Faculty at Princeton recently voted to reverse a grade deflation policy which was established at the school 10 years ago. Dean of Princeton’s undergraduate college Valerie A. Smith said the committee which recommended the policy be repealed “believes that the concept of consistent standards has been interpreted primarily to mean consistent grades,” but that “meaningful standards should be course- and discipline-specific.”
A grade deflation policy in the Ivy Leagues may be described more accurately as a grade normalization policy, as it is meant to counteract the grade inflation that occurs at Ivy League schools. Though there are no official records of students’ grades, some professors and administrators have confirmed the average grade at Harvard is an A minus, whereas in 1950 it was a C plus. And about 90 percent of Harvard students graduate with Honors.
According to the Economist, grades are inflated to keep the vast majority of students and parents happy. It is difficult to break away from the trend of giving out high marks, because professors know students are less likely to take classes with professors who have reputations for grading harshly. However, inflated grades are particularly frustrating for employers who have trouble determining which students truly are the highest achievers. And this lack of distinction negatively affects the high achievers just as much, because they would struggle to prove their excellence to employers or graduate schools in comparison to their peers. A grade deflation policy counteracts these negative effects, ensuring students truly deserve the grades they earn.
The Princeton policy recommended no more than 35 percent of students in a given course get A’s. With the abolishment of this policy, individual departments will determine their own standards for grading. Professors and administrators should always have the course- and discipline-specific standards for their grading systems that Smith referred to. Grade inflation sometimes happens when professors do not assign much work. But students should be expected to complete a challenging workload in order to actually earn an A.
Departments can establish their own standards, but there are likely to be inconsistencies. A policy that limits the amount of high marks across all departments prevents students in different majors from being graded by different arbitrary standards. Inconsistencies could also result in students gravitating toward courses in departments with more lax standards, which would create a problem similar to the one where professors feel pressure to grade less harshly to lure students back to their classes.
While every student may want to get an A, such an outcome is not realistic. Though these students are arguably more intelligent because they have been admitted to the most selective schools, the desire to attend a school in the Ivy League should come with a readiness for an especially challenging curriculum.
Professors should set high standards for their students, but a university-wide grade policy will be necessary to make sure those standards are sufficient to produce a good distribution of marks. Inflated grades undermine the values of hard work and academic integrity. Receiving poor grades may be disappointing, but high marks mean nothing unless there is something to compare them to.
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