Before we start engaging in "Who's got the Biggest Grade Inflation Problem", perhaps it should be noted that grade inflation is a widespread phenomenon, why it even occurs in *GASP!* Canada! Certainly not definitive but one should take a look at the Wikipedia entry on grade inflation (standard disclaimers apply): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation
>From the Wiki entry it seems that one solution to the problem is simply having the department/division/school/"whoever has the authority" to mandate that only a certain percentage of each grade can be given in a course. One can use a normal curve to justify such a scheme (but one will have problems with such a justification) or other criteria such as "no more than 15% of a class can be 'A' ". Ties on the borderline will simply have to cry about it. Some people will probably applaud this solution, some will say that it is worse than the problem it addresses. I guess it all has to do with how one thinks about the distribution of intelligence in our students, how many really "deserve" a certain grade, how many do work"we" are satistfied with, etc. Personal Anecdote Department: back some time in 1990s I remember reading an article (popular magazine, not a journal) about grade inflation at, I believe, Stanford (though it may have been one of the Ivy League schools). Apparently students were receiving only As and Bs in courses. The reason for this appeared to be that student could drop a course without consequence up to the 12th or so week in the semester. So, students who saw that they were failing going in the final weeks could drop the course with their G.P.A. unaffected. I think that they changed the policy after it became public but my memory isn't so good on that point. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:18:13 -0800, Karl Wuensch wrote: > At my university, the undergraduate catalog defines grades this way: >A -- excellent >B -- good >C -- average >D -- barely passed >F -- failed >I -- incomplete > > So, "C" is "average," eh? To check this definition I downloaded >all grades for undergraduate courses for the just completed semester. Here is >the distribution of final grades: >A -- 38% >B -- 30% >C -- 18% >D -- 7% >F -- 7% >I-- 1% > >Mode = A, Mean = B, Median = B. > > I have proposed that the catalog be updated to read this way: > >A - Average >B - Barely average >C - Could have been average if the student had attended class, read >the book, completed the assignments, etc. >D - did worse than Dubya >F - Failed, but if the student begs enough for post hoc extra credit, this >can be changed. >I - I am still trying to decide whether to give the student an A after e put >so >much effort into persuading me it is not e's that e did not get an A and that >I >would be responsible for ruining e's life if I gave any grade other than an A. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From: Christopher D. Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] >Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 12:16 PM >To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) >Subject: Re: [tips] lazy American students > >Nicely stated, Chris. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
