| I came to UCLA with the belief
that I was going to have to work just as hard, or even harder, to
maintain the same GPA in college that I had in high school. As the
competition just to be admitted increases, it seems logical to think
that so does the competitiveness in each class for the top grades.
However, since the Vietnam War there has been an increasing trend
toward grade inflation at UCLA and many other public and private
schools. Gradually, the frequency of “C”s on college
transcripts is diminishing and the “A” is becoming the
norm. While I at first viewed grade inflation as an advantage for
current students, and am now realizing that overall, it is actually
hurting us. As we learn how to beat the system and force professors
and faculty to increase our grades by threatening future enrollment
and student-teacher evaluations,
we fail to realize that we are raising the bar and increasing the
standards of what it means to be an excellent student. And for those
of us who actually strive to do well and succeed in college, what
is the meaning behind an “A” if half of the class receives
the same grade?
Grade inflation is present in schools nationwide,
including both public and private schools. However, a study conducted
by professor Stuart Rojstaczer from Duke University, “Grade
Inflation at American Colleges and Universities,” found
that the average undergraduate GPA at private schools is higher
than that of public schools in every time bracket over an 11 year
span (ranging from 1991 to 2002). Rojstaczer studied the grade inflation
rates of over 30 schools and found that since 1967, the average
GPA increased by 0.6 but private schools have undergone grade inflation
at a rate of 25-30% higher than that of public schools. In addition,
the data reveals that grades significantly increased in the 1960s,
were steady in the mid-1970s and 1980s, and are now increasing again
since the beginning of the 1990s. Nonetheless, GPAs increase at
a rate of about 0.15 per decade and are continuing to rise every
subsequent year. Although Rojstaczer’s study does not include
data about UCLA, he does report on the grade trends for both UC-Irvine
and UC-Berkeley. These numbers indicate that grade inflation is
certainly present in schools throughout the nation and is continuing
to be a characteristic of colleges and universities.
As a result of this current trend, many professors
are now speaking out against the continuing pressure that they face
to give students higher grades than they may deserve. Stuart Rojstaczer’s
study of grade inflation is a reaction to the constant pressure
that Duke University puts on him to hand out inflated grades to
his students. In an earlier opinion piece that was published in
the Washington Post, “Where
All Grades Are Above Average,” Rojstaczer expresses his
attitude toward grade inflation. In this article, Rojstaczer states
that “C” grades only make up about 10 percent of all
grades given at Duke and similar percentages are found at other
private and state schools. Because of grade inflation, he believes
that it is harder for professors to grade honestly and that the
bureaucratic aspects of college are
forcing him to give out higher grades than students actually earn.
Rojstaczer states,
If I sprinkle my classroom with the C’s
some students deserve, my class will suffer from declining enrollments
in future years… low enrollments are taken as a sign of
poor-quality instruction...given that students are consumers of
an educational product for which they pay dearly, I am expected
to cater to their desires not just to be educated well but to
receive a positive reward for their enrollment.
The author argues that college and universities
are beginning to be viewed as businesses that college students pay
for in return for encouraging grades. In this marketplace for higher
education, students choose schools where they will receive the highest
grades for their enrollment. As a result, Rojstaczer believes that
grade inflation is causing a lack of student interest and motivation
as well as providing the public with a less educated class.
Similarly, professor Harvey Mansfield from Harvard
University expresses concerns toward grade inflation. His article,
“Grade
Inflation: It’s Time to Face the Facts” describes
his response to this higher system of grading. Mansfield argues
that professors are too easily satisfied with giving their student’s
high grades in an effort to get their good opinion. He states, “with
an eye to student course evaluations and confounded by the realization
that they have somehow lost authority, professors begin from what
they think student’s expect. American colleges used to set
their own expectations…now they react to student expectations.”
Mansfield expresses the change in professor’s attitudes toward
class standards. As teachers slowly lose power in the classroom,
student’s perceptions and attitudes toward the course influence
the content learned as well as their overall grade. Furthermore,
Mansfield also discusses the consequences of grade inflation and
states that the quality of teaching is declining. One of the main
curricular debates regarding current
colleges and universities is that teachers’ concern for student
learning is falling as they become less critical toward the material
they present. In turn, faculty morale decreases as professors continue
to give higher grades to students and it becomes increasingly more
difficult to get students to work hard.
As students gain more power over various aspects
of their college education, grade inflation continues to remain
present at many universities. One of the main reasons for this current
trend in grades is student evaluations
and their influence on teachers hired. At UCLA, teacher and course
evaluations are given to students near the end of each quarter.
These questionnaires allow students to rate their professors and
courses on a scale of 1 to 10 and provide written feedback about
their teacher as well as the course material. For many schools,
these evaluations are factored into the decision to hire the teacher
in subsequent years. In addition, these student evaluations also
influence a teacher’s chances of receiving tenure.
Because of this power placed in students’ perception of their
teachers, professors feel that they need to satisfy them with good
grades in order to receive positive feedback in return. In fact,
the SGA-External Affairs Committee posts a list titled “20
Ways to Improve Your Teaching Evaluations Without Improving Your
Teaching.” This list discusses the different components
of student evaluations and presents various actions that can help
improve student evaluations. Number three states to “grade
leniently” and says that “higher grades correlate very
highly with individual ratings of teaching effectiveness, and grading
harshly is a sure way to lower evaluations.” It is a common
understanding that there is a direct relationship between high grades
and positive student evaluations. Thus, when teachers’ jobs
are influenced by student’s ratings of teacher effectiveness,
professors will surely increase the average grade in order to ensure
positive feedback.
Additionally, another reason for grade inflation
is the fact that higher education is increasingly being viewed as
a business, with students as its customers. In regards to University
funding, colleges not only depend on tuition dollars but also
on state funding. In “Fiscal
Policy Effects on Grade Inflation,” author Richard J.
Barndt discusses the influence of funding on grade inflation. Many
states base the allocation of funds on enrollment, which directly
correlates with student expectations and satisfaction. Barndt states,
“There has been a triumph of the consumer’s perspective
in the institutional culture of the academy, replacing the authority
of professional judgment…with the authority of student wants…for
colleges and universities, survival means satisfying these consumer
expectations.” The author explains that as colleges continue
to reflect characteristics of modern businesses, the pressure to
maintain high enrollment numbers remains to guarantee the maximum
amount of state funding. Furthermore, in the event of state budget
cuts, colleges depend on tuition payments to supplement any loss
of funding. Because of this dependence on student’s money,
the only way to ensure a constant flow of tuition dollars is to
keep them satisfied. In a society based on achievement and competition,
all that a student cares about is getting good grades. Thus, colleges
and universities accommodate to this want and increase the distribution
of grades in hopes of receiving the tuition payments in subsequent
years.
While it is interesting to note the changes
in average GPAs at colleges throughout the nation, it seems that
we, as current college students, are simply benefiting from this
trend. We pressure our college professors to maintain grade inflation
rates by threatening to give them poor reviews and we pressure our
school by questioning our future enrollment if we do not receive
the grades we desire. In a communications class that I am currently
taking, my professor lectured us on our poor midterm scores and
gave us an insight into his personal opinion on grade inflation.
He is nonetheless, curving our grades to meet this trend, but questioned
our lack of personal motivation and studying habits in an effort
to receive a fair grade. We go to class with the attitude that if
everyone fails, then the professor has to curve the scores since
he can’t fail everyone. But as we continue to live by this
motto, we are preventing ourselves from truly getting an education.
And when we graduate from college we will be no more intelligent
than when we graduated from high school.
Students smile at the fact that they receive
“A”s in classes that require little effort, even though
they cannot remember a single course concept only a month later.
Yes, it seems like we are simply reaping the benefits from this
increase in GPAs, but we don’t realize that grade inflation
is simply raising the bar and making it more difficult to compete
for jobs and other positions. Our economic system demands good grades
because it is a system based on individual competition. But if the
average GPA becomes, for instance, a 3.50, than that becomes the
norm and businesses and companies will look for higher numbers when
interviewing prospects for a job. College students are not only
preventing themselves from a higher education, but we are also making
it that much harder to stand out among the rest. With grades, there
is a ceiling effect in which people cluster in the top layer. Because
you can’t achieve a grade any higher than an “A,”
more and more people will have a high GPA. When everyone has an
“A” average, what makes you a better candidate for a
position than any of your other classmates?
Grade inflation is a current trend that is present
among virtually every college and university. Studies show that
the average GPA has increased in the past decade and continues to
be on the rise as professors lose power over their classes. Student
evaluations and university funding are crucial factors that depend
on student’s satisfaction and as a result, accurate assessments
are declining. But for students, college funding isn’t a pertinent
issue. Instead, what matters is its affect on our lives. The fact
is that grade inflation makes the competition harder. As we lower
the amount of learning in each successive graduating class, we also
lose the meaning behind our academic accomplishments. Each “A”
on our transcripts no longer symbolizes “excellence,”
but instead reflects the “average.” So in the end, even
though we work less to receive that “A,” we are only
making it harder for ourselves.
Related Links
“Grade Inflation.” Cyber College
Internet Campus. 17 February 2004.
<http://www.cybercollege.com/plume3.htm>
“IVY League Grade Inflation.” USAToday.
7 February 2002. 13 February 2004.
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2002/02/08/edtwof2.htm>
Bartlett, Bruce. “The Truth About Grade
Inflation.” National Center for Policy Analysis. 3
February 2003. 11 February 2004. < http://www.ncpa.org/edo/bb/2003/bb020303.html>
Stone, J.E. “Inflated Grades, Inflated
Enrollment, and Inflated Budgets: An Analysis and Call
for Review at The State Level.” Education Policy Analysis
Archives. 26 June 1995. 11 February 2004. < http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v3n11.html>
Westfall, Julie. “The Rate of (Grade)
Inflation.” The Daily Illini Online. 6 December 2000. 17
February 2004. <http://www.dailyillini.com/dec00/dec06/news/news01.shtml> |