Imagine a world where a graduating high school senior with a 4.0+ not only isn’t the class valedictorian… but not even in the top 25% of their class! Is this happening in some distant, parallel universe? Nope, it’s probably happening in your hometown.
This trend towards better grades for less work seems to be seeping into the collegiate environment as well. Professors who teach their students less receive the most positive feedback, while professors with higher academic rank and educational experience tend to receive lower marks.
While more than 45 percent of recent high school graduates boasted an “A” average, a study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA shows that entering college freshmen are studying less and less every year.
Studies have shown that the grade inflation epidemic is even hitting elite American universities. Between 1986 and 2001, the percentage of “A’s” given to Harvard undergraduates increased from 23% to 49%. Harvey Mansfield, professor of government at Harvard, says, “Grade inflation compresses all grades at the top, making it difficult to discriminate the best from the very good… and the good from the mediocre.”
Some academics and institutions set out to fight the practice of grade inflation. For many years now, Mansfield has issued his students two sets of grades: one for the official Harvard transcript, and another representing what he believes the student really deserves on a non-inflated grading scale.
Princeton University’s faculty senate has issued a set of guidelines as to the expected number of “A’s” for undergraduate courses. Thanks in part to an extensive publicity program explaining the new “grade deflation” policy, the number of students securing jobs, and being offered admission into prestigious graduate programs, both rose in the years immediately following implementation of the policies.
The question remains: Will other high schools and post-secondary education institutions follow suit and move away from sky high GPA’s being the norm? Only time will tell.
I am pleased to read that some universities and institutions are actively fighting grade inflation. As a middle school teacher who assigns grade based on effort and merit (among other criteria), I am NOT popular among my peers. I refuse to “gift” students for grades they have not earned … Am I truly becoming a “dinosaur” in the education arena?! Hope not.
I haven’t noticed that trend at ASU. While my children were all As in high school, they struggled at ASU. Then maybe it was because the majority of their teachers were originally from other countries and they had difficulty understanding their speech. The accent being so thick that they at times withdrew due to not being able to even get through the lectures with confidence.
So we have left that institution and are trying others. Too bad ASU, I presently have three college going children and you have none of them!
“Grade inflation epidemic”–what a great term! Unfortunately, it is an all too true occurrence. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this is a natural outcome of the “teaching to the test” mentality that has engulfed public academia over the last decade or so. Grades are such an archaic method of ranking human intelligence. I believe we should teach students blocks of material. Students progress when they have a working command of that material and not before–irregardless of age. Each one progresses at his or her own pace. Everyone is not meant to be at the same intellectual level; diversity is paramount to a successful society. Some students will progress and others will follow a different path, as their personal academic ceiling is reached.