MAYBE ONE DAY WE’LL ALL GET A’s AND 5.0 CGPAs

Latest findings on the phenomenon of Grade Inflation and what they could mean for us

NTUSU Tribune
Opinions - August 2011

The definition of Insanity Grade Inflation is doing the same thing over and over and expecting getting different results.

“In the 1960s C was the most common grade given on college campuses,” said Stuart Rojstaczer, co-author of a recent American study exploring grade inflation, on a KUOW radio show (I plead guilty on the count of radio-listening). I switched tabs on my browser to a New York Times article about the same study. “Most recently nearly 43% of all letter grades given were A’s.” My jaw may or may not have hit the floor at this point. The study went on to say that students were studying, on average, ten hours a week less than they used to back in the 60s. Also, students were learning less in college. Translation- students are not getting smarter or working harder, they’re just getting higher grades.

As a student I can’t honestly condemn anything that results in me getting higher grades, especially when it allows for fewer all-nighters. Pragmatically speaking, we’re in a really competitive environment and no one wants a lower CGPA. When selecting courses, the average grade for the course in previous semesters is always a question posed to veterans of the course. Is it deplorable that we sometimes take courses because they offer higher grades over others that may be more interesting?

Deplorable or not, grade inflation is definitely a negative externality for society. With low grades becoming something of a rarity, students who would in the past not be able to pass certain subjects, now do. This does not help the quality of professionals that step out into the workplace. Do you really want to visit a doctor who isn’t that good but graduated anyway? Would you want to drive over a bridge constructed by a dodgy civil engineer? I think not!

Secondly, if the quality of the work done by students is not reflected in the grading, then that erodes the trustworthiness of grades as a measure of academic proficiency. Furthermore, cut-offs for entry into graduate programs and minimum requirements for jobs keep inching upwards to unprecedented levels. This is turn could increase pressure on colleges to allow even higher grades, creating a vicious cycle. Eventually then we can all just get A’s by default and education and college will cease to have any semblance of a relationship!

The study in question is entitled “Where A Is Ordinary: The Evolution of American College and University Grading, 1940–2009”. Clearly the study does not include NTU. However, it does make one wonder if such a phenomenon exists in Singapore as well. It’s difficult to decipher with certainty but, from personal experience, A’s and B’s do seem to constitute a majority of the grades, although not quite the 73%-86% of US universities. It is possible that we experience grade inflation, but to a lesser extent than the US.

Knowing all of this, I can’t help but wonder if not being in a US University that gives 43% of its students A’s puts me at a disadvantage. At the same time, I don’t think seeing an A will feel like as much of an accomplishment anymore!