Modern education has many advantages as shown by David Basinger’s journal article, “Fighting Grade Inflation.” Basinger’s article explains how grade inflation disturbs college educators. His assessment results in the thought that college professors are troubled by rising grade levels. It appears that even though there is a significant grade increase, students are not acquiring greater amounts of knowledge. According to Basinger’s journal article, those who manage academic policy have an acute focus on enrollment, which is likely financially driven, rather than education. Consequently, faculty feel pressured to inflate grades. As a result, educators are concerned that their student’s grades have inflated and the students are awarded better grades …show more content…
than they deserve, as shown through this quote: “The significant increase in grade averages over the past generation apparently fails to represent any real increase in learning; we are left to assume that higher grades are the result of grade inflation” (Basinger 1). Basinger concludes his article by describing what could improve the situation of grade inflation and remove all illusions about college grade point average levels.
A complete college education is important because it is a way to acquire the information required to succeed in the work world. Basinger’s article gives insight to another college student encumbrance, student loan debt, by demonstrating how each is undesirable, affecting student-academic relationships negatively. The article, “Why You Might Be Paying Student Loans Until You Retire” by Sophie Quinton, demonstrates how a college student’s education is worsened by the persistent burden of student loan debt. Quinton discusses the imperfections of student loans and describes how student debt affects populace and economy negatively, worsening student-teacher relationship. Quinton continues by referring to shocking statistics on student loan debt. She mentions that almost one-fifth of Americans have student loan debt and 218 colleges have over 30 percent default rates. She then concludes her disagreement with the system of student loans by writing, “This is a program that desperately needs reform before it simply melts down--like the mortgage market did not long ago” (Quinton
5). Both articles demonstrate how student loans and academic grading affect college student-academia interrelationships negatively, and explain what could fix the problems of college student loans and grading. There are many undesirable manifestations of the problems with the student loan system. An undesirable occurrence in college student loans is the unbearable amount of interest. “When borrowers stop making payments, the loan just sits there, accumulating fees and interest” (Quinton 2). Student loan debt and grade inflation are similar in the ways that they are unscrupulous and undesirable. The importance of an untroubled educational relationship is extremely high, as reinforced by these two articles. With other kinds of loans, it is the borrower's choice whether he or she purchases the loan. This does not ordinarily apply for student loans. To get a proper college education is difficult for students who do not have sufficient wealth to attend college without utilizing student loans, which are a necessity. Quinton describes it as a moral risk. Another thing that could disturb scholars’ education would be the stress of the cumbersome burden of college student loans, making a student's educational experience worse which can lower their grade point average. Student's grade point averages are discussed in Basinger’s article. Basinger comes to the settlement that college students’ education has not improved from earlier years even though grades has risen. In the final analysis, the overall point of these articles expresses college academic problems in both the student loan system and the grading system. These problems result in student and academic community interrelationships to worsen. Quinton displays her disregard for student loans, with her confident argument that college student loans are disadvantageous: “The student loan program, meaning the use of taxpayer guarantees to fuel the rapid growth in college loans, has been a textbook illustration of moral hazard”(Quinton 4), exhibiting Quinton's lack of regard for college student loans. Looking into the dynamics of student loans, are they in reality beneficial or as Quinton writes about it, disadvantageous? Student loans can be unfavorable as a cause of default rates when the borrower ceases to make payments, and he or she is at liability to be sued or worse by the government. Quinton expresses how student loan default rates have risen by significant amounts, but is that necessarily problematic? Quinton’s article implies assent to this inquiry, similar to Basinger’s agreement that grade inflation is an undesirable occurrence. Basinger and Quinton think effectively about what could help current academia. Quinton’s article suggests that student loans will simply need to be rehabilitated before the system melts down. If grade inflation and student loan systems are rehabilitated, student academia relationships would be aided. Teachers showing passion in education and students showing a desire to concede with academic arrangements would be favorable in colleges. Basinger explains what could aid grading, including plans for better content, presentation and grading. He assesses that education should be focused on important factors. “The primary (if not sole) factor should be what students need or ought to learn” (Basinger 6), demonstrating Basinger’s thought about alternative methods of grading. This associates with the student loan system by relating to the level of passion. Quinton explains that modern student loan systems have made it easier for students to repay their loans than in the past. She describes how the college student loan system has been more favorable than earlier, therefore increasing student and teacher relationships. A current debate related to academia would be about the academic loan refinancing systems, which are the systems that exchange people's loan debt obligations with different terms, usually beneficial for the purchaser. In Amanda Dixon’s article, “Why So Few Banks Refinance Student Loans,” loan refinancing systems are discussed. Dixon conveys a new issue in the loan refinancing system. Most student loans are not refinanced by banks. She makes a point that PNC is an exceptional bank by discussing a bank named PNC. “PNC introduced a student loan refinancing product”(Dixon 1). PNC joined other financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Citizens Bank. Dixon wants her readers to understand that most education loan lenders aren't banks, and banks avoid student lending because the banks would not desire to unnecessarily lose money to borrowers. This is shown through this quote: “we had to build a product that helped to ensure the ability to repay and that would cover consumers in a positive way”(Dixon 2), demonstrating the banking system’s reluctance to give student loans. Dixon concludes by giving advice on what kind of loan lenders to purchase from, mentioning that, “Credit bureaus will know you’re comparing rates and multiple credit applications will only count as one hard credit inquiry, reducing the impact on your credit score.”(Dixon3). This associates with Basinger’s article on grade inflation and grade point average levels by mentioning how a college student’s grades and loans affect each other. Dixon’s article relates to Quinton's article by referring to student loans and to the disadvantages of student loans. Despite the fact that each article is different in separate ways, Quinton and Dixon both discuss the disadvantages of the student loan system. Works Cited Basinger, David. “Fighting Grade Inflation.” College Teaching, vol. 45, no. 3, Summer97, p. 88.
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
Stuart Rojstaczer talks about how higher education in the United States has decreased substantially these days. High grades are very common among college students when they should not be that high. Schools are handing out easy A’s to those who do not deserve them, decreasing the quality of education. Even more astonishing is the fact that students are spending less time studying and more time drinking and partying, students are consuming more alcohol than ever and degrade in a really fast way. Also Stuart Rojstaczer talk about that in private schools grades are much higher than in public schools, but virtually everyone was experiencing grade inflation.
In the op-ed, “Grade Inflation Gone Wild,” Stuart Rojstaczer addresses the concern of grade inflation and its effects on students. Rojstaczer uses several different methods to prove his point of view to the reader. Rojstaczer links grade inflation to the sinking quality of education, as well as the rise of college alcoholics. While this op-ed does a satisfactory job appealing to the reader on a person-person basis, many of Rojstaczer’s main claims do not hold any scholarly evidence. This analysis over “Grade Inflation Gone Wild” will discuss whether Rojstaczer has written this editorial solely to convince readers of his opinion, or does Rojstaczer present a credible claim in higher education’s grade inflation.
“Making the Grade” by Kurt Wiesenfeld Newsweek magazine, June 27 1996 brings to light an issue that has been glazed over by society for some time, grade inflation. It’s highly disturbing that “we lament that schoolchildren get “kicked upstairs” until they graduate from high school despite being illiterate and mathematically inept, but we seem unconcerned with college graduates whose less blatant deficiencies are far more harmful, if their accreditation exceeds their qualifications”. The issue of grade inflation is not simply an issue of students feeling entitled to higher grades than they have earned, it is a problem that directly impacts our society in a multitude of negative ways. Perhaps the “gold star” mentality started out with the good intentions of creating children with positive self-esteem, however, a direct result is lazy adults with a sense of entitlement for no reason, who lack qualifications to adequately and safely perform their jobs.
Martin and Lehren’s article “A Generation Hounded by the Soaring Cost of College” addresses the issue faced by current and former college students dealing with large amounts of debt due to student loans. The article presents the reader with stories of former college students who have either graduated or dropped out, and their struggle to pay off their student loans. The article also talks about issues such as students not being informed about high amounts of student loans and why student debts have increased. Martin and Lehren also make the issue of student debt more intimidating by giving examples of high amounts of student loans students have had. The article gives a very hard reality check to anyone reading as to how bad the problem of student debt is.
Many people would agree that our country’s young adults have and continue to incur a lifetime of debt by enrolling in college. It’s become an almost acceptable understanding that if you plan to attend college, you might as well expect to graduate with an enormous amount of debt. Robin Wilson, a reporter for the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” and author of “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” suggests student loans are very real and can be life altering.
Wilson, R. (2009). A lifetime of student debt? Not likely. In G. Graff, C. Birkenstein, & R. Durst (Eds.). “They say, I say”: The moves that matter in academic writing with readings. (2nd ed.). (pp. 256-272). New York: W. W. Norton. This article examines how much debt in loans students leave college with and if it is possible to pay it off without it causing extreme distress.
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.
This essay deals with the specific term of grade inflation by working with three texts on that issue seeing grade inflation from different perspectives and discussing terminology. Every country has its own grading system. In some countries from 0-10 in others the scale is 1-5 or 0-20 an there are many others. However, this is by far not the only thing that can be said about grading. The question also is the practical application of the grading scheme. Are more higher grades given or lower? On the first view one might see it as a cultural aspect, which also is true, if one pays attention to the development of grading systems (see for instance the Netherlands, where the best grade 10 is regarded as a perfect result that is hardly achievable). On the other hand grading can become a serious issue for educational institutions if grading does not work properly. This piece of work will not deal with all single aspect of grading problems but will focus on the phenomenon of awarding extremely high grades. In this context the term grade inflation is very popular. However, it needs to be differentiated, because it is controversial, whether every rise in grades belongs to grade inflation and what can be different types of grade inflation.
It is a norm and expectation in society today for students to pursue higher education after graduating from high school. College tuition is on the rise, and a lot of students have difficulty paying for their tuitions. To pay for their tuitions, most students have to take out loans and at the end of four years, those students end up in debt. Student loan debts are at an all time high with so many people graduating from college, and having difficulties finding jobs in their career fields, so they have difficulties paying off their student loans and, they also don’t have a full understanding of the term of the loans and their options if they are unable to repay.
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.
With the ever-increasing tuition and ever-tighten federal student aid, the number of students relying on student loan to fund a college education hits a historical peak. According to a survey conducted by an independent and nonprofit organization, two-thirds of college seniors graduated with loans in 2010, and each of them carried an average of $25,250 in debt. (Reed et. al., par. 2). My research question will focus on the profound effect of education debt on American college graduates’ lives, and my thesis statement will concentrate on the view that the education policymakers should improve financial aid programs and minimize the risks and adverse consequences of student loan borrowing.
Student debt has recently passed 1 trillion dollars, which has caused many to voice their concerns over a modern college education. This generation has been touting undergraduate degrees as a necessity for success in the modern age, but with student debt rising, formal degrees may not be
In that year, the number of college graduates was only 432,058 (Sourmaidis) and ever since the demand continually increased as did price. This trend allowed for the student loan crisis to occur, which is a problem we face today. As of 2016, American students have accrued a massive 1.3 trillion in student loan debt. Just 10 years ago, the nation’s balance was only $447 billion (Clements). This ever-present cumulative burden has caused many post graduate Americans to delay important life events such as marriage, homeownership and children because of this substantial encumbrance (Clements).
The cost of an education past high school, is becomingly more and more outrageous to afford. In a web report article entitled, College Degrees Requiring More Student Debt, by Equal Justice Works, states “Unsurprisingly, the report shows a rapid increase over t...