Grade Inflation Gone Wild Summary

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. Rojstaczer did not use any quotes which gave Primack’s article a little more edge on effectiveness.

Stuart Rojstaczer used to be a professor at Duke University with a Ph.D. in earth science. Since then he has been motivated by the inflation of grades at a liberal arts college and then started to do research on a bunch of other schools to see if it could compare. His purpose was to list how grades have

Although this is less than Rojstaczer used Primack provides more evidence and stronger claims that make his article more effective. Primack uses claims of facts by starting with a story and then explaining how grade inflation is an issue at hand. Then continues to talk about Harvard and give statistics on the grade differences between 1950 and 2007. He uses claims of value by explaining how the way grades used to be seen have really changed over the years. A “C” is now not always seen as average but below average to many students. I really enjoyed the way Primack went about his article and his strategies he used. He started off with a story and then eased into explaining how this mindset affects teachers and the way they grade. Having the background and then getting to the point is a very good approach that I feel is more effective in general. It is an approach that I would consider using in my own