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Grade inflation is very much an issue right now at all levels of academia and this is the primary issue. Parents or students complain and leadership or the teac

Grade inflation is very much an issue right now at all levels of academia and this is the primary issue. Parents or students complain and leadership or the teacher capitulate. It was only exacerbated by the pandemic. Of course there is the chance this professor is unfairly hard or has lost his touch as a teacher, but this has always existed. Half my friends who took organic chemistry failed or barely passed it the first time. The mentality then was to study harder and try again.

DoingIsLearning 4y ago
> It was only exacerbated by the pandemic No, it was exacerbated by ever increasing tution fees. You don't see this 'costumer' pressure on professors in fully funded public universities elsewhere in the world. You are being given the privelege of access to higher education. However if you suddenly have to fork multiple years worth of savings to access it, it is likely that your level of demands (even if not legitimate in this case) is increased.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Other issue is that there is just too many people with degrees. In past just passing meant that it was good enough filter. Now the GPA must also enter into picture, which drives demand for grade inflation lot higher. If this aspect didn't exist, I doubt grade inflation would either...
- etempleton 4y ago
  This issue also persisted in public school where students were passed along. That has nothing to do with tuition.
d0gbread 4y ago
Maybe the mindset has shifted but I'm unclear why that's a bad thing. The pass rate at my university was similar. If this has been constant (that so many people have to fail and retake) why does the curriculum stay the same? The goal is to learn the material. If you're training for a marathon you don't sign up for a marathon, fail, then sign up for another. You slow down and work up to it in successful chunks. Organic chem seems like the defacto class that people struggle with, but the same was true at my institution for physics and other classes. Maybe instead we should be looking at a different or longer track for that material, or even earlier education that is producing students that might not have the math and science foundation out of high school?
sn9 4y ago
I haven't heard of grade inflation being a thing in the sciences where you are objectively right or wrong. Or if it is a thing, it's not nearly as big a problem in other more subjective fields.

DoingIsLearning 4y ago

> It was only exacerbated by the pandemic No, it was exacerbated by ever increasing tution fees. You don't see this 'costumer' pressure on professors in fully funded public universities elsewhere in the world. You are being given the privelege of access to higher education. However if you suddenly have to fork multiple years worth of savings to access it, it is likely that your level of demands (even if not legitimate in this case) is increased.

Ekaros 4y ago
Other issue is that there is just too many people with degrees. In past just passing meant that it was good enough filter. Now the GPA must also enter into picture, which drives demand for grade inflation lot higher. If this aspect didn't exist, I doubt grade inflation would either...
etempleton 4y ago
This issue also persisted in public school where students were passed along. That has nothing to do with tuition.

d0gbread 4y ago

Maybe the mindset has shifted but I'm unclear why that's a bad thing. The pass rate at my university was similar. If this has been constant (that so many people have to fail and retake) why does the curriculum stay the same? The goal is to learn the material. If you're training for a marathon you don't sign up for a marathon, fail, then sign up for another. You slow down and work up to it in successful chunks. Organic chem seems like the defacto class that people struggle with, but the same was true at my institution for physics and other classes. Maybe instead we should be looking at a different or longer track for that material, or even earlier education that is producing students that might not have the math and science foundation out of high school?

sn9 4y ago

I haven't heard of grade inflation being a thing in the sciences where you are objectively right or wrong. Or if it is a thing, it's not nearly as big a problem in other more subjective fields.