3 ms·

The data from http://gradeinflation.com/ http://gradeinflation.com/ (posted in another response) suggests that MIT is worse than average for grade inflation.

by jbeda 17y ago

hga 17y ago
A thought: In the period from 1980 or earlier to the dot.com crash, ~ 400 students in each MIT class were majors in the EECS department ("Course 6"). With a class size of ~ 1050, that's 38% of the students. In the early '80s EECS drastically changed it's core curriculum (or at least the CS part of it, SICP/6.001 was the start), and it definitely got better at teaching it. If that also gave the students a better foundation for higher level courses, then we'd expect significant grade inflation based on MIT's policy of grading on mastery instead of the curve. Also during that period the EE to CS ratio was 3:1 and flipped to a mirror 1:3. If CS is better or markedly better taught ... and be sure to factor in higher availability of computers, before MIT and at MIT ... that probably also is a factor. Assume also during this period that only half the majors had a "calling" to EECS; therefore the quality of teaching would make the most difference to the other half to whom it doesn't come so naturally.
- jbeda 17y ago
  The source doesn't break out EECS from the rest of MIT. To be fair, though, this looks to be really long term data. If you dig into the numbers (http://gradeinflation.com/MIT.html http://gradeinflation.com/MIT.html) things look a lot more steady over the last 30 years. It looks like there was significant inflation through the 1960s but it flattened out since then.
  - hga 17y ago
    It's very important to look at the time series, for the '60s were a special case of giving (male) students high enough grades so that they wouldn't flunk out and become eligible for the draft and service in Vietnam. I don't know about MIT's history of grading in that period, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.
grinich 17y ago
In looking at MIT, it's important to note that they grade on a 5.0 scale. I'm assuming these are readjusted, but its not stated anywhere.

The data from http://gradeinflation.com/ http://gradeinflation.com/ (posted in another response) suggests that MIT is worse than average for grade inflation.

by jbeda 17y ago

The data from http://gradeinflation.com/ http://gradeinflation.com/ (posted in another response) suggests that MIT is worse than average for grade inflation.

hga 17y ago

A thought: In the period from 1980 or earlier to the dot.com crash, ~ 400 students in each MIT class were majors in the EECS department ("Course 6"). With a class size of ~ 1050, that's 38% of the students. In the early '80s EECS drastically changed it's core curriculum (or at least the CS part of it, SICP/6.001 was the start), and it definitely got better at teaching it. If that also gave the students a better foundation for higher level courses, then we'd expect significant grade inflation based on MIT's policy of grading on mastery instead of the curve. Also during that period the EE to CS ratio was 3:1 and flipped to a mirror 1:3. If CS is better or markedly better taught ... and be sure to factor in higher availability of computers, before MIT and at MIT ... that probably also is a factor. Assume also during this period that only half the majors had a "calling" to EECS; therefore the quality of teaching would make the most difference to the other half to whom it doesn't come so naturally.

jbeda 17y ago
The source doesn't break out EECS from the rest of MIT. To be fair, though, this looks to be really long term data. If you dig into the numbers (http://gradeinflation.com/MIT.html http://gradeinflation.com/MIT.html) things look a lot more steady over the last 30 years. It looks like there was significant inflation through the 1960s but it flattened out since then.
- hga 17y ago
  It's very important to look at the time series, for the '60s were a special case of giving (male) students high enough grades so that they wouldn't flunk out and become eligible for the draft and service in Vietnam. I don't know about MIT's history of grading in that period, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

grinich 17y ago

In looking at MIT, it's important to note that they grade on a 5.0 scale. I'm assuming these are readjusted, but its not stated anywhere.