Substantiating Fears of Grade Inflation, Dean Says Median Grade at Harvard College Is A-

Harvard Crimson ^ | December 4, 2013 | MATTHEW Q. CLARIDA and NICHOLAS P. FANDOS

[Old Yeller]

Has anyone other than Ted Kennedy ever flunked out of Harvard?

[Rockpile]

I’ve heard about the richest man in Cambridge, Mass.—————— he’s the guy with the Crayola franchise.

[BlueStateRightist]

All in the name of egalitarianism. If everyone gets an “A” or “A-” then we truly know how brilliant people like BHO and Moochelle are.

[Vigilanteman]

Back when I went to college, an average effort with an average result earned you a "C". Maybe a C+ if the professor was soft.

I took an advanced accounting class during one of those short semesters (2 hour classes, 3 days per week for 9 weeks rather than the normal 18), averaged a 93% and got a B. I was livid. I went to the professor to complain. He told me the short semester classes attracted the most serious students and he curve graded. The whole class did so well that 96% was the cut-off point for an A-.

[FateAmenableToChange]

Mathematically, this is irrelevant if employers rely on class rank. Four years of college courses giving either an A or an A- will provide enough separate grades for enough separate courses that you can establish a class rank for the students that is almost the same as if the teachers gave grades on a 5 point scale.

[PapaBear3625]

Has anyone other than Ted Kennedy ever flunked out of Harvard?

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, after realizing that there was nothing they were likely to teach him that would make it worthwhile to potentially miss his window of opportunity in the small computer revolution.

[Vigilanteman]

I've often felt that student evaluations should be given no sooner than one year after a student graduates. Some 30 years later, I remember the best and worst professors. The average ones, not so much.

The best were the best not because they gave easy grades, but because they gave life lessons which I still find useful.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Political correctness has rendered the Liberal Arts side of Harvard irrelevant

[catnipman]

That’s good for prospective employers to know: “A-” is the new “C” for Harvard graduates.

[riverdawg]

“Mathematically, this is irrelevant if employers rely on class rank. Four years of college courses giving either an A or an A- will provide enough separate grades for enough separate courses that you can establish a class rank for the students that is almost the same as if the teachers gave grades on a 5 point scale.”

That’s how most law schools operate. It’s all about class rank. Grades are irrelevant.

[riverdawg]

“Has anyone other than Ted Kennedy ever flunked out of Harvard?”

Ted was suspended for two years from Harvard for cheating on a Spanish exam. (He had a friend take the exam for him.) After a brief enlistment in the ARMY, Ted re-enrolled and ultimately graduated. To the everlasting shame of my alma mater, the University of Virginia, Ted was admitted to its law school despite his record as a cheat.

[Katya]

Back when I was in Uni, I rented a room in a student boarding house, one of my flat mates was a Japanese grad student. Apparently the Harvard grading system is what Uni’s in Japan use... the students work so hard in the years before and during High School to get into University... that once there it’s a much more relaxed attitude.

It’s not as if the students at Harvard aren’t already highly intelligent... and I’ve heard the same stories about soft grading from all the ivy league schools.

Frankly I’m much more concerned about the fleecing of American students by various state Universities... some of them allow students with barely rudimentary skills entrance as long as they’re out of state students. This way they collect the rather steep out of state tuition, by way of the student loans that pay for it.