In the spirit of keeping up with current events, I recently found myself working my way through the pile of Newsweeks that have slowly been accumulating in my room. My attention was piqued by an article entitled, "Merchants of Mediocrity," which dealt with the College Board's decision to raise the average Scholastic Achievement Test scores on both the verbal and math sections to 500. At present, these averages are respectively 424 and 478.
The author of the article denounced this practice, stating that the College Board was sanctioning mediocrity and nationalizing grade inflation. I immediately agreed with him, somewhat indignantly. Then I remembered a phrase spoken by my own voice just a few hours earlier. I'd told an anxious friend that Dartmouth professors generally don't give papers a grade less than a B-. No matter what she wrote, I advised her not to worry. Suddenly it began to sound like I was the one who was sanctioning mediocrity.
Although the SATs and my studies here at Dartmouth are obviously separate issues, the topic of grade inflation is one that is pertinent to both. This trend of elevating student's scores appears to be one that begins at the high school level and carries over into college. It allows students to feel as if they are producing top quality work, when in reality their performance is only average.
Since my own Dartmouth experience is limited, I honestly don't know how widespread the problem of grade inflation is here. However, I suspect that an A paper today is not of the same caliber as it was 20years ago.
As a result, I tend to question the validity of my own marks. I sometimes find myself second-guessing a good grade, wondering if I am deserving of it or simply the lucky beneficiary of my professor's kindness. Knowing that grade inflation exists has caused me to question my own abilities rather than believe in them.
It has also produced in me a certain expectancy. I am lead to think that I deserve good grades regardless of what I do. This is not to say that I do not put energy into my work. But, I think that we Dartmouth students believe that we should get good grades simply by virtue of who we are and where we go to school. The practice of grade inflation only reinforces the notion that since we were intelligent enough to get here, somebody else will help us out with the rest.
I don't feel as if I'm coasting through my Dartmouth career. But I do question whether or not the elevation of grades generates apathy. Knowing that I can put in a moderate amount of work and still get a decent grade makes it hard to get motivated. And this could prove dangerous.
The week after "Merchants of Mediocrity" appeared in News-week, a computer- sales employer wrote a letter to the magazine. After interviewing a group of students who had attended a well-known college where there were no grades, he hired none of them. His comment was that these students weren't ready for the real world, where performance is evaluated and graded.
Here at Dartmouth we are graded. But if we are not being judged fairly and objectively, we are not going to be able to discern a mediocre effort from an extraordinary one. As a result, we will not be ready for the real world either.
