Grade Inflation: An Elusive Phenomenon Term Paper

There are wide variations of college quality and standards vary in terms of rigor even within institutions like Harvard depending on student's majors and course choice. For employers, the question of grade inflation is only partially a problem when comparing student grades -- it is hard to measure a student's effort and achievement based upon GPA alone between institutions or majors, or even professors.

On an individual level, nothing is more frustrating for a student to receive C. In a course with different standards than the other student's classes. This is a disincentive to experiment, and to take harder classes, or to take classes from difficult and demanding professors. But on the other hand, it is almost impossible to set a rigid standard for all classes without impinging upon academic freedom in the classroom, even if it may mean harder but good professors get fewer students -- they will not 'go out of business' in a tenure-based system like an overly expensive store.A better solution to the problem might be the end of grades altogether or for employers to consider not grades, but other factors, like extracurricular activities and student engagement with research-based activities like doing a senior thesis. "As Russ Edgerton of the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning notes: 'What counts most is what students DO in college, not who they are, or where they go to college, or what their grades are'" (Merrow 2007).

Works Cited

Kohn, Alfie. (2002, Nov 18). "The dangerous myth of grade inflation." The Chronicle of Higher Education. 49.1: B7. Retrieved 15 Mar 2008 at http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/gi.htm

Merrow, John (2007). "Grade inflation: It's not just an issue for the Ivy League." Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Retrieved….....