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If the student parking lot were filled with Ferraris, would people still consider them valuable? Unfortunately, whenever something occurs too frequently people begin to consider it the norm, even if it is anything but.
This is the exact problem with grade inflation. Whenever high grades are given out too frequently, the value of a good grade drops, making a grade that used to be exemplary seem simply average. In order to keep the average grade from continuously ballooning, schools must implement a program to combat grade inflation.
In 2004, Princeton University became the first school in the Ivy League to combat grade inflation. According to an April 26, 2004 USA Today article, Princeton awarded A’s 46 percent of the time in recent years, up from 31 percent in the mid-1970s. As a solution, Princeton created a program that limited the number of A’s to only 35 percent of an undergraduate class, returning the number of A’s presently given to the level of the early 1990s.
According to a Jan. 29 New York Times article, Princeton students were outraged that their school is attempting to curb grade inflation. As a side result, Princeton students ended up receiving lower GPAs than students from other schools, which they claim will make them less competitive when applying to graduate schools and jobs. However, this is a specious argument as it is inevitable that different teachers at different schools with different populations will grade differently.
Furthermore, according to the same article, the University has been sending out “Question and Answer” booklets as well as letters explaining the policy to graduate schools and students’ prospective employers. Hence, students do not have to worry that by possibly getting a lower GPA they will become uncompetitive.
Grade inflation is also an issue that negatively affects the value of a good grade. According to a Jan. 28, 2003 Washington Post article, the average GPA has been continuously rising by about 0.15 points every decade. According to Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired professor who now runs gradeinflation.com, the average GPA awarded at UC-Berkeley in 1960 was a 2.51, while in 2006, it was 3.27. This means that a 3.0, or B average was once an above-average grade, but due to grade inflation, it has become mediocre. How long will it be until the average GPA is a 4.0? To reassign value to once-impressive grades, we must return to the days when schools recognized that not everyone could be a perfect student, and the only way to do this is to stop grade inflation.
Grade inflation also misrepresents high school students’ strengths and weaknesses. This trend inherently will give a lower value to high grades, and consequently will prevent grades from being a true representation of a student’s ability. According to the Arkansas News Bureau, “A report released in 2000 by the college testing service ACT Inc. showed that more than one-fourth of students who graduated from Arkansas high schools with above-average GPAs required remedial classes upon entering Arkansas colleges.” At these schools and many others, offers of academic assistance are triggered by lower grades. Due to grade inflation, students who are struggling do not receive the help they need. Reversing grade inflation will not only help the truly exceptional students receive the grades they deserve, but it will ensure that students who need additional help are not masked behind undeserved positive grades.
As modeled by Princeton University, limiting the number of A’s given out will allow good grades to retain their true value, thus stabilizing the grading system. However, putting a limit on the number of good grades is not the only option. Schools used to operate on the bell curve theory, where there was the same number of A’s as F’s and the same amount of B’s as D’s. Under that theory, the majority of a school should receive C’s. That theory has slowly faded away, but schools should consider implementing a system like it because it succeeded at retaining the value of good grades and also produced a fair distribution of grades within a class.
The ideal solution to this ongoing problem would be simply to monitor the average grades in a class. If more than 50 percent of students in one department are receiving an A, then the way the students are graded should change. For example, if the majority of a class always turns in their homework, then the points students receive for turning it in should be lowered. There should be more rigorous assignments, like essays or tests in which a class tends to earn a range of grades. A teacher should be able to set their own standards, and decide the difference between an excellent student and an average one.
If everyone drives a Ferrari to school, then the value of the car drops. If everyone gets an A, then the value of a good grade is not nearly as high as it once was and now should be. If everyone already has the best grade, then there is no point in working towards becoming better. A problem like grade inflation is not going to go away unless schools take a stand. We must combat grade inflation.
Illustration by Monica Zhang |
