Comments about ‘Grade inflation is academic dishonesty, and it's hurting our future’

Interesting article. It seems we are inflating grades and inflating students with empty pride at the same time.

You can put more people in school, and that is always better than the alternative, but you cannot change the underlying fact that the average IQ is 100. Some college, any college is good for society. Schools are trying to compensate for the reality of intelligence, it won't work.

I taught school for 34 years. In the last 10 years of my career, I was fortunate enough to teach AP English in a downtown SLC highschool. The last 2 years I taught, I noticed the AP English Literature test was MUCH easier than it had been. Very little poetry for example.
I wrote the College Board two years in a row to ask why. They sent me an article each year from a magazine stating that according to statistics, minority students couldn't get into universities because they couldn't pass the AP tests. So they decided to dumb-down the tests! That's when I decided I was outta there. Academic excellence was very important to me.
Grade inflation is only 1/2 of the academic problem in America. Students today will not know important things adults do about a variety of subjects. Multi-cultural literature for example has replaced to a large extent the great classics we all read, found difficult, but cherished. It is a great pity! Where are we headed?

All grades are an anachronism. The only thing that demonstrates progress (or lack of it) is an objective test score with baseline data. Easy.

Teaching and testing are rife with problems! The traditional system is for tests to be punitive--whatever points you miss are lost forever. There is tremendous pressure for teachers to hit certain averages rather than set high standards, so tests become easier and students dumber. I've been waiting for the ship of academia to change course, but have finally decided to instead "jump ship" and steer my rowboat the direction I think we should head. I want tests in my classes to be formative so students can see their weaknesses, and I want a system for them to reassess as they improve their knowledge in those areas. Hence, I'm switching to many small tests focused on specific skills rather than large unit tests. Each test will randomly draw only 5 (challenging) questions from a test bank on that topic. A student can take the test again and again through the semester until they master the topic--and their highest scores will be the ones kept. Those who master a topic will then help others with it. We will also have summative assessments (comprehensive final), but my students will be well prepared by that point in time!

Didn't Obama go to Harvard? Oh GW Bush also, and Merril Cook, Oh and John Kerry!! Now I see it all coming together. We need to start electing leaders that go to state schools.

Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.
Dash: [muttering] Which is another way of saying no one is.

The above quote from the movie "The Incredibles" is at least one major part of what is wrong with our education system today. Not everyone is special, half the population is below average, and higher education is not for everyone.

Of course with our nations universities filled with liberal faculty what do you expect? What type of job gives you tenure? If you have been at IBM for 20 years and then start to suck at your job thy will let you go. It breeds excellence instead of mediocrity. Academia on the other hand not only congratulates mediocrity but even rewards it with more pay and more job security.

This is the ultimate result of no child left behind. If high schools are forced to graduate illiterate students then colleges are forced to follow suit or be sued by the student for not acknowledging their awarded diploma! college can not fix what has already been destroyed by an education system which refuses to fail those who need dont meet a minimum standard. This is what treating everyone alike gets. Dont blame teachers blame the federal government for imposing rules to pass everyone instead of only those who deserve to be progressed.

is Academic achivement Obfuscation, not academic achivement dishonesty.

Here's the problem: I'm evaluated for raises and tenure partly based on student evaluations. If my students like me because I'm nice, that's good. If I assign a lot of homework, I grade it stringently, and I hold the students to a high standard, I'm a "mean" teacher. Two results: I get bad evaluations and I get a bad reputation on campus ("Avoid Professor X.") I know I'm being mercenary, but I've got a family and career: I've got to be concerned about student evals--at least until I get tenure.

My colleague in spirit (Professor X) has it right. I'm tenured, but was denied promotion to a higher rank SOLELY on the basis of student evaluations. The comments were uniformly about grading "too hard" and being "unsympathetic" about attempts to turn in late work. "Nice" professors (and that is the word they use) are "understanding" about such things regardless of the length of time students have had to do basic work. "Nice" professors don't count spelling and grammar. A faculty member who gives 40% college course credit(!) for attendance alone, had no problems.

But on the subject of Obama going to Harvard, just because there is grade inflation does not mean there are not brilliant students out there. Listening to him and reading what he has written is an indication of his skills. Read some of Sarah Palin's responses to Katie Couric if you want to see the difference. Critical, logical thinking and the clear expression of those ideas in grammatically correct sentences is now a rarity in my grading life. There are still excellent students, but those with lower achievement are getting the same high grades as those who are truly deserving.

Um, I don't think Obama would be a prime example of what brilliant students that are out there. Politicians does not equate brilliance. It equates ambition. Two very, very different attributes.