Students who say grades are meaningless and arbitrary may be surprised to learn that many professors think so too.
However, what these professors see as a flaw-grade inflation-might be perceived differently by students. Grade inflation, the idea that more high grades are being given than previously and that this number is too large, sparked impassioned speeches and comments Saturday in a conference of the Wisconsin Association of Scholars at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St.
Proposed remedies to grade inflation ran the gamut from giving rankings in addition to letter grades, offering extra work to demonstrate effort or simply abolishing grades altogether.
\This is a topic that should be more discussed than it is,"" UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said in his opening remarks, adding that grade inflation does exist at UW-Madison.
One speaker, Alfie Kohn, said although there are certain well-publicized cases of grade inflation at some institutions, there is little national data to support the theory that it is a widespread epidemic or that the higher grades are undeserved. Kohn, who has written books about educational issues, also disputed the notion that a tougher grading process equals higher academic standards and advocated a grade-free system.
""How many students have been trained to think that getting A's is the point of going to school? Now there's a crisis,"" he said.
An issue of debate was whether a grade should be a reward, a motivator or a means of communicating information.
Speakers Richard Kamber and Mary Biggs, professors at the College of New Jersey, said grades should communicate competency in a course and achievement relative to peers, and that instructors have an ethical obligation to return grades to this function. Their proposal for reducing grade inflation was to introduce a system of ranking students in addition to giving letter grades.
""[Grade inflation] tells barely adequate students that their work is excellent, at least good enough to be rated excellent,"" Biggs said.
Valen Johnson, a professor at the University of Michigan, found in a study at Duke University that students were more likely to give positive course evaluations to easy graders and to select these professors over more stringent ones. Johnson proposed adjusting grade point average calculations so an A in a leniently graded course counts less than an A in a rigorously graded course.
Francis Schrag, a professor of educational policy studies and philosophy at UW-Madison, said a just grading system should account for effort as well as talent.
""You can't claim credit for that ability, only for the willingness to put in effort to develop that ability,"" he said.
