Word: grades
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Aside from wanting them to be higher than they already are (if you don't fit into this category you are either a deranged upper Group I student or flunking out) the major concern that has recently emerged is grade inflation...
Everyone seems to think that the grades have exploded at major universities and that something should be done about it; everyone except students presently enrolled at those universities. The grade inflation "crisis" has been fed by the media's recent obsession, coupled with the rantings of individuals like Keenan Professor of Government Harvard C(-). Mansfield '53. As a result, most people who see grades from top schools, including recruiters and employers, assume that they are artificially high...
Harvard has been anxious to change its reputation to ensure that no one thinks the number one University in the country is too easy. The recent trend, for those of you who have not yet been frustrated by it, has been against grade inflation. What this means, no one is really sure--but one thing is certain: it is hurting Harvard students...
First, all those people crying for grade reform at Harvard should look at the situation and realize its not that bad. No matter what Mansfield says, high grades are not that easy to get at this school--As still require significant work. On the other end of the scale, getting Cs is now harder in most classes than it used to be and Bs can generally be counted on. But, it's not those Bs you hear complaints about, it's the number...
When I was a first-year I heard about all these courses that were supposedly "guts," such as "Heroes for Zeroes" and "Jesus and the Easy Life." Well, I soon discovered I could not find a class that had a low work-load and an easy grading scale. The moral of this story is that you can avoid work in a class at Harvard, but its virtually impossible to have a work-gut be an easy grade too. (If you find one let me know.) It seems Harvard has been trying to remove the really easy courses, and others, like...