Harvard considers capping A’s to curb grade inflation

[Anonymous]

You're the ones that raised them that it's Harvard or bust and screamed at them when they got a B- on a middle school test because it would blow up their chances of Harvard. Of course they're instinctively terrified of non-perfection. You reap what you sow.

[Anonymous]

They may do something but it won’t be this drastic. No school wants a system where the hooked kids are obviously at the bottom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's just dumb. If you take the tippy top, grinding students and put them all together, it's not unreasonable to think that these kids can continue to achieve at the highest levels. And yes, it will make them nuttier than they already are. The professors shouldn't give out A's just because, but if the papers and tests meet their standard, it's not weird that more than half the class of the kinds of students who get admitted can meet them.

No. I’ve taught at one of HYP, and there’s a huge variation in student performance!

So grade accordingly. A preordained arbitrary percentage of the class destined to receive any particular grade makes no sense. Do you want to be in control of how to assess performance in your class or do want to have follow outside imposed grading rules?

[Anonymous]

The funny thing is a number of posters here likely have kids at high schools with the same current philosophy (every gets one) as Harvard.

[Anonymous]

At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

[Anonymous]

I think A's should be given out if it meets the teacher's standard of A work. If zero students meet A work, no one gets an A. If there is a strong cohort for a certain semester and half of the class deserves A for their quality work, then that is what is deserved. It makes no sense to cap grades as long as it meets the standard. This leads to unnecessary competition rather than a collaborative environment.

This goes for Harvard or any schoool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

You sound like you spend a lot of time at Harvard, or is this just speculation on a tiny sample of data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're the ones that raised them that it's Harvard or bust and screamed at them when they got a B- on a middle school test because it would blow up their chances of Harvard. Of course they're instinctively terrified of non-perfection. You reap what you sow.

True

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

You sound like you spend a lot of time at Harvard, or is this just speculation on a tiny sample of data?

I went there, but after I graduated I was involved and am still really involved with certain groups I was a part of and advising current students (I live nearby).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

hmmmm. The old boomers and gen Xers I know that went to Harvard are very smart. Nice and well rounded are not the other words that come to mind. Harvard has taken academically oriented freaks for a long time. always exceptions of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

+1

Harvard didn't even have a Consulting Club or Financial Analysts Club or any of that 20 years ago. Now they not only have those, kids kill themselves as freshmen trying to apply and get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're the ones that raised them that it's Harvard or bust and screamed at them when they got a B- on a middle school test because it would blow up their chances of Harvard. Of course they're instinctively terrified of non-perfection. You reap what you sow.

But that’s precisely because one thought high school is much easier than Harvard! So AAA —> ABC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Harvard, you used to have a lot of nice, well-rounded, very smart kids who took getting Bs in stride and really wanted to learn and enjoy the college experience.

Now it's a bunch of pre-professional kids who were packaged for Harvard and are gunning for certain career paths the minute they set foot on campus and aren't there to learn but rather just want to pile up As on their transcript in order to fulfill those goals.

+1

Those nice, well rounded kids from middle class and upper middle class families now go to other schools.