Kurt Wiesenfeld Making The Grade Summary

“Making the Grade” by Kurt Wiesenfeld, was published in June, 1996, in the Newsweek magazine, explaining the possible threats of grade inflation and cynical grading. After thoroughly analyzing Wiesenfelds article, I was astonished at how critical and potentially dangerous it is, in the present university grading systems, to allow students alleged “potential” to outdo effort and intelligence. Weisenfeld later states, “Last year a light tower in the Olympic Stadium collapsed, killing a worker. It collapsed because an engineer miscalculated how much weight it could hold.” This is completely unacceptable. Engineers do not miscalculate, students working towards their master’s degree do. Once they receive their master’s degree, they should of course, have mastered their profession. This was not the case. Not only does this demonstrate that titles aren’t always properly earned, but also that unqualified persons are flowing through our work system.
To ensure this bright future, Wiesenfeld exploits the main issue, stating, “having been raised on gold stars for effort and smiley faces for self-esteem, they’ve learned that they can get by without hard work and real talent if they can talk the professor into giving them a break.” This simply implies that students have adapted to a norm, so to a certain level, has been socially acceptable yet is self-destructive and socially destructive. Wiesenfeld comments, “These guys had better take themselves seriously now, because our country will be forced to take them seriously later, when the stakes are much higher.” With this quote, he’s illustrating his solution to the problem. By replacing the already established norm with a new one, a serious one, students will learn to value their knowledge and their hard