Word: grades
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Crusaders against grade inflation complain that Harvard's system has lost its evaluative power. Too many students earn Bs and As, they say, while too few receive the lower grades needed to legitimize the system. They have proposed solutions ranging from harsher curves within classes to a revamping of the 15-point scale. Yet no one has suggested the most obvious alternative. If grades fail to measure students' abilities and effort, why bother giving them...
Likewise, students themselves use grades to gage their abilities. The first-year who enters Harvard as, say, an aspiring biologist might choose an alternative field of concentration after earning consistently low grades in the field. We could view this as unfortunate; after all, it takes time to learn the knack of a new field. What a waste for an enthusiastic mind to turn sour due to one poor grade...
Some might argue that without a transcript to prove their college success, students would lose an edge after graduation. But if grade inflation truly is a problem now, Harvardians' transcripts already look alike...
However, the Faculty Council also makes decisions about such issues as grade inflation policies, the status of ethnic studies at the University, the guidelines for sexual harassment and the speech code on campus. It is here that controversial and difficult policies receive their most careful scrutiny and frank discussion...
Call me a communist, but I wanted to go back to third grade...