3 ms·

Disclaimer: I don't think this explains grade inflation, but it might be a partial reason. I'm somewhat playing devil's advocate here. Percentage of A's given

Disclaimer: I don't think this explains grade inflation, but it might be a partial reason. I'm somewhat playing devil's advocate here. Percentage of A's given at Yale is increasing? Could be grade inflation. Could also be that they're picking the top 0.01% and smaller of students from a larger and larger total population. Example math: If 50% of students were worthy of A's when they were able to recruit the top 1000 students out of let's say 100,000 (the top 1%)... If the population doubles relative to the number of students they admit, they can recruit the top 1000 students out of 200,000 (the top 0.5%), all of which would have been more likely to be "A" grade students. Now everybody is getting closer to 100% A's as long as there's been no change in grading standards.

daveFNbuck 10y ago
That works at Yale, but you'd actually expect this type of effect to deflate grades overall as higher and higher percentages of the country are going to college.
- lordCarbonFiber 10y ago
  That included a lovely hidden assumption that the population has some static or perhaps declining intelligence/academic motivation. Given the increase in student resources, as well as as rising trend in standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, etc) I'm inclined to dismiss the hypothesis.
lordCarbonFiber 10y ago
Building on that, the resources available to students are increasing. Miss a lecture or have a gap in understanding the material is but one click away in a multitude of formats so students can supplement as needed. The school itself is providing TA hours and tutoring sessions on top of that to help catch students falling through the cracks (the cynic says getting them to pass to milk them for more money, but it is to some degree symbiotic). The number of well qualified and motivated students attending college has never been higher and it always baffles me when people suggest the universities should respond by jacking up standards to preserve some nonsensical ~academic elite~.

daveFNbuck 10y ago

That works at Yale, but you'd actually expect this type of effect to deflate grades overall as higher and higher percentages of the country are going to college.

lordCarbonFiber 10y ago
That included a lovely hidden assumption that the population has some static or perhaps declining intelligence/academic motivation. Given the increase in student resources, as well as as rising trend in standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, etc) I'm inclined to dismiss the hypothesis.

lordCarbonFiber 10y ago

Building on that, the resources available to students are increasing. Miss a lecture or have a gap in understanding the material is but one click away in a multitude of formats so students can supplement as needed. The school itself is providing TA hours and tutoring sessions on top of that to help catch students falling through the cracks (the cynic says getting them to pass to milk them for more money, but it is to some degree symbiotic). The number of well qualified and motivated students attending college has never been higher and it always baffles me when people suggest the universities should respond by jacking up standards to preserve some nonsensical ~academic elite~.