4 ms·

Hahahaha... not in the US, no way. Course-wide averages for many of the classes I taught were 85-90. The idea of a 'C' being an acceptable grade is out of the q

Hahahaha... not in the US, no way. Course-wide averages for many of the classes I taught were 85-90. The idea of a 'C' being an acceptable grade is out of the question nowadays. Some of this probably has to do with internal requirements. For example, if you say that a student needs a 75 or better to count this course as a prereq for the next course, then do you really want half the students to have to retake the course every time? Some of this also has to do with societal expectations of getting As and Bs. I can say, however, that the idea that a 75 is the class average is definitely not true at most US colleges.

syrrim 8y ago
If 75 is a failing grade, then perhaps the average is merely shifted where you are compared to me. The thrust of my comment wasn't the precise value for the average, but that deviations from this average would be detected and reprimanded. Would you say this is accurate? Would you receive notice from administration is the average was found to be, say, 95%? This is admittedly a more likely explanation for harvard's higher grades then the one I offered.
- dual_basis 8y ago
  75 isn't failing, it is a "C", however it is a typical cutoff for using a course as a prerequisite for some other course. <60 is failing. Very few students actually fail courses. In general, in my experience, grades for the courses weren't a symmetric normal distribution with a mean of 75, like it is thought. The mean is more like 83, and it was skewed toward higher grades. To answer your final question, no, I don't think the administration would care if your class average was 95%, quite the opposite. I had one professor in my undergrad who was more "old-school" - challenging coursework, no spoon-feeding, your grade was your grade and that was that. He'd regularly complain about visits from the "Center for Student Success" who complained that he was grading too harshly and fought (on behalf of specific students who went to them with complaints) for higher grades. According to my classmates, they were actually able to get their grades overriden at some level higher than he could view from his system.

syrrim 8y ago

If 75 is a failing grade, then perhaps the average is merely shifted where you are compared to me. The thrust of my comment wasn't the precise value for the average, but that deviations from this average would be detected and reprimanded. Would you say this is accurate? Would you receive notice from administration is the average was found to be, say, 95%? This is admittedly a more likely explanation for harvard's higher grades then the one I offered.

dual_basis 8y ago
75 isn't failing, it is a "C", however it is a typical cutoff for using a course as a prerequisite for some other course. <60 is failing. Very few students actually fail courses. In general, in my experience, grades for the courses weren't a symmetric normal distribution with a mean of 75, like it is thought. The mean is more like 83, and it was skewed toward higher grades. To answer your final question, no, I don't think the administration would care if your class average was 95%, quite the opposite. I had one professor in my undergrad who was more "old-school" - challenging coursework, no spoon-feeding, your grade was your grade and that was that. He'd regularly complain about visits from the "Center for Student Success" who complained that he was grading too harshly and fought (on behalf of specific students who went to them with complaints) for higher grades. According to my classmates, they were actually able to get their grades overriden at some level higher than he could view from his system.