It’s
impossible not to notice rampant grade inflation across university campuses and
the inflated expectations that inevitable follow. The new question is: does
grade inflation help students or hurt students?
According
to Inside Higher Ed, professors and Universities that have lenient grading
policy give students an advantage in applying to graduate school.
“New research in the journal PLOS
ONE has
found that admissions officers appear to favor applicants with better grades at
institutions where everyone is earning high grades over applicants with lower
grades at institutions with more rigorous grading. The research is based on an
experiment involving 23 admissions officers and on long-term, real data on
applicants to four competitive M.B.A. programs.”
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/30/study-suggests-admissions-decisions-reward-grade-inflation#ixzz2ajlbE5qr
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/30/study-suggests-admissions-decisions-reward-grade-inflation#ixzz2ajlbE5qr
I don’t
really care about grades. I would be
happy to give out 100 A’s every semester.
But I do care about quality work.
The problem is that too often students who expect an A tend to pass in
subpar work, while the students with low expectations wrestle with assignments and
grow by leaps and bounds.
While higher grades may increase a
student’s chances at being accepted to graduate school, I worry that grade inflation
teaches students that they can do mediocre work and receive an exceptional
grade.
If that’s the case, then students entering
a competitive graduate school or the workforce are in for a rude
awakening.
What do you think? Comment below, does grade inflation help or hurt college students?
I think the "consumer" mentality that permeates higher education has something to do with it. Many do not want to deal with the backlash of student complaints, whether those complaints are made directly to the instructor, chair of a dept., and/or a dean. Another contributing factor is that many do not want to be bothered with the time it takes to provide thoughtful, constructive criticism. I agree that many students will be in for a rude awakening.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I've definitely recognized a consumer mentality underlying students perception of there role in the classroom. When did that mentality take hold? I don't remember feeling that way when I was an undergrad.
ReplyDeleteOne of the secrets that I learned early on about managing complaints is that if I take the time to provide thoughtful criticism, then students are much less likely to complain.
I've had to deal with it, too, of course, and I refuse to play the game. I tell my students that the grade they get is the grade they earn, which is what I was told when I was in school. I have a student right now who is taking my course for the second time because she made a D last semester. She told me that she didn't feel the D was fair because she had put a lot of effort into the course. I told her that the effort is expected, the result of the effort is what is graded. She couldn't really argue with that. Students pay for the opportunity to learn from an expert and for that expert to judge their performance in class, they aren't paying for a grade.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I often struggle the most grading students who I see putting in the effort but still falling short.
ReplyDeleteI'm a high school teacher, and I always thought that grade inflation at my level hurt students as they went on to post-secondary education. If every high school graduate has a GPA above 3.5, then it "floods the market," making it more difficult to get in to their college of choice. Would the same apply to college graduates as they get ready for graduate school or the workforce?
ReplyDeleteI think one thing we should consider is the cause of the trend of inflating grades. Again, speaking as a high school teacher, the overwhelming majority of the pressure comes from parents who want their kids to get in to the best colleges. What is the cause at the post-secondary level?
Last question, do we need to stop inflating grades, and if so, how do we go about that process? Surely it must start with us at the secondary level.
It definitely hurts. My evidence is nearly all anecdotal (without even a little statistical analysis), but students whose grades have been inflated in college tend to think simply doing an assignment means they deserve an A on it. Some learn quickly that *un*learning is as much a part of college as learning, and that the standards necessarily need to be higher.
ReplyDeleteLike M. Tanter (Marcy?) above, I let the students know that their letter grade is simply what they earn based on following or not following the assignment's parameters. I tell them on the first day that I'm a tough grader who sometimes uses 'tough love' to prepare them for the rigors of college. (I primarily teach required, labor-intensive First-Year Writing courses to freshmen.) I know this has led students to refer to me as "mean" and "condescending," but I'd rather get them to start elevating their personal standards and work ethics early in college.
As a college-level professor, I know I'm somewhat spoiled by 1) never having to deal with parental pressure and 2) not being continuously evaluated by a school board. I'm not putting the inflation problem squarely on high school teachers' shoulders.
A related topic is something I'd like to explore more fully in some kind of collaborative project: When and where did a lot of students start thinking that grades are negotiable? I've heard more than directly experienced this, but a lot of students tend to challenge professors on grades they feel they don't deserve, and/or request exceptions to get higher grades.
I often play good cop bad cop in class. I start by setting high standards and then allow students to revise work for extra-credit. This helps off-set resentment and increase the opportunities to grow and improve through the semester. But it's a tough balance and it increases my workload.
ReplyDeleteGrade inflation is also a systemic issue for both secondary and post-secondary education (Thanks Jason for your insight into grade inflation in high school). Which puts profs in a tough spot if they want to push back.