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Anaysis on the dangerous myth of grade inflation
Anaysis on the dangerous myth of grade inflation
Anaysis on the dangerous myth of grade inflation
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Individual professors inflate grades after consumer conscious administrators hound them into it” (Staples 1). Another reason they do this is because many students will threaten that they will give bad reviews on the school if they aren’t given the grades they want: “Writing in the last issue of the journal Academe, two part-timers suggest that students routinely corner adjuncts, threatening to complain if they do not turn C’s into A’s” (Staples 1). Students are taking college so seriously whether it's about money or their grades, it’s getting out of hand. Some students are even suing to get good grades.
One of the biggest concerning the need for an increase in rigor in instruction in American schools. She discusses that in Poland students must stay in academic classes for an extra year and teachers are paid bonuses to engage in professional development work. She also notes that in Finland they “rebooted their teacher-training colleges, forcing them to become much more selective and rigorous.” In an article written by Sarah Tantillio on Only Good Books, she recognizes the validity of these statements, but comments that in America “the Common Core States Standards, which most states have adopted, they are definitely rigorous, But how they are implemented (and assessed) from state to state and school to school is still a Very Big Question.” Further in her article she points out the large population differences between Finland, Poland, and the United States, and how this affects our education system.
In school students do not care about writing as much as they used to. If they would work harder in school, their grades would be higher and more colleges would want them. In Esther Cepeda 's research, she managed to prove that students test scores are going down. That is because they do not work as hard as they used to.
Higher education is available for most, but many questions are raised by todays woels to whether students are receiving a higher education, and if test scores are becoming more important. From her position as a college professor in the higher education industry, Kay states that lots of students are going to college to get quality education, and are there to learn certain skills for the job they are interested in, and are studying for (39). On the contrary, Lasch believes “that the desire for more relevant courses often down comes down to a desire for ‘intellectual understanding’ courses, so that relevance functions as a smokescreen concealing the reluctance to work hard” (38). One might wonder who is right in this situation; is Lash telling how it is or is Kay?
Levine claims that schools are starting to expand the quality of the student body by the rate of the students standardized test (22). Colleges are not looking to get students who do not apply themselves, but also, colleges are making it harder for the poor students that are trying to better their education. Along the same lines, Graff reminds us of the competition of comparing test scores in school (249). Graff explains, in school scores are made up by one’s reading ability, instead of, like in sports, the actual competition itself or arguing (249). Overall schools are using test scores as a way to compete with education instead of looking out for the best interests of the
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.
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).
The author, Kevin Steves claims in his article “Grades and degrees” that we should stop the sham of objective grading and return to the apprenticeship model of education and degree award, he also offers various reasons in support of this position. In my paper I shall summarize and evaluate the argument. Kevin emphasizes in the first paragraph of his article that our present system of awarding degrees at college and university level relies mainly on grades and he believes this explains why the current system is not efficient and uniformly impossible to assess a student’s ability to succeed in his or her future chosen field. He mentions various reasons/evidence to support his claim; he talks about the main question teachers should ask themselves
The Grading System: Completely Necessary Grades are an important part of the school system. Grades set the extraordinary students apart from the ordinary ones. In Jerry Farber’s essay, “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” he argues that grades are the only motivation students have in school. Farber even calls it “phony motivation.” He argues that students do not actually learn anything.
Elona Kalaja Professor Eleni Saltourides ENG 101 Critical Analysis Paper February 21, 2018 Flunking vs Students In the article, “In Praise of the F Word” Mary Sherry argues that flunking students is a method that has been effective in the past and is still effective todays day, and anyone needs to see is as a positive teaching tool. Sherry indicates that flunking students is a method that motivates students to study more and to be more responsible for what is their responsibility. Students challenge is not to get an A or B, but to succeed or to fail.
Students are fully aware of the positive and negative consequences of grade inflation whether it is something as simple as a grade curve or as drastic as a student trying to bargain their way into graduation. However, another smaller issue that arises is the “participation trophy.” When doing something, everyone gets an equal amount of victory. When discussing this topic in class, I realized that many of my peers saw participation trophies and inflated grades as one in the same. Both items apparently trigger narcissism and false hope in children.
In Carl Singleton’s article, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s,” he argues that students aren’t receiving the failing grades they deserve. School systems are to blame for the lack of quality in America’s education. No other recommendation for improvement will succeed. The only way to fix the American education system is to fail more students. According to Singleton, the real root of the issue is with the parents.
In Kurt Wiesenfeld’s article “Making the Grade”, he address the issue that students want a higher grade than they deserve. He goes on to prove this be by giving examples of previous students that he has had and what can happen when students get the grades that they want and not what they deserve. In Wiesenfeld’s article he states that about ten percent of students that take his class do not care about their grades until final grades are over. “You might groan and moan, but you accepted it as the outcome of your efforts or lack thereof,” Wiesenfeld stated.
Grades are said to drive students to push themselves even more, yet it is not entirely true. Some students cheat, causing their grades to fly high, and that doesn’t reflect wit at all. In a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, Donald McCabe (Rutgers University) found that 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent for plagiarism, and 95 percent for some other form of cheating. (Facts) This proves that grades are more likely to cause students to cheat than to motivate
Nationwide reform of such a small topic compared to other more detrimental issues plaguing the nation makes it unlikely that high schools across the country will make the changes necessary for class rank to accurately display students’ abilities and work ethic. In addition to the flaws with the actual system, class rank causes many problems with students in schools. Class rank encourages competition among students, which causes stress and pressure to be the best. This pressure is unhealthy because students put their grades above their physical health. Even though class rank is supposedly an accurate way to calculate who will succeed in college and who will not, the effects on students and the inconsistencies in how class rank is calculated outweighs the benefits and proves that it will benefit students nationwide if class rank is no longer
