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"It's not grade inflation if a faculty member sets a standard and a lot of students earn A's and B's."
The student newspaper of the University of California, Irvine conducted an investigation into grade distributions at their institution and found that more than three quarters of all grades assigned during the last semester were either A's or B's. D's are a dying breed (four percent of all grades). In the Dance department, only 27 percent of all students did not obtain an A -- and only three percent scored lower than a B.
And things are getting progressively worse over the years: across all departments, the proportion of A's and B's dished out has risen by seven percent since 2000.
While such data should lead one to conclude that grade inflation is running amok on campus, the Dean of Undergraduate Education reassures us that it is not. "It's not grade inflation if a faculty member sets a standard and a lot of students earn A's and B's," she explains to the newspaper. The dean would have people believe that UIC students are so exceptionally bright that the vast majority are either "exceeding requirements" (UCI's definition of a "B") or "excelling" (UCI's definition of an "A").
Notwithstanding the dean's reassurances, the proliferation of A's is in all likelihood due to what Murray Sperber has so aptly called the "Faculty-Student Nonaggression Pact": Professors don't ask much of their students and students don't ask much of their professors.
And even if the dean's explanation proved to be true, standards should be raised to offer the each new supposedly brilliant class a challenging and stimulating education. When at least three quarters are exceeding requirements -- rather than simply meeting them -- it's probably time to raise the bar a little higher.
In our trustee guide to tackling the problem of grade inflation, we recommend that trustees first begin by obtaining data on grades at their institution. The student newspaper at UCI has already done so. It would now be more than appropriate for the board to look into the numbers and address the situation.
Posted by David Azerrad on November 30, 2009 at November 30, 2009 04:02 PM
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