Early on, Staples said that grade averages have went from C’s to basically B+’s within the last ten years. He even look at an article that was published by two professors saying that students basically threatened them to change increase their grades otherwise, they will go and report them. He even goes on to say “the University of Phoenix offers such a superficial curriculum that they compare it to a drive through restaurant” (936). Due to this, many schools have been closed down since they can’t compete. Back then students took what they got and moved on.
The essay of Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s by Brent Staples clearly mimics a problem solution essay that is very heavily focused on the problem. Staples takes a very assertive standpoint in insisting that over inflation of grades due to particular pressure on adjunct professors are devaluing degrees from collegiate institutions. Staples is convincing in this assertion as he uses generalized facts, “In some cases, campus wide averages have crept up from a C just 10 years ago, to a B-plus today.” This alarming quotation is used as evidence that supports Staples’ claim of a major problem facing collegiate institutions nationwide. The solution that Staples proposes, is a new grade point average formula.
In Brent Staples “Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s”, he claims that professors in colleges in the 1990’s are changing their grading on students assignments so much where that they are just passing out good grades when students don’t even deserve them. Colleges have started to change the whole grading system over the years just to make it look like the students are doing better. For example, “In some cases, campuswide averages have crept up from a C just 10 years ago to B-plus today” (Staples 1). There are many reasons as to why they day this.
The well-known phrase of hard work pays off is a staple of any culture to enforce the ideology that you deserve what you earn. In Brent Staples’, Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A's, he informs the reader of the current situations in colleges and universities involving grade inflation. Grade inflation is devaluing many degrees across the country as an “easy way out” to succeed on both the students and professors ends. Staples makes it known that the higher education, many go back to school for, is being discredited due to the professors in the field. Thus, leaving students at a disadvantage to accept a higher grade, when it is known that they have not fairly earned it.
Brent Staples wrote a beautiful, yet unconvincing article about colleges giving away “free” A’s to students. The article, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” appeared in 1988 in the New York Times paper (Staples 935). Staples himself has earned a PhD in psychology and is a member of the New York Times editorial board (935). The general purpose of this article was to inform the audience that over the past couple of years, university grading policies have become extremely lenient (935). The audience is a very limited to educational administrations and alumni of major universities.
Paragraphs 25 and 26 illustrate grade inflation at highly respected universities and what strategies are utilized to combat it. Without statistics and hard facts, Shepard’s argument would have been viewed as isolated issues instead of an epidemic. These hard facts provided a foundation for every claim made, and solidified the logicality of the professors’ statements. Her argument became reasonable because of the statistics provided, and proved grade inflation is a nation-wide problem in need of
The awareness that Scott Stump shares in his article, “New Harvard Report Proposes Major Changes to College Admissions,” is aimed at reducing the pressure that comes with applying for colleges. In his article, Scott explains a report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education that suggests changes to the college admission process. These changes are meant to reduce high school students’ stress, as well as level the playing field for underprivileged students. Some of the propositions to lessen the burden on high school students include; making the ACT and SAT tests optional, taking a better look at the responsibilities of low income students, and having the students include community service that shows consistent benefits to the community;
I read two articles about going to college and having student loans. One article I read was called, “The Cost of College: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” by Mike Patton. Patton’s article talked about how the cost of college is increasing. The other article is called, “A Game to Help Students Pay the Right Price for College” by Ron Lieber. This article claims that the game payback helps students know how much they will be paying for college.
Many times an article can be looked over, and not taken very seriously when it seems as if the author has no proof or evidence. With this being said Phil Primack wrote the article “Doesn’t Anybody Get a C Anymore?” Where he from the beginning established that there was a problem when he explained how a student said a B was a “low grade.” Primack used a lot of quotes from other people and professors that validate his main claim, and the points he is making. A similar article is Stuart Rojstaczer article “Grade Inflation Gone Wild” where he clearly states the problem of grade inflation.
In “Grade Inflation: It’s Time to Face the Facts” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 6, 2001, Harvey Mansfield, a political philosophy professor at Harvard, describes and informs his reader of the recent increase of grade inflation. Mansfield states how this inflation has not only raised his grades higher and higher but also the grades of students in many colleges in the country. He uses the word, “contempt” to describe how being pressured into changing his grading scale feels and that he has been forced to conform with what has become the norm for many professors in America. Mansfield appeals not only to professors who are cheating themselves out of active students and submitting to the new grading scale, but also to students who are being tricked into thinking this scale is better for them and makes success easier, but who are paying more money for an education that will not last and won’t help them in their future lives. Mansfield is trying to “get attention” to the way
Brent Staple’s essay "Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A's" had various elements that helped provided evidence and persuade the readers. The first thing I noticed when reading this essay was the comparison between the marketplace and college. This comparison helps to develop Staple’s argument because it explains something that is unfamiliar by comparing it to something that is more familiar. I can assume that the target readers were business men and women. Since I am unfamiliar with some business terms, I found that this essay explained something that was unfamiliar with something else that was unfamiliar.
Annie Lowrey’s article published in the Slate targets the Department of Education and the American government. Published in 2011, Lowrey and a couple of others quoted in this article are very effective in populating positive votes for development of a College Scorecard.1 But the actual requirement of a College Scorecard has not been discussed efficiently. How do we reason the necessity of anything? By questioning its efficacy and productivity, substantiating the need by documenting physical or virtual need expressed by the provider as well as consumer. These are the methods primarily.
Imagine blowing up a balloon, with every exhale of breath the balloon gets bigger. Similar to a balloon, with every year that passes grades inflate. In “Grade Inflation Gone Wild” by Stuart Rojstaczer, he discusses how the grading system has changed over the years. Rojstaczer’s overall purpose is to increase awareness of grade inflation and persuade his audience to take action. He argues that “changes in grading have had a profound influence on college life and learning” (2).
Grade inflation has been rising in education in the United States. Stuart Rojstaczer and Phil Primack both have arguments about grade inflation. They both see how it is affecting the quality of education. Today, the expectations and pressures to receive the higher grades takes its toll on the students and the professors. Rojstaczer and Primack make their points about the widespread occurrence of grade inflation affects the credibility of earning a degree.
GPA’s a better representation on a student’s performance in school. A student’s high school grade point average is the reflection of a student’s academic performance through their four years (Sheffer, 2014). When colleges look at someone’s ACT or SAT score they only see how well the student is in a limited time frame. Many colleges and Universities do take GPA into consideration, but ACT and SAT scores seem to be more important. Colleges and Universities should focus more on a student’s grade point average for a better representation of the student’s
