Former professor of geophysics, Stuart Rojstaczer, in his informative op-ed piece, “Grade Inflation Gone Wild,” featured in “Christian Science Monitior(2009),” investigates grade inflation among universities today. Rojstaczer’s purpose is to inform and educate universities on the inflation of grades, and how an A has become the average grade among those schools. He adopts a dismissive tone when generalizing and addressing the students on their behaviors and actions. Rojstaczer found over 80 universities with data on they’re grades, using this he was able to better understand the inflation and also analyze possible solutions. His logos based writing portrays a negative connotation on todays students and their ability to achieve within the classroom. There is no hiding that the standard for grades has been on the rise sense the 1960’s, and is now at an average GPA of a 3.0, but rojstaczer may have lost his audience with his arrogant approach. …show more content…
He talks about the experience when he was sitting with the student union of a small liberal arts college when he noticed a graph of the history of grades on a newspaper that sparked his interest. Being a scientist and his love of numbers, Rojstaczer decided to investigate the inflation of grades. The first six paragraphs are well written and informative, all the wile being accounted for with figures that represents his argument. He starts by distinguishing the time frame that grade inflation began, then continues to discuss the grade point average, and how it varies from private, public and flagship state
In her article, “The Case Against GRADES”, Alfie Kohn discusses the grading system and its faults. She opens her argument with information from an older psychological study that proves the negative impact of the current grading system, and she reinforces this with the proof that “no” research has contradicted this statement. Also, she gives many key reasons including: “Motivation”, “Achievement”, “Quantification”, and “Curriculum”. Kohn supports these topics with other reasearch for why the system is failing the students. She asserts that, “… the absence of grading is a necessary condition for promoting deep thinking and a desire to engage in it.” As support, she offers other solutions and then debunks them by proving that they would not solve
The article written by Michael Thomsen addresses the issue: should we as a society continue using a standardized grading system. Thomsen includes many reasons supporting his ultimate conclusion that we should not continue with any system of standardized grades. However, the reasons he uses to support his conclusion are affected by significant ambiguity which weakens the overall argument.
In his essay, "Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s,” Staples claims that student grades are increasing for the wrong reasons, causing college degrees to become meaningless. Staples provides evidence that average grades have increased significantly over the last several decades, but claims that it is not because students are working harder. The real explanation for grade inflation, he argues, is the effect of grades on both students and their professors. Teachers give more A’s to receive better evaluations and increase job security. Students give more importance to their grades as a result of the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. Staples argues that modern
Most students do care about their grades and want to succeed, so they may go into argue their grades. As shown in examples though, parents become very upset with their kids if they do not achieve up to their high class standards. A very good point is made by Shepard. Not all kids are good enough to receive A's. Parents need to be satisfied with a B because that is in the upper part of the college usually. Obtaining an A or A plus should be almost a honor. Shepard grabs the attention of me and other people by discussing how getting a B should be relieving still, even if it isn't
In “Grades and Money,” Steven Vogel makes it clear that he is disappointed and frustrated with what grades have become. He believes that grades have become commoditized and that students’ grades suffer because of their relation with money. Vogel also believes that students no longer take any risk with their education. I agree with Vogel that grades are being equated to money by students, that students’ work suffers because of grades, and that students no longer take risks in their educational process.
In his essay, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” Brent Staples argues that grade inflation in colleges results in college degrees becoming less valuable. Staples points out that grade inflation is happening among all colleges and there are many factors contributing to this problem. Colleges are willingly giving students good grades that they do not deserve so that the course will not be omitted from the lack of attendance. Part-time teachers’ jobs are at risk because their position is not guaranteed. These teachers were sometimes threatened by the students saying they will complain if their grades are not adjusted for a higher score. With this being said, students are putting pressure on teachers, causing their jobs to be in danger.
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
The practice of delaying a child’s enrollment in kindergarten until age 6 instead of the standard enrollment age of 5 is known as pre-primary academic redshirting. Originally the practice of holding back a child for a year from entering kindergarten in order to provide them an athletic advantage due to advanced physical maturity, the practice of redshirting has developed an emphasis on academic maturity, as redshirting allows students to enter kindergarten having an advantage over their younger and less mature peers in terms of academic preparedness. Redshirting for academic purposes has been on the rise in American schools, as nearly 17% of children in 2008 were admitted to kindergarten at age 6, whereas only 9% of children were admitted to kindergarten at age 6 back in 1993. The sudden increase in redshirting creates significant age and ability gaps in kindergarten classes, providing redshirted children with a better chance of academic success than their younger peers due to more maturity. However, redshirting is not
Goode, Stephen and Maier, Timothy W. “ Inflating the Grades” Dissent Fall 1997: 102-04 in Mary Lynch Kennedy and Haley M. Smith. Reading and writing in the Academic Community. 2nd ed, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2001. 345-350.
When students arrive at university, professors expect them to understand the material to an exceptional standard. The problem is that grade inflation is occurring more regularly in secondary schools and universities across the country and when these students’ marks are sent to universities or colleges, the student may be given multiple scholarships for something that he/she should not have earned. Grade inflation is conceived between both students and teachers, meaning that the students are given higher grades when they have inadequate learning, reading, and verbal skills, while the teachers do not have to grade as many papers as they should in the real curriculum. There have been multiple examinations that have confirmed that grade inflation is very real and still occurs today. Students seem to think that they do not need to put forth much effort in school to do well and grade inflation encourages this thought.
However, such accusations such as laziness and entitlement, although common, have been prevalent amongst those of college age as proven in “A’s for Everyone.” Shepard had investigated the cause behind this and had put the blame on grade inflation in the years prior to entering college, the pressure to get superb grades due to high tuition costs, and most importantly the belief that “effort” constitutes a grade bonus. However, if one has entered the school system in America, one could see the relative ease in which one could improve their grades through inordinate amounts of extra credit. Multiple students have heard and even seen fellow students ask their parents to even come in for meetings of which equate to blaming their child’s poor grades on the teacher and harassing said teacher to allow their child, soon to be a hardworking, productive citizen of society, to get the “grade they
Schools are the basic foundation of knowledge, which is imparted to children. They give a chance for children to gain knowledge in various fields such as humanity, literature, history, mathematics and science. By obtaining knowledge, they are in a better position to know the world around them. A school is a society where faith and other values are developed. Schools also play an important role in a democratic social set up. Students of today are the citizens of tomorrow. Schools are the backbone of a society, where children interact with other children and develop certain social skills. Education in schools opens doors to various opportunities that would not be possible if it had not been for the knowledge one gained at school. However, in the articles, “Idiot Nation” by Michael Moore and “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, the authors express their concerns about the degrading quality of education. There are many problems the education system is facing today, and several of them are having negative effects on the quality of the education that the students are receiving which are highlighted aptly by the effective use of rhetorical strategies by Moore and Gatto.
Studying a university degree is one of the biggest achievements of many individuals around the world. But, according to Mark Edmunson, a diploma in America does not mean necessarily studying and working hard. Getting a diploma in the United States implies managing with external factors that go in the opposite direction with the real purpose of education. The welcome speech that most of us listen to when we started college, is the initial prank used by the author to state the American education system is not converging in a well-shaped society. Relating events in a sarcastic way is the tone that the author uses to explain many of his arguments. Mark Edmunson uses emotional appeals to deliver an essay to the people that have attended College any time in their life or those who have been involved with the American education system.
The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s. This placed much of the burden of recognizing academic talent on the high schools.
By nature, most students are brought up in an academic environment motivated to get A’s and B’s on their report cards. Those grades sometimes don’t thoroughly report how much a student has learned or gained knowledge in each topic. Some instructors throw in factors totally unrelated to learning, when the main objective of academic institutions is to learn. In order to clearly demonstrate how much a student has learned in the classroom, schools should change their current grading system and teach students how to learn.