During my freshman spring, a Spanish professor tried to console me after giving me a 65 on a paper, by discounting grades as no more than "the language of the institution." It was a sneaky move, revealing her reservations about the grading process and giving the appearance of being anti-establishment, all while not agreeing to do anything about my grade. It was "ambitious," she said. Few more damning things can be said about a work; "ambitious" means you failed. The goal was to produce in me a sort of Stockholm syndrome that I might forget that she had put an irrevocable blight on my transcript and even take another class with her. Two years later, I am again in her class and her grading philosophy hasn't changed.
A history professor of mine echoed the same sentiment, "Grades don't mean anything. They're useful for teachers and students but they say virtually nothing about your work in the class to an outsider." To which a defeated-sounding Stephenie Lee '11 cried out during a class break, "You want to know about grades? My grades are terrrrible Dartmouth effed up my life."
The professor replied, "Do something you're interested in. What matters is the pedigree of your learning institution and you go to Dartmouth."
Well, that's a relief, sort of. When asked to elaborate, Lee continued; "So many people take Russian 13 as a grade-padding scheme. I'm an econ major and studio art is the only thing keeping my GPA afloat," she said.
Stephenie's GPA is probably not actually "terrible" considering that professor Scot Drysdale, Chair of the Committee on Organization and Policy, which is currently investigating grading policy in addition to other things, told me that in 2008, over half of the grades given here were As and A minuses. Lee's dismay is likely only evidence of the centrality of grades to a Dartmouth student's life.
A female '11 from Montenegro, when asked about the grading curve in her science courses, merely let out a woeful moan. While she is taking organic chemistry in her second language, her response reflects the anxiety of many students about their grades. The question remains, then of exactly what impact grades have on a student's future "success" and perhaps more integrally, what is the perspective of the administration on all this business?
If professors of the humanities or "subjective" courses assessed by papers instead of exams can by likened to mini-dictators by their frustrated students, then the Registrar Meredith Braz, is the wizard of Oz.
"I can tell you that grade inflation definitely exists because I can see the trends. There's a committee investigating it now actually," she said.
Enter Scot Drysdale. In his role as committee chair, his job seems to be to worry about changes of all kinds in the student handbook including grading policy. When asked about the evidence for grade inflation over time, he produced some alarming numbers.
"From 1974 when they got rid of the 5.0 scale to now, the average grade [GPA] has gone up by .01 per year. In '74, the average grade was 3.04 and by 2008 it was 3.41. At 29.5 percent of the population, the most common grade is an A."
Looks like a lot of people have been taking Russian 13.
When asked why grade inflation might be considered a problem in the first place, Drysdale, who teaches computer science, remarked that it was not an issue of the high grades in and of themselves, but that when "you can't distinguish between excellent work and good work, then you're doing something wrong," he said.
Alright, so grade inflation is a hot topic. It is possible, Braz mused, that it was the reason why the registrar began placing median grades on transcripts in 1994. Incidentally, the policy is the cause of a little conflict.
Braz chuckled. "Student have asked me if they can have their transcripts printed without the median grades."
The Registrar web site shows the median grades of all Dartmouth courses offered, with the exception of those with an enrollment of less than ten, from this past Fall back through the Spring term of 2007.
Because the listings are ordered alphabetically in terms of department, a quick scroll through the listings can be shocking. Some majors clearly are giving out more As than others. But why?
Although one might view the median grade distributions as reflective of the difficulty of the courses, that does not provide a true picture of the process.
How does one show oneself to be exemplary when your small, upper level literature class has 14 people that all know their stuff and are mostly competent writers who are passionate about the subject? Likewise, most people don't take advanced engineering courses on a whim.
People, for whom economics or science is not particularly intuitive, however, still tend to take such classes. We know this because every year, a large percent of the freshman population deludes itself into believing its future lies in medicine. The rest have parents, the reality of graduation and potential recruitment pushing them through those painful but oh-so-useful Econ 26 classes, perhaps contributing to the comparatively low median grades of low-level science and econ courses respectively. If one considers departmental disparities in median grades from this angle, the problem of grade inflation becomes much more difficult to quantify than the facile labelling of classes as "easy" or "hard." The passions of the students in the classes is also at play. Curiously, not all students express the same perspective about the topic of grade inflation and departmental disparities among median grades. Much of one's expectations derive from the other academic institutions one has attended.
Laura Cree '11, bases her opinions about grades off the British system and her high school.
"I certainly came from an incredibly inflated high school, so coming to Dartmouth, yeah, there's still a lot of grade inflation, but it doesn't compare to my high school. Going to school in the UK, that's when it really hits you okay, these kids are fighting to pass and we're expecting As."
This brings up another point: is it gauche to talk about grades? Responses indicate that your answer will date you.
Jesse Gomez '12 and self-described Topside checkout clerk said yes, he would consider it "tres gauche."
"Whenever my friends and I talk about grades we say we're doing well or doing terrible', we never drop an actual letter grade."
His co-worker, Deidra Willis '13, a member of The Dartmouth graphics staff, speculated that this could have to do with the fact that "everyone here was an overachiever in high school" and "now they're the middle." Or maybe they're just sick of the application process and grades.
The latter might explain why an RWIT junior staffer, '11 suggested that upperclassmen no longer have time to worry about a faux pas when our futures are at stake. "Corporate recruiting popped up and now people are starting to think about grad school. It's not the same as when you were younger. Now it's like shit I'm applying to grad school, I know a lot of people's GPAs because people say them without any of the self-consciousness they had as underclassmen."
So it is. We knew Dartmouth students were competitive, but did we realize it extended to the romantic arena? An '11 cheerleader says nothing is sacred.
"My boyfriend is an athlete and he has, on more than one occasion, insinuated that I take easier classes than he does or that history is a joke major compared to economics. Whatever lets you sleep at night, babe."
Who knew grade-comparison was such a romantic obstacle?
Other people take a more relaxed approach like Rebecca Wall '11.
"Well I personally think that grade inflation is very rampant at Dartmouth, but I feel conflicted since most people are pretty smart and do their work and it's pretty subjective. Grades as a principle are pretty stupid, but good ones make your life easier. If your grades are good you don't have to worry about them when you apply for something. But I also like sleeping a lot"
She's right about choosing sleep over studying. What do your grades matter when most of you, as reports from the Committee on Organization and Policy have found, are getting As anyways?
