law school grading system for working students

Many law students work and study at the same time. It's not easy but this has never been proved as an absolute hindrance to finishing law school and passing the bar.

For this reason, law professors have been very liberal in favor of working students, especially in recitations, but strict against full-time students, also called "professional students." This is under the presumption that working students have less time to study and professional students have all day to do their homework.

This liberality also applies to attendance. In most law schools and for most law professors, attendance is one of the components of the grading system. However, as all law students and lawyers know, although some professors go the extra mile and discuss certain topics, law school is mostly about recitations. The professor asks questions and the students have to answer them corrects. That's all.

And so, other professors have thought of a way to make sure that working students, who often skip classes due to heavy workload or work-related stress, especially those who already have children, can catch up.

For example, a professor may opt to rate students from 1 to 5 during their recitation. "5" means the students was able to answer the question correctly and confidently while "1" means she needs a lot of improvement. "0" means she was absent.

If, for example, a students gets an average of 3.5 on her class card, this will be added to her final score which is the average between her midterm and final examinations.
Assuming EXAMPLE STUDENT got 0, 0, 0, 1, 3, 3, 5, 0, 2, 1, 2 and 3, she will get an average of 1.67 for her attendance and classroom performance. This will be added to her average exam score, resulting in her final grade. So, even if she skips all classes the whole semester, she still has a good chance of passing the course if she nails her midterm and final exams.

In the case of EXAMPLE STUDENT, if she gets 72.5 on her midterm exam and 74.7 on her final exam, her average class card score of 1.67 will be added to her average exam score of 73.6. This will result in her passing the course at 75.27.

Although school attendance and nerve-wracking recitations are a part of law school life, this can provide more chances not only to those who are busy but also to those who are not in the best financial position to travel to and from school every day. This way, students can simply hit the books every day, attend classes whenever their schedule or means permit them, take major examinations, do their best and pass the course.

Of course, certain matters have to be considered before this can be implemented such as law school culture and university rules.

What do you think? Should this be implemented in all law schools in the Philippines or is it a bad idea? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.