Grade Inflation or Really Smart Students?

Work Cited:
Mitchell, Abby. "Students, Profs Talk Grade Inflation.” Columbia Spectator 28 Jan. 2011: n. pag. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. < http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2011/01/28/students-profs-talk-grade-inflation>.

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A leak of a document revealed that approximately one in twelve Columbia undergraduates earned a 4.0 last semester. Retired Duke professor, Stuart Rojstaczer, explains that Columbia’s grades are comparable to other “selective, private institutions that have seen their grades go up since the mid-1980s.”

While a spokesperson from the Division of Student Affairs refused to provide school-wide distributions from last semester (the leak was only from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), past grade distributions are available. Apparently, 52 percent of grades in Columbia College for the 2005-2006 school year were A-minuses or above, 5 percent more than in the year 2000.

Susan Elmes, director of undergraduate studies in the economics department, admits that teachers are reluctant to give grades lower than a B-plus. On the other hand, Jack Snyder, director of undergraduate studies in the political science department, suggests that high achievement at Columbia is not necessarily negative. He calls Columbia and the other Ivy Schools “Lake Wobegone” where the students are all above average in their academic capacities. He asserts that they all should be earning high grades. However, he adds that there should be some sort of grade distribution that allows professors to distinguish between “truly exceptional performance and merely solid achievement.”

I do believe that grade inflation is hurting the value of a college degree. Students of very different intellectual capabilities are coming out with the same grades and entering the workforce. However, I am reluctant to say that I want to be graded more harshly, because I would be afraid that other institutions are still grading more easily and that I will appear to be less competent than someone who is actually less competent than myself. On the other hand, if all schools were to start grading on a higher standard, I would be fine with that because it would be fair.