Pass by catastrophe is an academic urban legend proposing that if some particular catastrophic event occurs, students whose performance could have been affected by the event are automatically awarded passing grades, on the grounds that there would then be no way to assess them fairly and they should not be penalized for the catastrophe.
Video Pass by catastrophe
Examples of the legend
- If someone dies during an exam, all the other students present pass the semester.
- If, by accident, the university burns down, or is destroyed otherwise, all current students immediately graduate with a degree.
- A student who gets accidentally hit by a campus shuttle bus will receive free tuition.
The most common version of this story is that if a student's roommate commits suicide, the surviving student will be awarded straight A's for that semester. This version provides the premise for the films Dead Man on Campus and The Curve, as well as episodes of several television series.
In his book Curses! Broiled Again!, urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand investigated the claim that a student whose roommate commits suicide will receive straight As for that semester. He could not find any college or university which actually had such a rule. Sociologist William S. Fox described this legend and variants, such as the rule applying to any death of a roommate; he also concluded that the claim has no basis in fact. The website Snopes rates the story as false.
Maps Pass by catastrophe
In practice
Many schools and jurisdictions adopting any blanket rule as claimed by the legend, may make allowances or adjustments for individual students in cases of hardship. In the United Kingdom, the Joint Council for Qualifications allows candidates to apply for an adjustment of their score (up to 5%) if they have met all the qualifications for the exam but suffer "temporary illness, temporary injury or other indisposition at the time of the assessment". If an eligible candidate dies before completing the examination, an "honorary certificate" can be requested.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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