Grade Deflation Rough Draft : Outline

Education is a long-term investment. We, as students, work hard to acquire knowledge and to hone our skills so that we may use them one day. The effort we put into a single assignment should be considered as both for that specific assignment and for our rounding as complete, educated individuals. And with this mindset, students should be motivated even more to put more effort and hard work into academics, with the goal of bettering themselves for the future and advancing their prospects as individuals. And with this hard work and effort will come progress, and this progress should be reflected in the grading—not necessarily on individual assignments, but on the student’s education as a

In his essay “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, Brent Staples argues that many colleges have less vigorous grading rubrics than in years past because of the increase in student-consumers. Consequently, this “new” grading policy has led to an increase in A’s that are awarded to students. A few factors have led to this unfair distribution. Firstly, students who earn high grades in poorly attended classes assure that these classes will remain viable in the future. Secondly, high grades guarantee the presence of student consumers at a college {REWORD}. Additionally, the tenure status or salary of a professor may be affect if (s)he does not give out high grades to students, leading to disapproving evaluations.

There, glaring up at me in bold, red ink against the crisp white paper was a C- . Comparing my grades to those of my classmates, it was revealed that they too had received these grades. What had we done wrong?

To counter the constant negativity, he also exemplifies solutions for fixing grade inflation. For example, Brent Staples references Valen Johnson’s proposal for a grade point average reform that accounts the selected major into the grade point average system (389). With this example, the reform will significantly decrease the median grade point average and reward those who achieve high grades in courses related to their respective major. Behind this positive message, Brent Staples still criticizes college administrators for prioritizing their public image over a legitimate grading system without the complaining tone in the majority of his essay. Furthermore, Brent Staple’s examples do solve an actual issue and not a phantom problem. In 1975 alone, there was over tens times more bachelors in psychology than there were available jobs for them (Bird 424). Because the current grading system allows for counterfeit grade point averages, there are an excessive number of psychology bachelors. Brent Staples provided solutions because this issue proves his criticisms in

Alfie Kohn discussed multiple fabulous points in his article, “Degrading to De-Grading”. The author suggests more effective ways to assess students’ progress other than numerical or letter grades. Kohn goes into detail about why our current grading system is flawed. Grades can cause students to lose interest in learning which causes them to stop taking challenges. If students are not engaged and interested than they are not retaining the information they are being taught. The grading system can also cause students to develop unhealthy competition with one another for instance, “I got a better grade than you!”. Indeed, grades are a wonderful concept, but they tend to be more hurtful than helpful. In some cases, grades can have positive effects on students. For example, setting goals for various assignments, or receiving help where they are struggling. Though, there are alternatives that could make positive changes in the system.

In “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, Staples argues that teacher inflate grades so that their course will not be canceled. Furthermore, teachers will inflate grades so that they can keep their jobs. Additionally, students are trying to find ways to get

In the article A’s for Everyone, Alicia Shepard recognized a pattern in which her students placed too much emphasis on the letter grades received as opposed to the actual understanding and retention of the curriculum being taught. To understand this phenomenon, Shepard drew upon both the historical catalyst which led to it and her personal experience as a college professor. The systematic indoctrination of the importance of letter grades originated during the Vietnam War when "Men who got low grades could be drafted," (p. 3, par. 4). This having occurred, the pressure to obtain a higher grade became less about gaining knowledge and more about regurgitating information to receive an A. Subsequently, future generations stressed to their offspring

The biggest issue with Sherry’s plan to stop grade inflation is that she didn’t account for the fact that there is no universal grading system in the world. Grades are based on a criterion set by a particular teacher, and the teacher is the final person to decide what grade the student receives. An A

In his article "Making the Grade," Kurt Wiesenfeld presents a problem regarding the ethical value of grades in modern society. A physics professor, Wiesenfeld opens the article by making the "rookie error" of being in his "office the day after final grades were posted." (paragraph 1) Several students then attempt to influence him to change their grades for the class. What concerns Wiesenfeld is that many of his more recent students consider a grade to be a negotiable commodity rather than accept the grade as an accurate representation of efforts and performance and how much they learned. The author indicates that part of this

    It's June, and another graduating class is hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of course, "high" is a subjective target. Originally a "C" meant average; today however, the expectations and pressures to give and receive "A's" and "B's" takes its toll on teachers and students alike. This nullifies the value of the traditional grading scale and creates a host of entirely new problems. The widespread occurrence of grade inflation seriously affects the credibility of secondary and post-secondary education in America.

On June 22, Vikram Mansharamani, a lecturer at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied sciences, wrote an article named “How an epidemic of grade inflation made A’s average.” In the article, Vikram first explained what is grade inflation. Second, he provided some possible explanation about what inflation occur along with some school’s attempted solution. Last, the author starts to consider what is the impact of grade inflation and how the inflation effect.

Tucker and Courts explain grade inflation is a practice among universities and colleges to deflate the actual, real value of an A. According to statistics, the authors claim that the large increase in GPA in higher education. And it does not due to an increase in intelligence or an increasing in the amount of time college students are studying. The authors point out the grade inflation gives certain students an unfair advantage in the job market or when applying to graduate schools. They also point out grade inflation hides laziness on the part of the students, and as long as it exists, even faculty who want to do a good job don’t feel they can. According to the article, if a good grade no longer means the student has exhibited an above average

Good job! You just got an A on your science worksheet! Here’s twenty dollars and a certificate saying you’re the best student in the class. You got a C+ on your Geometry test? That’s unfortunate, but here’s five dollars for trying your best. Not only in the United States, but also in countries around the world, schools are trying a new reward system where students are rewarded for good grades with cash, prizes, or even trips. I think schools shouldn’t be giving incentives to students for getting good grades.

We live in a world where your worth in school is determined by your grades. All students strive for that magic number featured in countless movies, books, and tv shows. The 4.0. But what does a 4.0 really mean? Does it mean that you are a good student, or does it mean that you have learned how to work the system? The difficulty of the course, the standards the teachers hold their students to, and the amount of grade inflation all contribute to this so called “system”. It would seem that those who do the best in school know how to work it. So how can we make school less about beating the system and more about the academics, and how can we make grades more universally fair for everyone?

Consequently, the grade inflation has lots of side-effects. The grade inflation would lead the Mediocrity. Like Jason Saltoun-Ebin put in his article “Open Letter to Janet Napolitano: Please Help the UC System Escape the Culture of Mediocrity”(2013),