Learning Objectives. Ability to answer the following questions: Is grade inflation a myth or reality? (Substantiate your answer with statistics. According to Sowell, why did Sumner resign from Harvard? What ethical concerns does Sowell raise regarding grading? What ethical concerns does Sowell raise regarding course offerings? What ethical concerns does Sowell pose regarding Harvard's willingness to graduate some of its students? Should there be social promotion according to deontologists and utilitarians?

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Some people joke about President Bush having earned Cs in college. Was he really such a poor, below-average student?

U.S. News and World Reports discusses the problem of grade inflation in  an article entitled, "Drowning in Applications": "In 1973, just 20 percent of students earned A averages in high school; 30 years later, fully 47 percent did.... In 1983, only 10percent of undergrads at four-year schools had applied to six or more colleges; by last year the figure had jumped to nearly 25 percent."   (December 20,2004, Justin Ewers, page 64)

Thomas Sowell writes an editorial regarding Harvard University President, Lawrence Sumner, who asks instructors to evaluate students fairly, by posting and :maintaining strict standards. These standards would tend to give the brighter, hard-working students the recognition they deserve by earning grades that are higher than their peers who produce poor work:

     Sumners wanted professors not only to teach undergraduates, but o teach introductory courses in a structured curriculum and to sop giving out so many A's that 90 percent of the students graduate with honors.

     Giving out A's wholesale saves the faculty time that would otherwise be taken up by students wanting to know why they received B's, C's, or D's. That time is now available for research, writing and other things with a bigger personal payoff for the faculty.  (Sacrifice sustains character, integrity,  editorial dated 3/8/05, page A5, Norwich Bulletin)

Sowell continues his editorial, not only objecting to the grades given, but to the subjects taught:

     It is far easier to teach whatever narrow subject in which a professor is already doing research. Thus in some colleges there may be a course on the history of motion pictures but no course on the history of Britain or Germany.
     Students can graduate from some of the most prestigious colleges in the land without a clue as to what the Second World war or the Cold War was about. At Harvard, chances are nine out of 10 that such uninformed students can graduate with honors.

Sowell  ends his piece by commending Sumnersfor his resignation:
     It is surprising that we seem to have dwindling numbers of people willing to take responsibility and make sacrifices to preserve the social framework that makes our survival ad advancement possible. Harvard is just one small example.

Are grading problems are Harvard a reflection of watered-down grading standards at the high school and grade school level?

If our students are getting so many As, one would think they are doing well.
But in December 2004 our 15 year olds ranked 28th in math  and 22nd in science skills compared to 39 other countries.. (Newsweek, "Stirring up Science" December 20, 2004 page 55)

Should students be getting the grade and be passed on to the next level when they are not doing well?

Does it do more psychological damage to a youngster to be held back  when he isn't quite up to par than to be socially promoted so he can be with peers that are his age?

A deontologist would look at the act itself:  X grade deserves X work and is required to pass
A teleologist would look at individual circumstances and the effects of passing and not passing a child.

According to do high school teachers and college professors , how well prepared   are students for the rigors of college life?

"Asked about students' overall preparation for college, 84 percent of faculty members — compared with 65 percent of teachers — say that high-school graduates are either unprepared or are only somewhat well prepared to pursue a college degree. Almost one-fourth of faculty members say flatly that students are not prepared. Just 12 percent of teachers agree with that assessment."( WHAT PROFESSORS AND TEACHERS THINK ,A Perception Gap Over Students' Preparation, From the issue dated March 10, 2006 , By ALVIN P. SANOFF http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i27/27b00901.htm

Questions for discussion:

Should students be graded on work/papers they do by themselves?
Should students be graded on work that has been touched up by friends, spouses, parents, private tutors, tutoring labs...?
How pleased would you be if you doctor or accountant had been socially promoted throughout his academic career?

Bonus Information:
Sumners was also resented for having stated there are gender learning differences between males and females . This was not received well in the liberal halls of Harvard.

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