When grades become meaningless.
Over the weekend, the Washington Post had a column about grade inflation written by Alicia Shepard,
a journalism professor at American University. The piece didn't
approach the subject from the perspective of documenting the existence
of grade inflation, though; that much was (and is) assumed to be true.
Instead, Shepard relates how she and and other teachers regularly get
harrassed (or even bribed!) by students to whom they give grades lower
than an A, students who almost certainly don't deserve As for
their work but who feel that anything less is an insult to them.
Similarly, she points out the growing feeling among teachers that a
college education is shifting from being a privilege to being a
consumer product, and that the shift is bringing with it a belief that
the cost of the education alone justifies good grades, irrespective of
the amount of work a student does to earn them. It's all a bit
eye-opening, and a truly sad statement about education in America. [Q Daily News]