Posted on 12/31/2022 9:39:51 AM PST by george76
When people think of elite higher education, we think of Harvard University. But, if one academic trend is anything to go by, Harvard is turning into a joke.
A recent column in the Harvard Crimson makes it clear that the university is becoming a glorified academic daycare where every student gets a trophy or, in this case, an A. The average GPA at Harvard is now 3.8 ... out of 4.0, according to Crimson data analyst Aden Barton.
That’s up from 3.3 in 1991. Are we supposed to believe that college students are just that much smarter now than decades ago?
Nope. College, even at the most elite universities, is just getting a whole lot easier. Harvard actually had to abolish the “Dean’s List” because it became such a joke that by its final year, 92% of students were receiving the “award.” The same fate may await GPAs at Harvard, seeing as, according to Barton, “if grade inflation continues at its 2021-2022 pace, for example, the average GPA of the Class of 2028 would be over 4.0.”
This phenomenon is called grade inflation, and it’s not just happening at Harvard. Research by Stuart Rojstaczer has found that grades at almost all colleges have significantly inflated in recent decades, with A's now becoming the most common grade given out.
...
Rojstaczer theorizes that this is in part due to the increasing and exorbitant cost of college, creating an era in higher education in which “students are consumers.” When they’re paying tens of thousands of dollars each year, they feel entitled to good grades and put enormous pressure on colleges to cough them up so they can get good jobs and recoup that investment. (Of course, the flip side is that when good grades become so common, they can no longer serve that purpose!)
Universities are so desperate to keep the money flowing in that they’ll do whatever students want, including giving out A's like candy on Halloween.
...
Why does all this matter?
Well, for one, it sabotages the spirit of meritocracy that has long underpinned American exceptionalism. When everybody gets A's, there’s no real reward for those who worked hard or excelled — meaning there’s much less incentive to do so.
It also discourages risk-taking because if you by some chance get a B, it’s suddenly an enormous outlier. As Barton explains , “grade compression ultimately perverts the liberal arts education, which should center on risk-taking and pushing oneself intellectually instead of sheltering in ‘easy-A’ classes. Harvard hopes that its ‘liberal arts and sciences philosophy encourages students to step outside their comfort zone,’ but how can students ever exhibit genuine curiosity or experiment academically when the potential damage to one’s transcript is so high?”
American economic excellence and innovation have long depended on our renowned higher education system. So, its evident corruption should concern and frustrate us all — not just those of us old enough to have a few B's on our transcripts.
Helmet Nielsen’s Thermo Class. The only place where absolute zero existed
In the past it was rather different, and even now, some people posting from down there have strange ideas about what was right and what was wrong.
Harvard built a Memorial Hall in the 1870s to honor its fallen Union alumni. There's been discussion about whether to honor the Confederate alumni in another chapel where those who fought in other wars are named. So far it hasn't happened, but to honor them in the Memorial Hall (assuming there's room there, which I don't think there is) would be to alter the original meaning and purpose of the place. For whatever it's worth, I notice that Yale honors all its fallen alumni in all wars, but they built their memorial later, well after the Civil War.
I think you are about 20 years late on that assessment. It has just gone further and further into the abyss since then.
My error via voice text doesn’t change the fact X that you were wrong as usual Blinded by your prejudice over slavery or whatever little happened to the poor black race boo-hoo
Why call Rocky are you afraid of me
bkmk
You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can’t tell him much.
My uncle graduated from Harvard, and he’s about as sharp as a sack full of wet mice.
Mem Hall does not remember any of those students who fought for the Confederacy.
No. That's only their most recent poor decision.
I said that. It was begun in 1870 and finished in 1878 and they weren’t going to honor the people they’d just been fighting against. Princeton and Yale have memorial halls that were built after the First World War when things were different.
Reminds me of OZ giving Scarecrow a diploma. It’s getting there.
Wizard of Oz:
They have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma. Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of ThD.
Scarecrow:
ThD?
Wizard of Oz:
That’s... Doctor of Thinkology.
YES, yes it is.
And it’s a damn shame.
But the whole education system should be abolished.
It does, sort of! Memorial Hall is a monument to Confederate marksmanship!!!!
Memorial Church remembers a Harvard Divinity School grad who died fighting for Nazi Germany. The least they could do is to remember their Confederates, perhaps with a brand new monument!!!!
Some of the women and minority deans are OK. Others are a disaster! Admissions is a disaster, too!
Incoming Harvard president Gay was a dean before corrupt Penny Pritzger made her Harvard president. Harvard rushed to make that internal choice, when it could have taken more time to search the academic world for the excellent, conservative president (probably a scientist) it needed. Horrors!
Nevertheless, Happy New Year!
MIT used a 5 point scale, instead of 4. A company I interviewed with lost all enthusiasm when they learned my A- GPA was really a B-. And I learned to keep my mouth shut.
Perhaps if you’re an affirmative action student, grade inflation allows you to graduate. Of course, the degree won’t be worth anything if this keeps up.
The 3.5 to 4.0’s are fewer and may rule the roost...
but the 2.5’s to 3.5’s grease the gears and keep the ship afloat...
The 2.5 to 3.5’s are greater in number and the economy would not function without them; over time in their simple doing of their jobs, this group become’s as knowledgeable as the 3.5 to 4.0’s in general were just out of the gate.
It least it was generally true before 2005.
In my day, the only info MIT gave out was what quarter of your class you graduated in.
I was in the upper quarter of my class. This concealed my C average in math and physics.
However, I used my math to get a B in physical chemistry (when all too many flunked the course). Then I used my math and physics for part of my PhD thesis in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard. So C average MIT math and physics students can do OK!
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