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.
42 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.
3:30 for today's win. COLLEGE!!!
There won’t be any jobs left for any of them except the very best of the best who know how to prompt AI the very best.
I probably was never the student who “set the curve” but I worked hard to be better. And succeeded most of the time. Maybe we should resurrect the old Bell Curve. Those who don’t strive to be the best shouldn’t be there anyway.
Is this how Chowke passed?
Some teachers at local academies are under the mistaken impression the main priority is academics and, gasp, require athletes to submit homework. Luckily, they are quickly taught that sports is what brings in the tuition money.
Blame it on PBS and that effeminate man known as "Mr. Rogers".
He started this BS sixty years ago.
"Hello neighbor.
No matter what any one says ...each of you are special.
And always do what makes you feel happy ! "
Hell ...The KGB couldn't dream of such effective propaganda
So no ...I'm not surprised at all about the reaction from the lil' scholars at Harvard and other "schools" in 2025.
These students should transfer to Ole Miss, where there is a 97% acceptance rate and everyone with a pulse graduates in 6 years.
BOAR-ing. Can we get back to important shit like Jackson water problems and which restaurant is pulling up stakes? I mean...REALLY!
College used to be a place where kids went to grow up.
This sounds more like K-16, and maybe 17 and 18 too.
For some, if we don't know the material but still pass the class, then patients are going to die and buildings are going to fall down. Others will simply muddle through life as idiots with no real consequences. Choose wisely.
It is strange how quickly some people mock students for caring too much or feeling overwhelmed, while applauding a political culture that rewards ignorance and arrogance over actual achievement. The same voices ridiculing Harvard students for crying about grades had no problem defending a president who complained endlessly about being treated unfairly and called himself a “stable genius.”
Maybe it is not the students who are fragile. Maybe it is a country that has come to see empathy as weakness and education as elitism. These young people are trying to succeed in a world that constantly demands more while giving less, a world where effort is dismissed and loudness is mistaken for strength.
If a few of them are crying, perhaps it is not about the grades at all. Perhaps it is about realizing that the loudest adults in the room stopped respecting learning the moment it stopped serving their ego.
Signed Womp Womp
Grade inflation is the foundation of Mississippi's K-12 and "higher" education systems. In the last 10 years (just like Harvard....and likely every other school system) the "grown ups" have absolutely capitulated to the "entertainment" of their princes and princesses.
Neither academics nor respect for authority are expected in MS (see DeSoto County). This was and is by design via long standing propaganda to bring down American institutions, and the nation as a whole. It all started with the breakdown of the Christian framework of the family....and when "Mr. Johnson and "Mrs./Ms. Robinson" and "Yes Sir/No Sir - Yes Ma'am/No Ma''am" were no longer expected, and parents/teachers were brainwashed (with official policy) to "get down on the child's level" with the gentle parenting horseshit - the nation began to crumble. No civilization has ever survived the breakdown of the family structure that in a microcosm of a community - would be considered a cancer cell. So buckle up - everyone will be a proletarian soon, and be happy - supposedly.
He wasn’t just treated unfairly he was persecuted and prosecuted. TDS noted.
When and on what episode did he say that, 11/6 20:02? He was not effeminate as you suggest, but gentle. He was a Presbyterian Pastor who hosted an educational show for children that dealt with their fears, life experiences, and emotions. Fred Rogers is not to blame for these bed wetting wussies. Their parents are responsible. And I suspect the philosophy you blame is sourced from Disney and more modern PBS offerings the parents used as babysitters. Today, Fred Rogers wouldn’t be shown to children because he’s “problematic”. But, do, please, cite where he said what you claim and prove me wrong.
Grade inflation is the issue, not some womp womp empathy bs. Getting there was the easy part - now go apply yourself in something worthy of respect, which is definitely NOT politics of any stripe.
To thine own self be true!
Just curious, KF, why Harvard in Boston, Massachusetts gets coverage on Jackson Jambalaya and a chemical accident in nearby Yazoo County does not?
He's just a crotch who would bitch about Sydney Sweeny having a mole on the back of her thigh. Probably same crotch who gripes about sports and movies.
Tell us you’re a State fan without telling us.
I count myself very fortunate to be the child of a mother from the silent generation. There were no excuses or whining when I was growing up and although love was extended in the tough manner at arm's length, I've never felt like I couldn't accomplish something that I set my mind to. I still don't. Many college students these days are not armed with the mental wherewithal to cope with stress. I do, genuinely, feel bad for them.
This is the kind of crap that is dooming our country and any hope of economic progress. "I laid in bed all day distraught because I was going to have to work at my college courses instead of enjoying my studies." What in the ever-living hell is that mentality? I see it perpetuating the workforce, too. People needing "me time" and employers changing policies to cope with this b.s. woke childish behavior. I'm not even an old man yet and I feel very "GET OFF MY LAWN!" reading this shit.
8:05pm is part of the 3%
7:38- If you are referring to 8:05, you are incorrect. While MSU does have a lower acceptance rate, I am by no means a fan of the school in Starkville, where their acceptance and graduation rates are not much better than OM.
We sent out kids out of state to legitimate universities, not diploma mills.
Ah, the recipients of the participation trophies are crying because someone wants to cut their participation grades. Your tears are sweet nectar.
I cannot see to type. I rolled my eyes so hard at this drivel they are stuck in the back of my head.
Excuse me, but in what universe do you live if you think it's impossible for most or all of a group of gifted/exceptional students to get A's on tests or papers?
I suspect some of you wouldn't have even made it to the 6th grade without a grade curve. You should look at the stats on how many Americans can't read or write above the 5th grade level.
Didn't Mississippi offer "accelerated" education programs in public schools or are the politicians too afraid of a smart electorate or too cheap to buy the textbooks?
10:24, I hope your friends and family conduct an intervention with you soon.
So true, my parents didn’t coddle any of us. We were out in the fields picking crops and getting a job was the only way you had money. Now, as I’m older, I can handle just about any crisis. Coddling children through their adulthood will disable them in their future. I can’t feel bad for someone who doesn’t put in the work then cry about not having. They need to take responsibility for their decisions.
This.
What does this have to do with Jackson?
The Harvard phenomenon presented was posted to promote your critical thinking, and so you can see just how it relates to pretty much all of Mississippi's problems.
What happened to the Bell Curve for college grading? 10% A, 20% B, 40% C, 20% D, & 10% F. Everyone is not top 10% or even top 30%. 60% A's is beyond ridiculous.
@ 8:02 I just thought it was wild to read about Harvard students griping about having to meet an academic standard. Thank you for one upping them by finding a way to make it Mr. Rodgers fault.
And wasn’t as widely available as it is now. Living in the 80’s was a blast though. Fun times!
@ "BOAR-ing. Can we get back to important..."
Clearly an ace scholar.
I'm willing to bet none of the students quoted actually has a job and is working their way through school. Heck, I'm willing to bet none of them has ever had a job/worked....
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