Harvard Grade Inflation
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Anonymous
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Students are unhappy and stressed because of proposed stricter grading policy.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/harvard-grade-inflation-report-reaction-849ba126?st=3DwfXY&reflink=article_copyURL_share |
Anonymous
| Of course they’re fighting back. It seems like as if the rug has been pulled out from under them. There was a second piece in the WSJ that reports employers devaluing the Ivy League degree because of rampant grade inflation. Apparently, Yale has even worse grade inflation. |
Anonymous
Need to reset average GPAs across the board. Take a look at historic average undergraduate GPAs at Harvard - https://www.gradeinflation.com/Harvard.html Reset to say 1975. Given Harvard’s prestige that seems reasonable when you realize that almost half the US population has only a double digit IQ. Would make sense from a bell curve perspective. |
Anonymous
| I agree with poster above, but GPA reset only works if peer institutions are on board. Otherwise the school with grade deflation puts its own students at a disadvantage. |
Anonymous
| Prisoners dilemma! |
Anonymous
Seriously! Princeton tried to cap A grades back in 2004 but gave up because peer institutions didn't follow suit and its own students became more stressed. Maybe inflation has finally gotten so bad that the idea of grade deflation will be universally palatable. |
Anonymous
| It seems that many students view gaining admission to Harvard as the ultimate achievement — they’ve already worked hard to prove themselves. As a result, some may feel they don’t need to maintain the same level of effort once they’re there. Several parents I’ve spoken with have expressed a similar sentiment: “Getting in is hard, but once you’re in, it’s easy.” |
Anonymous
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This is a much better piece, more well rounded. The Econ and psych freshman quoted toward the end is a friend of DS’ and his attitude represents their peer group.
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Anonymous
The above is a problem at many other colleges, not just Harvard or the Ivies. It's a shame for everyone at these colleges, because there are bright and hardworking kids there, but there are also kids who grifted their way into without ultra-high ability because they had extensive parental help, essay writers, expensive college counseling strategies, etc. In an academically rigorous environment, it would be obvious who these grifters were, and who were the actually brilliant hard-workers. In a grade inflated environment, the kids who were shoehorned in can fly under the radar and get their degree and high GPA. When these kids hit the job market, they drag down the reputation of the schools because it's clear they are just average. My university was notorious for grade deflation back in the day, and that was okay with me because it was well known by employers and graduate schools. If I were a hardworking student at any of the top schools today, I would not be happy with grade inflation because my achievements wouldn't be valued. |
Anonymous
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^ well good lord it’s a MAJOR high school problem.
Kids are at the lowest reading and math levels. And we had to dumb down and change the SAT and ACt to shorter and less choices for the ADHD electronics/phones have created. |
Anonymous
| ^ oh but kids score so much higher nowadays…how many times donivread done idiot posting this on this forum? Daily |
Anonymous
| With AI taking over everything, what is even the point of going to Harvard? |
Anonymous
Because we still need smart humans to do things correctly when AI hallucinates eloquent but wrong answers? |
Anonymous
The problem is ‘smart’ humans are not at Harvard. Harvard has students who are good at getting in.. playing their game, jumping through hoops, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are ‘smart’. |
Anonymous
Sounds exactly like the type of person who gets a good job. |