Such Irony
Honor Thy Inferior
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2010
- Messages
- 5,059
- MBTI Type
- INtp
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
Nearly half of all college grades are A's
Do you think there is too much grade inflation in college? Or do you think the students for the most part earned those grades? Do you think high grades are given out too easily?
If I got an A in a course and found out that nearly half the students also got an A, I admit that I wouldn't be as proud of the achievement then if only a small percent received an A. I do think there is definitely grade inflation going on and I don't think all the students who got an A, necessarily did A-level work.
Part of the problem I think stems from the tenure process for teachers. Receiving tenure depends in part on students' evaluations of teaching. If you are too difficult, students are likely to rate you lower. So I think some teachers feel the pressure to be a little easier grade wise.
On the other hand, I don't believe in grading curves where only a certain percent should get a certain grade. Sometimes you do have a class where the students are particularly bright and motivated or a class where students are particularly dumb or unmotivated. The grade distributions should be different for these classes.
In some graduate school classes, most of the students get an A. I don't necessarily see a problem with this as graduate students are more likely to be highly intelligent and motivated and they probably do deserve the A.
Do you think there is too much grade inflation in college? Or do you think the students for the most part earned those grades? Do you think high grades are given out too easily?
If I got an A in a course and found out that nearly half the students also got an A, I admit that I wouldn't be as proud of the achievement then if only a small percent received an A. I do think there is definitely grade inflation going on and I don't think all the students who got an A, necessarily did A-level work.
Part of the problem I think stems from the tenure process for teachers. Receiving tenure depends in part on students' evaluations of teaching. If you are too difficult, students are likely to rate you lower. So I think some teachers feel the pressure to be a little easier grade wise.
On the other hand, I don't believe in grading curves where only a certain percent should get a certain grade. Sometimes you do have a class where the students are particularly bright and motivated or a class where students are particularly dumb or unmotivated. The grade distributions should be different for these classes.
In some graduate school classes, most of the students get an A. I don't necessarily see a problem with this as graduate students are more likely to be highly intelligent and motivated and they probably do deserve the A.