I believe there is grade inflation nation-wide but I am willing to cut Harvard
some flack. They have become increasingly elite, and if they retain fixed
standards for grades, grades should creep up. I am not necessarily defending A-
as the modal grade. Here is some data from Chapter 1 of the Bell Curve. If it
seems choppy, it is because I am piecing together info from different places in
Ch 1.
In 1926 the first SATs were administered and the average Ivy League & Seven
Sister IQs (estimated from SAT) was about 117 (87th percentile). In contrast,
the average student at a Pennsylvania college or university had an estimated IQ
of 107 (though the "top" schools in Pennsylvania had IQs in the "75th to 90th"
percentile range) according to the Carnegie Foundation. By the 1960s, while the
Pennsylvania students moved upward to an average of 89th percentile in IQ
(about 119 or so), students at Harvard increased more to the 99th percentile
(130 plus). Harvard became disproportionally elite.
The shift seems to have happened form the 1950s to the 1960s when Harvard
shifted from a northeast "connections" school to a very competitive school
based on SAT scores. In 1952 they accepted about 2/3 of applicants (9/10 if a
father attended) and SAT verbal was 583; It jumped to 678 in 1960. A typical
Harvard freshman of 1952 would have been in the bottom 10% of the 1960 class. A
quick internet search shows there _current_ quartiles for Harvard which means
the trend continues
Test Scores -- 25th / 75th Percentile
* SAT Critical Reading: 700 / 800
* SAT Math: 710 / 790
* SAT Writing: 710 / 800
Interestingly, when I teach Measurement I sometimes refer to these effects to
counter the impression that standardized tests are used to oppress people.
History of their use shows the opposite - they allowed people from different
backgrounds to compete even if they not have family connections or attend the
elite prep schools of New England ...
==========================
John W. Kulig, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Coordinator, Psychology Honors
Plymouth State University
Plymouth NH 03264
==========================
----- Original Message -----
From: "drnanjo" <[email protected]>
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:56:13 AM
Subject: Re: [tips] grade inflation at Harvard and other places
Part of this is a devil's advocate response, and part of this is sincere
curiosity.
Given inflated self-esteem, it’s not a good thing to give them high grades,
because it only encourages a false sense of what they can and cannot do,” he
said
If you are running a top-flight selective institution, that accepts only
high-flying all-A students, why is it shocking and wrong that those students
continue to get As? Unless you are now changing the rules so that some of them
must fail (which seems kind of ethically problematic and mean and punitive to
boot.)
By the way, I am not a fan of "self-esteem" one of the more horses**t
constructs to come out of 20th Century (pop) psychology.
"Here we have a system of numbers by which important decisions about human
beings are made, about their future,” he said, “and those numbers are so lousy
that academics should blush over even publishing them.”
Maybe it speaks to some of the limitations of using numbers or letters for
evaluation of complex and diverse individuals...a common theme in behavioral,
social and health sciences.
My .02
Nancy Melucci
Long Beach City College
et al.
-----Original Message-----
From: Beth Benoit <[email protected]>
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <[email protected]>
Sent: Thu, Dec 5, 2013 5:56 am
Subject: [tips] grade inflation at Harvard and other places
I recall that we discussed grade inflation on TIPS a while ago. This article
appeared in today's Boston Globe.
Beth Benoit
Plymouth State University
New Hampshire
Harvard, other schools still fighting grade inflation
By Marcella Bombardieri Save
Harvard College is facing a new round of disapproval, and even ridicule, from
some educators following news that the most common grade awarded is an A, more
than a decade after professors pledged to combat grade inflation.
Critics say that making top grades the norm cheapens the hard work of the best
students and reinforces the deluded self-regard of many members of the
millennial generation.
Yet Harvard has illustrious company among universities struggling with how to
turn the tide on several decades of rising marks.
Princeton University is reconsidering the grading crackdown it instituted nine
years ago, amid concerns that tougher grades are hurting Princeton graduates’
prospects for jobs and graduate school. At Yale College, where 62 percent of
grades are in the A range, proposals to curb grade inflation are in doubt
following student protests and faculty concern.
Continue reading below
Related
* 12/4: Harvard professor raises grade inflation concerns
Grade inflation is a problem far beyond the Ivy League, although perhaps not
quite as much of a problem, according to Arthur Levine, an education scholar.
For his book “Generation on a Tightrope,” Levine, president of the Woodrow
Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, found in a national survey that 41
percent of students had grade point averages of A-minus or higher in 2009,
compared to just 7 percent in 1969.
“Harvard is leading the nation once again,” Levine said Wednesday, with
considerable irony. “This is a generation which has grown up without skinning
their knees. They’ve all won awards: best trombone player born on April 25.
They’re used to having approbation.
“Given inflated self-esteem, it’s not a good thing to give them high grades,
because it only encourages a false sense of what they can and cannot do,” he
said.
After a Boston Globe analysis in 2001 found that an astonishing 91 percent of
Harvard College students were graduating with honors, officials released data
showing that 48.5 percent of grades were A’s and A-minuses, compared to 33.2
percent who received those marks in 1985.
In response to the uproar that followed, the faculty capped honors — summa,
magna, and cum laude — at 60 percent. They also pledged to award more B’s, a
largely self-policing policy, but deans said they would notify department
chairman when professors were unusually lenient or stringent. For several
years, Harvard officials published annual grade statistics showing that grades
were creeping upward.
In response to a professor’s question at Tuesday’s meeting of the Faculty of
Arts and Sciences, Jay M. Harris, dean of undergraduate education, said that
the median grade awarded to undergraduates is an A-
minus, while the most frequently awarded grade is an A. The news was first
reported by The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.
Harvey C. Mansfield, a government professor who raised the issue, described an
“embarrassed silence” at the meeting, where neither President Drew Faust nor
the deans present commented on the issue. “Essentially, they’ve given up on
it,” said Mansfield, who has long railed against grade inflation.
Still, Mansfield said, he was cheered that he received e-mails from members of
the faculty council who suggested they may review the issue, asking him to
write a memo to put it on their agenda.
Harris did not respond to messages Wednesday, and Harvard spokesman Jeff Neal
would not comment beyond a statement saying that faculty members have elevated
the importance of teaching. “We watch and review trends in grading across
Harvard College, but we are most interested in helping our students learn and
learn well,” he said.
The Crimson editorialized Wednesday against any rigid grading policy,
suggesting that rising grades are “due in part to the rising quality of the
undergraduates themselves.”
Many professors are relatively sanguine about grade inflation. Harry Lewis,
former dean of Harvard College, wrote in his 2006 book, “Excellence without a
Soul,” that grades are meant to be a motivational device to help students learn
and should not be seen mainly as credentials for external consumption.
“The pressure for ‘meaningful’ and stiff grading is anti-educational,” he
wrote, noting that handwringing at Harvard about too many A’s dates to at least
1894.
A few universities emphasize strict grading, or what students unhappily call
“grade deflation.” Boston University has been known for difficult grading for
many years.
In 2004, Princeton set guidelines to limit departments to awarding no more than
35 percent of their grades in the A range.
But this fall, Princeton president Christopher L. Eisgruber asked a committee
to review the policy and whether it has “unintended impacts upon the
undergraduate academic experience.”
According to the student newspaper, the Daily Princetonian, Eisbruber
acknowledged that there is concern that the policy might be affecting the
percentage of admitted students who choose to enroll at Princeton.
Princeton economics professor Uwe E. Reinhardt said “good riddance” to students
who do not want to come to Princeton because it is harder to get an A.
But he worries about whether Princeton graduates suffer when they apply to
graduate schools. Programs that use software to reject applications below a
certain GPA would put Princeton students at a disadvantage, he said.
Reinhardt said he was proud that Princeton has maintained grading standards,
while Harvard “has a lot of egg on its face.”
“Here we have a system of numbers by which important decisions about human
beings are made, about their future,” he said, “and those numbers are so lousy
that academics should blush over even publishing them.”
Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@
globe.com . Follow her on Twitter @GlobeMarcella .
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