Last quarter, the faculty came together and discussed grade inflation. The average GPA at Dartmouth has gone from a 3.05 in the 1970s to currently above a 3.4. If one examines the published median grades, it becomes clear that there are large differences in median grades across departments. For the years 2007-2011 collectively, we find that theater, Arabic, Chinese and music had departmental median grades of 3.9, 3.86, 3.81 and 3.77, whereas chemistry, biology, mathematics and economics respectively had median grades of 3.22, 3.33, 3.34 and 3.34, according to data complied in 2012 by Dartblog.
This creates a situation in which students may be drawn to departments because of the prevalence of high median grades, rather than by genuine interest in the subject. This is unfair on the part of departments that may draw students away from other departments by offering “easy As.” This is additionally unfair to students who wish to pursue their actual interest if it happens to be part of a particularly challenging department. Those students will now have to face a significant disadvantage (when competing for admission into groups like Phi Beta Kappa) against other students who may simply choose easier majors and departments.
Should our “honor students” be those who seek to declare the easiest majors or those who tailor their quarterly classes based on circulating layup lists? Or should our honor students be those who excel within the area of interest which they have chosen to follow, regardless of the perceived difficulty or amount of work associated with a major? The system, as it currently stands, is deeply unfair to both departments and students.
At the faculty meeting, it was correctly pointed out that departments would not be equally affected by initiatives to end grade inflation. Religion professor Ronald Green noted that students must take difficult prerequisites or other required courses for some majors and selective graduate or professional school programs, regardless of how low these courses’ medians may be. He added that the same students would not jeopardize their grades to pursue their interests and that “if we [the religion department] were to give B-minuses in our introductory course, I would say no students would take religion courses at Dartmouth.”
Green’s comments highlight one of the largest problems in combating grade inflation: not all departments are the same. So how does one get students to explore their area of interest without feeling that they are sacrificing their GPAs? Initiatives to end grade inflation are only feasible if a standard is mandated across all departments. The pressure students feel to choose classes or majors with high medians would be eliminated if students knew that, for example, the theater, religion and chemistry departments were all going to give an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. With this policy, students GPAs actually would reflect their intellectual ability, rather than gauge their ability to finagle and navigate layup lists.
However, the College does not exist in a bubble, and religion professor Kevin Reinhart correctly pointed out at the meeting that grade inflation is not exclusive to Dartmouth, and that the solution must require collaborating with presidents from other institutions. After all, when applying to schools, perhaps high school students looking far into the future will eschew Dartmouth for greener pastures with higher median grades. The Ivy League as a whole should enact a standardized policy for ending grade inflation. If they can collaborate on sports policies, as they currently do, then surely they can agree on academic policies as well.
Even if Dartmouth cannot lead a movement to end grade inflation, the College should at least rethink how it awards graduation honors such as Phi Beta Kappa. A more accurate way of deciding these honors might be to create a GPA ratio, in which the grade a student gets is weighted to the median. The more above the median, the more “points” a student gets. Then the College’s real honor students would be recognized. The farce which currently exists too often fails to encourage intellectual or academic exploration.
