essays_general English

Grade Inflation: A blessing or a curse

Nowadays, more and more students are getting high grades in colleges. Students and teachers are used to seeing A’s at all levels of higher education. As a result, people started talking about grade inflation in colleges and finding ways to bring it down. As the time goes by, students start to take the A as the passing mark and won’t be satisfied with a lower grade. Little by little, college students get the idea that high grades are their right and they start making pressure on their teachers to award them these grades. Grade inflation has become today a very big problem in the education system and people started to discuss it and look for some solutions. Like any other issue, some people are for and some are against. For example, Alicia C. Shepard, Sita Nataraj Slavov and Bill Coplin have all discussed the issue of grade inflation in college and tried to put an end to it. Their articles have many themes related to grade inflation, such as students’ perspective on grade inflation, the scope of the problem and its effects on the education.

First, students expect to get high grades and they insist on their teachers to give them these marks. Students contribute to the problem as they demand from their teachers togive them high grades. In their understanding, high grades will help them get good jobs. When the teacher does not give this grade, students insist on him to change. It is this perspective of the students that make the problem worse in the recent years. Their understanding of a good teacher is someone who is generous in grading. Slavov discusses the role of students in grade inflation by arguing that their expectations to get high grades and the pressure they use is something teachers cannot resist (slavov, 2013). The role of students’ expectations in relation to grades is discussed also by Shepard. According to Shepard, the expectations of students to get high marks are seen in the pressure they put on the teacher (Shepard, 2005). When the student gets a B or a C grade, they press the teacher to alter it to make it meet their expectations. The problem is that many teachers respond to the pressure because universities encourage this in order to increase the number of their students.

Second, do high grades reflect the true level of students? The problem has reached a large scale and is affect all higher institutions in the US. The fact that it is found all over the country means that it has become a problem that is difficult to solve. When grades are inflated they no longer reflect the level of students. Shepard thinks that not anyone who works hard deserves a high grade. As a result, grade inflation creates makes it difficult to see the level of students. Slavov mentions in the article that a recent study of 200 colleges and universities found that more than 40 percent of all grades awarded were in the A range (Slavov, 2013). Coplin highlights the scope and scale of the phenomenon by referring to new policies introduced by Princeton and Harvard to limit grade inflation. For instance, Harvard put a new policy where no more than 60 % of undergraduate students can have honors (Coplin, 2004). However, while both writers agree on the spread of the problem, they disagree on the nature of its impact. Unlike Slavov, Coplin sees that grade inflation is a positive thing.

Finally, grade inflation has many implications for the educational system. High grades are not just numbers. They reflect a whole approach to education. This is to say, they reflect the perspectives of students and institutions on education. On the part of students, high grades become the new passing mark. The student thinks that he doesn’t pass if he does not get an A. Shepard discusses this issue when she examines the conception of students of high grades. She explains that students think that hard work results in high grade (Shepard, 2005). She opposes this idea and argues that not because someone is hard working they deserve an A. As a result, grades should not be changed to meet the expectations of the students. Slavov discusses the problem in a different way. For him, the perspectives of the university on education are also responsible for this. He thinks that the individual is helpless to fight grade inflation and that the solution should come from the university (Slavov, 2013). Slavo thinks that high grades are a problem on the national level. They can give some individuals the advantage of having a good job, but for the majority it is not. As a result, universities have to put the issue under control. Coplin offers a different perspective on education as he proposes that high grades to be given to all students. What matters for him is the fact that these grades open new horizons for professional experience.

To sum up, grade inflation is a big problem today. It seems to dominate all the colleges in the US and the rest of the world. The problem of high grades lies not in the success rate of the students, but on what these grades reflect in reality. The issue is: what do they reflect exactly in relation to the educational system? This issue causes a lot of opinions. The articles discussed in this paper offer different viewpoints of the issue. Shepard thinks that grades should in no way be changed to meet the complaint of the students. Slavov believes that it is the job of universities to stop the problem, while Coplin thinks that high grades should stay.