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Grade Inflation In Education

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There is a race where everyone gets a medal, a medal for simply competing the entire course. The incentives to run this race at maximum potential is reduced. This race is a phenomena known as grade inflation. Suzanne E. Fry in the article titled, “Grade Inflation”, claims that grade inflation in education is cheapening the worth of the education itself, and it affects all of mankind from the societal level to a personal level. Fry points out that in some well know Ivy League Universities, renowned as the hardest, highest standards of learning, there is a large proportion of “A grades” vs other letter grades. Fry further adds that the problem is compounded by institutions hoping to achieve higher ratings by catering to students just trying to …show more content…

What has been happening now is the average number of students getting high marks in a class has steadily increased over the years. And one of the main reasons behind that is that professors believe that they are helping their students be competitive enough when they get to the job market. In fact, according to Professor Harvey Mansfield of Harvard University, “the reason why inflated grades are given, is because many universities feel like they need to give their student a leg up in the job market” (Slavov). I remember a story told to me recently by a software engineer for the US Navy, that one his coworkers asked their boss to consider his son as one of the potential applicants for a recent job opening in their department. The first question the boss asked him was what his son’s GPA was. The coworker replied that it was a 3.5- a grade that is considered average. Eventually the boss told the engineer, behind the coworker’s back, that his son wasn’t being considered as his GPA was “too low”. Traditionally, a high GPA was a good indicator the potential candidates’ skills, as one had to apply themselves diligently in order to achieve their grades. However with the average for higher grades, it makes it much harder to determine …show more content…

(Hartford) While the solution would work in an economist setting, in grading there is currently no standard body that would be governing the grading scale. And also if you look further into the subject, education by itself is a very general and broad term, and the subject and disciplines stretch in a hundred different directions. The idea in economics is to limit the amount of money in circulation to help control inflation rates and price level- all of which is accomplished by the a dedicated entity, with only one language, which is money. Another problem that would arise from this proposed solution is who would be appointed to head such a program, and how would a fair determination of the grade levels be made. In a sense this would also be unfair, depending on the amount of students for a subject and variations in enrollments per year, would cause this solution would be very unfair. So simply put, rather than changing the educational system, we should focus on the tried and proven way of evaluating students by how they perform, letting the educators judging themselves the students’ work ethics- making the students work hard to earn the

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The main argument made by Marc Tucker, in his work “Making Graduation Meaningful: A Real Qualification System for U.S Students,” is that qualification systems provide more social mobility for students. More Specifically, Tucker argues that these systems prepare students for a better future and career by providing common curriculums that produce high expectations. Tucker address, “A common curriculum produces common expectations. Second, common exams set to a common curriculum reinforce high expectations (Tucker 5)”. This demonstrate that a common course of study will allow students to have similar beliefs of high quality.

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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.

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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.

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Staples offers the solution that “To staunch inflation [of grades] is to change the way the grade point average is calculated” (Staples 937). He suggests that different classes should be calculated into a GPA at different levels. For example, harder science and math courses that many people steer clear of due to their difficulty, should have more opportunity to boost a student’s GPA than an easy general education class would (937). This idea might sound good on paper, but that would require every university to completely change their grading policy which not only would be time-consuming, but nearly impossible since there is virtually no way that leaders and the student body of a university would all agree on a completely new grading system. Plus, it might hinder students from being able to take classes that they actually enjoy and get a degree in a field they want to be in, not that they are forced to be in because of GPA factors.

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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

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Would you be happy if you had received an A in your class? Do you feel that you truly learned enough to deserve that perfect A? Students who are in either high school or college are forgetting the true meaning of having knowledge and being able to learn. People think that how well they perform in the classroom will justify how well the teacher teaches their students but necessary that might not always be that way. In Brent Staples piece, “Why Colleges Shower their Students with A’s”, he argues that there must be an end to the grade Inflation and continues by examining for a possible solution by using language techniques to emphasize the main point.

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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).

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Essay One: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin The extent that grades have on hindering the ability to learn is discussed in Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed, in which Shevek a college professor is troubled by the importance placed on the grading system as a mark of understanding of a subject at the university he recently started teaching at. One of the first points to be made is that understanding what you were taught isn’t the point of schools anymore, it’s about memorizing the information for a test or assignment. Second, is that achieving high marks in school doesn’t always equate intelligence or lack of it . Lastly, it’s not how well one is able to memorize what they are taught, but how they’re able to take that information, process and apply it to real world problems that shows the extent of one’s true education.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Did you know that paying students for having good grades resulted in a decrease in dropout rates, gangs, alcohol, and drug use? Students should get paid for having excellent grades. The reason why this is important is because it could lead to a brighter future for society. Three reasons why students should get paid for having awesome grades is because cash for good grades provide students with career-like rewards, it decreases dropout rates, and with the right incentive,could lead to success. All of those three reasons could and will result in success.

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When considering the choice of paying students for good grades and not paying students for good grades, the choice should definitely be, students should not be paid for good grades. Paying students for good grades may start off their youth incorrectly. Instead of focusing on getting an education, the reward of money is likely to block their priorities. Students will be angry when not given the money, and not being able to raise test scores or grades. In order for a bright and successful future, students should not be paid for good

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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

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