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Grading on a curve statistically should mean that a fixed number of my students must fail my course. ...I don't really accept that.

• wahern 8y ago
  Yes, accept that fixed number could be 0. Often a curve might be A-D, not A-F. And there are many shapes of curves. You choose the shape based on what you're trying to achieve. In this day and age a curve that requires as many Ds as As might not be tenable, but that doesn't mean you can't enforce some statistical distribution to help manage curriculum quality. The problem with grade inflation isn't just that it becomes more difficult to judge student competency; similarly, it becomes more difficult to judge curriculum quality. If everybody is getting As when the curriculum is challenging, they'll continue getting As if it degenerates. Enforcing a distribution helps you to maintain a stable relationship between the abilities of your student body and the quality of the curriculum.
  • Fomite 8y ago
    Enforcing a distribution assumes that student abilities are indeed stable. In my experience, they aren't, for a number of reasons.