Inflate to 100 PSI

It seems I’m spending more time reading newspapers that writing. Well, it’s because it’s true, I guess. This time I can blame Scrivenings for posting a link to a WaPo article on grade inflation. Frankly, it doesn’t say anything new, but it’s always interesting how these types of things are presented to the non-academic public.

The author cites Arthur Levine, president of Columbia University Teacher's College and an authority on grading in explaining the grade-pressure as stemming from the Vietnam era ‘get a good grade or go to war’ policy. That, plus the grad schools who only saw A’s and B’s as passing, led to the current hyper-fixation. Now it’s instilled from birth by ‘helicopter parents’ (they hover over their children) who want to make sure their children get into a ‘good’ school.

Overall, an interesting read, but you could get better stories in the blogoshpere :)

Interesting portions:

John Watson, who teaches journalism ethics and communications law at American, has noticed another phenomenon: Many students, he says, believe that simply working hard -- though not necessarily doing excellent work -- entitles them to an A. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard a student dispute a grade, not on the basis of in-class performance," says Watson, "but on the basis of how hard they tried. I appreciate the effort, and it always produces positive results, but not always the exact results the student wants. We all have different levels of talent."

And then there's consumerism, he says. Pure and simple, tuition at a private college runs, on average, nearly $28,000 a year. If parents pay that much, they expect nothing less than A's in return. "Therefore, if the teacher gives you a B, that's not acceptable," says Levine, "because the teacher works for you. I expect A's, and if I'm getting B's, I'm not getting my money's worth."

Rojstaczer agrees: "We've made a transition where attending college is no longer a privilege and an honor; instead college is a consumer product. One of the negative aspects of this transition is that the role of a college-level teacher has been transformed into that of a service employee."