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Wednesday, June 30, 2004
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Fisking a Boston University I-Petition
This [grade deflation] policy is geared toward polishing the image of Boston University. Policies like these are about substance as much as image. Harvard and some of the other Ivies are rightly suffering derision right now because of the ridiculous number of students who graduate with honors from these seemingly rigorous universities. But the universities are doing something about it not because people are laughing, but because rampant grade inflation goes to the identity and integrity of institutions which stand for intellectual seriousness. By accepting students of the highest ability and achievement levels from all around the world and awarding grades below their abilities and achievements, Boston University is attempting to appear as a more challenging university. This badly written sentence suggests why the writer’s estimation of BU is incorrect. BU is - as my father-in-law (a retired Harvard professor) used to put it - a first-rate second-rate university. Awarding grades at BU students’ ability and achievement level would mean far more Bs and Cs than As. Again, BU is not merely “attempting to appear” more challenging; setting higher standards for students is being more challenging. If students are capable of achieving the highest academic standards yet are awarded with grades below their achievement levels, where is the challenge? Only a very elite few students will earn the grades they deserve while others will be left with grades lower than they deserve. Capability is not achievement. Am I supposed to award you an A in every course because in principle you are capable of “the highest academic standards”? I’m looking at what you actually do in my classroom. The writer seems say that, once having been certified Grade A Achievement Level, the BU student should automatically be awarded an A. This policy is demoralizing to students. When the maximum amount of effort is applied from a student of outstanding ability and the award in return is below their achievement, these students lose motivation to continue such efforts. Refer to UD’s 6/24 post, in which she cites a recent Carnegie Foundation paper, to find out how maximally most American students are striving in their classes. The image of Boston University years from now will not help current students attain jobs, receive internships, or be accepted to graduate schools. The grades students leave with from the university are more important now then [sic] the image of the university and the administration is not taking this into consideration. Again, this sort of change is about substance as much as image. If BU students graduate knowing little, despite having been given high grades in all of their courses, employers will learn to devalue the BU degree. The petition writer is correct that students today should not have to suffer for the reputation of their university in the future; and it's certainly an unpleasant roll of the dice that this particular batch of BU students happens to be attending the institution just as it decides to become serious about standards in the classroom. But since the university is in fact doing the right thing, students should accept the situation and work harder to earn top grades. Or they may transfer to one of the hundreds of remaining grade-inflated colleges in the country. The Boston University grading policy may have long term effects on not only the students of the university but the university itself. When students graduate and become alumni, they will not forget the grading policy of the university. The alumni are major factors in funding the university. This comment has the virtue of making the simple economic policy underlying grade inflation absolutely clear. Give us As because we pay tuition for them and because we’ll make alumni donations in return for them in the future. When prospective students learn of the grading policy at Boston University, they will keep this in mind when making the final decision on which school they want a diploma from. Same blackmail. |