SharkObsessed

I read a book called "More Sex is Safer Sex" which discusses issues looking at them from an economical standpoint. One of the issues discussed was that in order to prevent grade inflation, teachers should have grade budgets. For example, only five people per class can get an A each semester, then five for a B, etc. That way, students have to compete to earn grades and an A really would be Excellent or whatever it's supposed to mean and a B really would be Above Average like what it's supposed to mean.

Now, I want to ask you all, my fellow CCers, what are your opinions on this subject? Should schools try out these "grade budgets" or should they stick with the grade inflated systems that most already have?

insomniac_01

Wow, that's actually a really intriging concept.

Grades would "actually" be fair then!

Baelor

Yes. My school curves mildly. It works well.

Computerized

Don't some colleges already do that sort of thing? I know Princeton tries to keep the number of As per class to a max of 35%, I think? Something like that.

Sonofschool64

I think it is find as it is, the problem with grade budget is if each student got a 100 in the class, it will be all down to luck and luck should never be a factor when the grade is a reflection of how the student does in the class.

It can also be the opposite way, if students were forced to compete against each other for grades, and 5 people were given A's, people would probably switch to other schools because they would know that only 5 people can get an A.

With this grade budget, I agree that in can raise standards but there is also a huge chance that it can not prepare students for higher level courses because the standard will be set by the "average student" instead of a set standard. If the "average student" was doing his/her best and still can not get to an A because "brighter students" already has all the A's allowed, they will have a strong temptation to just slack off and then it will turn into a cycle and other people in the class slack off. There is a chance that grade budget would be beneficial, but there is also a chance that grade budget would be harmful because it would benefit the "bright" students only while the hard-working "average" ones have to accept the C.

I believe that the grading system is not used to measure how average or above average a student actually is, but I believe that it is used to indicate how the student mastered the content.

So if a student got an A, that means that they exceeded what they need to learn.

The B means that they mastered a bit more than they actually need to learn.
C means that they learned they need.
D means that they learned enough to pass the class
E they mastered less than what is required

Education should not be a competition between people, but rather a journey to learn skills to succeed in the real world.

insomniac_01

My style

A-Average
B-Bad
C-Crap
D-DAMNNNN
F-(Censored) my life.

Baelor

The goal for a class is not to reward bright students any more than they would be rewarded otherwise. Why would the grade curve make it any less fair for the hard-working students than the current system?

Also, the teacher should be writing tests so difficult that no one can get 100 (or just a few people). The distribution should be very clear. That way, no problems with determining grades, and no "luck." (pertains mostly to math and science)

Life is largely a competition. A boss has one spot. Two applicants want the job. Will he hire both? No. See, competition.

frogger_1234

But, if they did it in high school, what if you go to school w/ a bunch of smart people? Even though you could easily get an A at another school, you would have a B on your record. It would make it even harder for colleges to know how good a student is, esp. w/ differences in students in a class from year to year. I know for example the juniors at my school were on average much bettet students than say the sophmores.

insomniac_01

Competition is what life is all about, that's why I want to suicide myself, hahhahahhah.

Baelor

Frogger, your school profile addresses all of that. Grade distribution is laid out very clearly for colleges.

Sonofschool64

I agree grade budget has benefits. But I believe that raising the set standards would be a much more applicable solution to grade inflation. Cause the people who want to go to college will know that they are competing with other people, however they should only be worried about doing their best in their courses in high school as well as enjoying the environment that they learn in. Not thinking" Okay in order to get the A I have to make sure I do a much better job than this person so I will study till 3AM to knock that person down to a B so I can get the A". If this were applied to high school, which probably already is at some schools, then the place where students are supposed to enjoy there years before adulthood would become a very hostile place and people would become too obsessed on "knocking down the lowest of the best". The maturity of high school students may not be able to handle this system. Cause even if there is competition in the real world, there is also respect. Would a boss hire a person who is unable to effectively communicate with other people because of the grade budget system that was used in high school , or would they hire a hard working person who wants to raise the set standards of the company because they learned how to communicate with other co-workers because they came from a school where their friends were glad to guide them to think a learn by him/herself while also working with other people because they were not afraid to drop down a grade because there is no grade budget, but instead a high standard where people have to meet .

rmadden15

It is an interesting idea, but not until I graduate.

Baelor

One possible prevention against ultra-competitiveness is the one that my school embraces: It's loosely graded on a curve, but there's no quota. The median student usually gets a B+. However, if the class is exceptionally strong, that student may receive an A- instead, or there will simply be more higher grades awarded.

jamesford

It's an idea, but how are you to determine the specific numbers for each grade range? And how would it be fair for 5 people to get 95 or above (A's) and the guy who gets 94 (B)?

Another idea would be eliminating letter grades completely and just using percentages. I'm sorry, 99%>>>>>>>>93% (even though my school awards the same GPA for each). Colleges can clearly see grade inflation and rework GPA's on their system.

peachsnapple

my school has grade deflation lol
hardly anyone gets As (and survives)