EDUCATION I believe that,
During 2017, members of the University Senate performed a tremendous service by gathering a wealth of data about grades at Purdue. Among many fascinating findings the committee reports: Between 2002 and 2016, “A’s” rose from 35% to 45% of all grades given. DFW’s (dropped/ failed/withdrew) have declined slightly, but in the biggest shift, C’s have become B’s, while B’s have become A’s. Freshman grades have escalated dramatically. Startlingly, the average freshman GPA is now higher than that for sophomores, a phenomenon rarely seen until recently. Summer school grades are higher than those in the longer semesters. Is this because of more motivated students? Students retaking courses in which they were dissatisfied with their first performance? In English 106, taken by a sizable majority of all students, 69% of recent grades were A’s. This despite the seemingly unanimous faculty view that today’s students as a group write poorly, noticeably worse than their predecessors. Previous analysis has suggested that perhaps half the recent upward movement in GPAs at Purdue is attributable to the steadily increasing quality of entering freshmen. As I often say to visiting applicants, “Your dad probably couldn’t get in here today, but I’m sure you can!” (The father invariably agrees.) To be sure, other factors, such as the amount of reading and writing demanded, can figure in any calculation of overall rigor. And as a campus we’ve made efforts to improve
the learning outcomes of all our students, especially those at most risk. We must attempt to gather information on those fronts as well. But the preliminary committee findings leave little room for doubt that, overall, high grades are now easier to come by at Purdue. Which leads to the question, should we accept this trend or look for ways to resist it? Nationally, the grade inflation effect is now even more pronounced in the K-12 setting. A study last year revealed that “A’s” are now the most common grades given in American high schools. This comes in spite of poor performance for American students vs. international students on standardized tests, and SAT scores stagnant at best for decades. In too many places, “self-esteem” has apparently taken precedence over candor in student assessment. For many of our arriving students, anything less than an A comes as a jolt and a rude surprise. The student evaluations of our faculty which are collected at the end of each term are thought by many to be heavily tilted toward professors who are less demanding or inclined to easier grading. My bias on this topic is evident. I believe that, in a sea of leniency, a university that maintains tough standards of performance will set itself and its graduates apart in a highly positive way. Purdue’s record of nearly universal job placement supports this contention. But, as much as any issue we face, the degree of rigor Purdue demands is a matter for our
in a sea of leniency, a university that maintains tough standards of performance will set itself and its graduates apart in a highly positive way.
American Consequences 31
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