Suggestions to incoming 2014, re: Grade Deflation

rauduong
Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:54:03 +0000

Councilmember: I think your response is fair and I respect your concerns. I remember reading these forums a lot last Spring. I was worried and I didn’t know if I would regret choosing Princeton. My motivation is to help convince people not to get bogged down by this detail.

There have always been a lot of people who have negative opinions about grade deflation. Let me be clear that I would rather there be no grade deflation, but this doesn’t stop me from trying to help people have a good attitude about what exists.

This transitions to my response to randombetch: (Hi, by the way. Thanks for posting; I know you were active on CC during this time last year, and I learned a lot from you as well.)

You’re right to point out that I didn’t address the cultural and atmospheric impact of grade deflation. I’m trying to be realistic and optimistic at the same time, and it’s helped me deal with my workload so far. I think if more people agreed with me or found their own reasons to not be caught up in grade deflation, we can avoid a negative impact of grade deflation on campus.

I agree that grade deflation deserves fair consideration when choosing between other top tier schools. However, I do encourage greater consideration for things like financial aid and personality/academic-goal compatibility.

And, I’ve had my fair share of courses where I felt the effect of grade deflation, particularly my upper-level Spanish course and Writing Seminar. I wanted to feel frustrated that “Great work!” was accompanied by a B-range grade, but its importance diminished.

As I continue my career at Princeton, my optimism and cheerfulness is likely to be tested. But, here’s to hoping that the student body and I are happy rather than cynical!

Thanks for the note about german_car. I saved time by not replying to him.