As a senior, I’ve really been through it with Bucknell courses. By now, I should feel like a pro, right? Lately, I’ve been struggling. With the stress of senior year, job applications and post-grad deadlines, I’ve been running on coffee and a dream. Normally, I’m the type of person who participates a lot in class. I’m extroverted, I usually come prepared and I don’t find it difficult to speak up.
Recently though, even raising my hand feels exhausting. This has made me realize something: class participation is not a small deal at Bucknell. In many of my classes, it counts for 15 to 20 percent of the grade. At first glance, that sounds reasonable. After all, our classes are small compared to big state schools. Professors know your name, attendance is tracked and it is easy to tell who is engaged.
In some ways, this can create a tight-knit learning environment where people feel encouraged to share their ideas. But here is where I start to wonder if it is pushed too heavily. For students who are introverted, shy or simply less comfortable speaking in front of others, participation can be a huge source of stress. Even for extroverts like me, senior year has shown me that constantly performing in class can wear you down. Participation is important, but when it becomes such a large percentage of the grade, it starts to feel less like encouragement and more like pressure.
Max Quan ’27 put it well: “I think it should be kept at around 15%. It should be used to judge engagement to tip the scales in a grade. However, the importance of the class is what you learn and get out of it, not how much you contribute in discussions.” His point gets at the heart of it. Participation should matter, but it should not overshadow the actual learning. It should be a way to reward engagement, not a way to penalize students who learn differently.
To be fair, participation grading does have its upsides. It encourages students to come prepared, to engage with the readings and to learn how to articulate their thoughts. These are valuable skills, especially in small, discussion-based classes. It also makes class more dynamic when different voices are heard. But at the same time, there are so many ways to learn and contribute that do not involve speaking up every class period. Writing strong papers, engaging one-on-one with professors or even listening actively during discussion are all forms of participation that often go unrecognized. Some professors already count things like coming to office hours or asking questions after class as participation, which feels more inclusive. Maybe that needs to be expanded. We should have more ways to demonstrate engagement and learning beyond who raises their hand the most.
At the end of the day, participation grading should exist, but it needs to be more flexible. Not everyone learns or expresses themselves the same way. If professors broadened how they define participation, it could take pressure off introverts, students running on fumes and anyone else who contributes best in other ways. That would make participation a fairer reflection of engagement, and a better part of learning at Bucknell.
