Harvard Crimson -Student Reaction to Grade Inflation Report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not the fault of the faculty who are frustrated, or the students who can't cope with rigor. If they were admitted, it's been taken for granted that they have what it takes to succeed with rigorous classes. If a large number of admitted students are trying but can't cope, it is a problem with the admissions process, and admissions officers need to learn to do better to admit students who are academically prepared for a rigorous college education.

If they only made the SAT test reasonably difficult and also required, all of these dumb kids who can't earn an A in social sciences would have been weeded out from the start already. Coincidence that now that there's pressure to do away with AA and DEI, suddenly standards are raised? Seriously, in the information age, how could anyone with a functioning brain do poorly at any of these regurgitative majors? And if you're here to dispute what was just written, count yourself among that group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They also need to focus on the professor side of the coin: general disinterest in teaching undergrads and lack of engagement with them. Harvard is known for that, and I believe it's the primary reason the UG reputation is rather weak.

Not sure how Harvard does it but they need to get rid of teacher evaluations by students. There's a correlation with poor effort and lack of attendance leading to poor evaluations when grades inevitably suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if there were less grade inflation across the board, students would have less pressure and feel that they needed to maintain perfect grades. It’s a paradoxical effect where by making high school
and college easier, well meaning administrators have actually made things more stressful. The Atlantic actually had an article about this not too long ago.

This whole discussion reminds me of many job seekers these days who tell their interviewer that thy are looking for a job that has no stress.

The belief that you can be an adult without experiencing stress is apparently the price we pay for having created a relatively stable society.

[Anonymous]

Harvard is becoming a parody of themselves. They are at the point where they have become the University of Phoenix of the east.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They also need to focus on the professor side of the coin: general disinterest in teaching undergrads and lack of engagement with them. Harvard is known for that, and I believe it's the primary reason the UG reputation is rather weak.

Not sure how Harvard does it but they need to get rid of teacher evaluations by students. There's a correlation with poor effort and lack of attendance leading to poor evaluations when grades inevitably suffer.

I don't think Harvard cares much about student evaluations, if they even use them. It's the publish or perish culture that results in indifference to UG teaching, and that won't change. A highly motivated student can get a solid, even excellent UG education but they need to know how to work this particular system. Use office hours, get to know professors to the degree possible, seek out smaller classes etc.

[Anonymous]

Do any of you actually have a student at Harvard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the fault of the faculty who are frustrated, or the students who can't cope with rigor. If they were admitted, it's been taken for granted that they have what it takes to succeed with rigorous classes. If a large number of admitted students are trying but can't cope, it is a problem with the admissions process, and admissions officers need to learn to do better to admit students who are academically prepared for a rigorous college education.

SAT/ ACT scores were required for this years freshman class. Test optional is over
If they only made the SAT test reasonably difficult and also required, all of these dumb kids who can't earn an A in social sciences would have been weeded out from the start already. Coincidence that now that there's pressure to do away with AA and DEI, suddenly standards are raised? Seriously, in the information age, how could anyone with a functioning brain do poorly at any of these regurgitative majors? And if you're here to dispute what was just written, count yourself among that group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you actually have a student at Harvard?

I do. This article doesnt resonate

My kid was accepted to multiple ivies , top 10s, schools this board considers “rigorous” - I don’t think they are unqualified to be there


My kid is at every class, optional office hours , guest speakers

They are are working hard but also trying to soak up the intellectual experience

They were also attracted to the robust extracurriculars (not the consulting clubs per se) - but they do like that kids actually care about activities and take them seriously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They also need to focus on the professor side of the coin: general disinterest in teaching undergrads and lack of engagement with them. Harvard is known for that, and I believe it's the primary reason the UG reputation is rather weak.

Not sure how Harvard does it but they need to get rid of teacher evaluations by students. There's a correlation with poor effort and lack of attendance leading to poor evaluations when grades inevitably suffer.

Absolutely agree. The teaching evaluations have no merit and just feed the entitlement of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They also need to focus on the professor side of the coin: general disinterest in teaching undergrads and lack of engagement with them. Harvard is known for that, and I believe it's the primary reason the UG reputation is rather weak.

Not sure how Harvard does it but they need to get rid of teacher evaluations by students. There's a correlation with poor effort and lack of attendance leading to poor evaluations when grades inevitably suffer.

You must be a prof

Absolutely agree. The teaching evaluations have no merit and just feed the entitlement of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About a quarter of students at Harvard are prepared for the rigor. They are not admitting kids who are academically prepared.

Is that why your kids won’t be accepted? The problem is this age group. They normalized non-gender, safe space, they are dramatic and almost everything causes them anxiety. They are open about their mental health issues and discuss them loudly. This is a generalization but not uncommon.

Don’t worry about Harvard students. They’ll be fine.

It should be the job of a university to weed these people out, not encourage (and reward) this behavior.

[Anonymous]

Mean IQ at MIT could be as high as 30 points above that of Harvard( undergraduate school)

[Anonymous]

Screams anti-merit admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they don’t place as much weight on being academically prepared as they used to. the current social engineering crusade is more focused on choosing diamonds in the rough. maybe a generation ago, they would go deeper into the ranks at a top feeder hs, knowing these kids made it through a tough HS curriculum,
but now, preference is given to say a valedictorian at a podunk rural HS with SAT of 1300/school average 900, versus like a top 15% at a place like TJ or Stuyvesant and SAT 1550+, because they think it’s less “impressive”. Whereas I’d say the TJ kid likely had a much much harder high school experience, and is still being judged by higher
standards.

this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not the fault of the faculty who are frustrated, or the students who can't cope with rigor. If they were admitted, it's been taken for granted that they have what it takes to succeed with rigorous classes. If a large number of admitted students are trying but can't cope, it is a problem with the admissions process, and admissions officers need to learn to do better to admit students who are academically prepared for a rigorous college education.

Exactly. It's not the students or professors' fault, it's the admission's team for "match-making" so poorly and picking the wrong individuals for the class. Try harder, Harvard AOs. I feel bad for both the students who are struggling and the professors who think they are lacking.