Grade Inflation In The United States
Grade inflation
Grade inflation has been here for a long time now. Grade inflation is when teachers overestimate the work of their students and give them more than what they deserve. This started when the Vietnam war was going on, teachers used to give students a higher grade so that they don’t get forced into joining the war. Although the war is over grade inflation is still in play but now teachers are doing it for other reasons. They might do it because of the pressure from their students, peers or maybe even parents. Nowadays grade inflation is one of the most controversial topics. Some people think it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to our education system, others think that it has some benefits.
You might think that grade inflation …show more content…
According to Shepard (2005) there are two reasons for grade inflation. First she talks about how colleges turned into a “consumer product”. As Shepard (2005) explains “Pure and simple, tuition at a private college runs, on average, nearly $28,000 a year. If parents pay that much, they expect nothing less than A’s in return” (p.452). In other words, people think that if they pay for college they want straight A’s no matter how hard they work. The second reason is “helicopter parents”, these are the parent who are watching their kids every move. They want their kids to do so well that they end up pressuring them, which then leads the students to turn to grade …show more content…
Here are some ways to combat the so-called problem. Slavov (2013) points out a solution that Princeton used in 2004, they issued a rule that would restrict the number of A’s an undergraduate class can get. She claims that it was “successful in lowering grades” for a while but Princeton stopped doing that. Additionally, Shepard (2005) claims that Harvard reduced the number of people graduating with honors to 50%. These are some solutions universities have used to combat grade inflation. There are also other solutions that the universities did not yet try, for example, Slavov (2013) suggests that you remove the restriction of the highest grade. What that means is that an A+ is no longer the highest grade, you instead introduce a higher grade in order to spread out the grades at the top of the
Grade inflation has been here for a long time now. Grade inflation is when teachers overestimate the work of their students and give them more than what they deserve. This started when the Vietnam war was going on, teachers used to give students a higher grade so that they don’t get forced into joining the war. Although the war is over grade inflation is still in play but now teachers are doing it for other reasons. They might do it because of the pressure from their students, peers or maybe even parents. Nowadays grade inflation is one of the most controversial topics. Some people think it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to our education system, others think that it has some benefits.
You might think that grade inflation …show more content…
According to Shepard (2005) there are two reasons for grade inflation. First she talks about how colleges turned into a “consumer product”. As Shepard (2005) explains “Pure and simple, tuition at a private college runs, on average, nearly $28,000 a year. If parents pay that much, they expect nothing less than A’s in return” (p.452). In other words, people think that if they pay for college they want straight A’s no matter how hard they work. The second reason is “helicopter parents”, these are the parent who are watching their kids every move. They want their kids to do so well that they end up pressuring them, which then leads the students to turn to grade …show more content…
Here are some ways to combat the so-called problem. Slavov (2013) points out a solution that Princeton used in 2004, they issued a rule that would restrict the number of A’s an undergraduate class can get. She claims that it was “successful in lowering grades” for a while but Princeton stopped doing that. Additionally, Shepard (2005) claims that Harvard reduced the number of people graduating with honors to 50%. These are some solutions universities have used to combat grade inflation. There are also other solutions that the universities did not yet try, for example, Slavov (2013) suggests that you remove the restriction of the highest grade. What that means is that an A+ is no longer the highest grade, you instead introduce a higher grade in order to spread out the grades at the top of the