Soul-crushing. Can't have fun. Sobbing in bed. Mental health. Such was the reaction Harvard students had to possibility the university might crack down on grade-inflation.
Harvard College became concerned about grade inflation and did what scholars do: study the problem. The study studies and found grade inflation worsened over the last decade:
A's accounted for 24% of all grades awarded in Harvard College; in 2015, for 40.3%; in 2025, for 60.2%.4 And unless we believe that the work done by that 60.2% is truly of “exceptional quality” (the definition of an A in the FAS Grading Guidelines), we can see inflation in our grades as well.
Faculty was critical of the grade inflation:
When asked about grading in general, nearly all faculty expressed serious concern. They perceive there to be a misalignment between the grades awarded and the quality of student work. Faculty newly arrived at Harvard are surprised at how leniently our courses are graded, and those who have taught here for a long time are struck by the difference from the recent past.
The Harvard Crimson reported:
In the 25-page report, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh argued that the rising share of A grades necessitates reforms to “restore the integrity of our grading and return the academic culture of the College to what it was in the recent past.” A faculty committee is exploring whether instructors should be able to award a limited number of A+ grades to undergraduates to crack down on grade inflation, according to the report. The highest grade undergraduates can currently receive is an A. The committee is also considering a proposal to include the median grade for every course on a student’s transcript....The latest report was released less than a month after the phenomenon catapulted back to national attention, with a New York Times headline concluding that “Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades....”
Some instructors, especially in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, told her “that they’ve had to trim some readings and drop others entirely, that they’ve had to switch from novels to short stories, and that it’s difficult to keep assigning reading in the face of increasing student complaints,” she wrote. “A fair number of students in reading-intensive courses report doing lower than the average hours of work outside of class,” she wrote. Changes in media consumption and high school curricula may mean Harvard students find it harder to pay sustained attention to complex texts, Claybaugh added. She attributed pressure to assign higher grades in part to the College’s course evaluation system. Instructors worry that giving out lower grades will result in less positive reviews, hindering their future job prospects, she wrote — while students have exerted their own “increasingly litigious” pressure on instructors to raise grades. Article
Needless to say, the natives were not happy at all as students experienced a meltdown over the thought they might actually have to earn good grades. The horror. The Harvard Crimson reported in a follow-up story:
Sophie Chumburidze ’29 said the report felt dismissive of students’ hard work and academic struggles. “The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.” “It just felt soul-crushing,” she added. Kayta A. Aronson ’29 said stricter standards could take a serious toll on students’ mental health. “It makes me rethink my decision to come to the school,” she said. “I killed myself all throughout high school to try and get into this school. I was looking forward to being fulfilled by my studies now, rather than being killed by them.” Zahra Rohaninejad ’29 added that grading already felt harsh and raising standards further would only erode students’ ability to enjoy their classes. “I can’t reach my maximum level of enjoyment just learning the material because I’m so anxious about the midterm, so anxious about the papers, and because I know it’s so harshly graded,” she said. “If that standard is raised even more, it’s unrealistic to assume that people will enjoy their classes.” Article
It's all about having fun. Got it.
The study also noted many students were devoting a great deal of time to extracurricular activities. However, one student protested such extracurricular activities are "integral" to being a Harvard student.
So much for restoring integrity to the grading process as it's not "integral" to being a student.
Best and brightest, indeed.
7 comments:
Education is a joke here.
Asian students are light years ahead of our weak cry babies.
Then, in a courtroom at Dartmouth College, aka Faber
Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did.
[winks at Dean Wormer]
Otter: But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!
[Leads the Deltas out of the hearing, all humming the Star-Spangled Banner]
Now, on the banks of the Charles:
“What makes a Harvard student a Harvard student is their engagement in extracurriculars,” Peyton White ’29 said. “Now we have to throw that all away and pursue just academics. I believe that attacks the very notion of what Harvard is.”
We’re not just going to sit here and let the Dean give us a B+ again!!! Leads the Havuhd Eternal Victims of Oppression rich kids and international students (on a free ride) to the hippie drum circle, all humming The Internationale. Arrhythmic drumming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ensue. Oh the Hahruh.
Much like in the Matrix, just jack in. You can be anything you want, you never have to work, everything will be perfect.
This is what happens when you let the lunatics run the asylum.
Students should not have power over a professor’s career. That power should be reserved for administration only.
Students shouldn’t be viewed as customers, where the customer is always right. They should have to confirm themselves to the institution, instead of the other way around.
Getting a real college education was much harder back in the 80’s than it is now.
It may not be in the remainder of my lifetime, but a reckoning is coming, ladies, and gentlemen, a reckoning is coming.
This is a problem everywhere; the easiest thing to do is give A’s and make everyone happy. A good demanding teacher at a private K-12 school is a problem for the students because they have to work for that A that is their birthright. More importantly, though, that teacher is a problem to the administration because parents will take their child, and their tuition money, to a school that appreciates how special their child is and will give them that automatic A. Schools have to please students and parents to survive, and unlike 50 years ago, they can’t do that by providing a demanding curriculum.
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