Grade Inflation

I had almost the exact same experience with an undergraduate professor who called my in-text citations and resources "pedantic." He caught me red handed with "filler." I never used pedantic quotes thereafter.

 

*laughs* Glad I am not the only one.

 

I doubt that FERPA's relevant to your example, that's Dave's theory. FERPA places some restrictions on a university's release of student records, but it specifically excludes compilation information that doen't include any identifying information about particular students from those restrictions. And if this professor returned the papers without grading them, saying that they were all unsatisfactory, then there wouldn't have been any grade records in the first place.

Dave's idea seems to be that the professor behaved in such a way that students might be able to infer how other students had performed on the assignment and he's interpreting that as if it was a release of student records. But anyone who's ever taken a B&M class is going to have a pretty good idea who's doing well and who is struggling, just by observing how their compatriots do in class discussions, lab assignments and on projects. Professors often ask the members of a class to observe and sometimes even to formally critique each other's projects. Class critiques were a common practice at Cal Poly SLO's architecture school, according to friends in that program, and it's always been an art-school staple.

Getting back to the topic of grade inflation, it's likely that the constant creation of new "rights" in our increasingly adversarial and litigious society has something to do with it. The FERPA law is relevant here since it requires that students be allowed to see their own student records and have the university change any record that the student feels is inaccurate. If the university argues that the record is in fact accurate, then a formal hearing is required to resolve the matter. Those hearings probably don't look very good on a professor's own record, particularly if he or she doesn't have tenure. So I'd speculate that professors and university administrations might sometimes take the path of least resistance, being careful to do nothing that might cause themselves any job hassles down the line. If that means giving all their students A's, then so be it.

That process might even be more pronounced at ivy-league-type schools.

At "lower tier" schools, admissions are fairly open and there's always lots of attrition. Many students drop out and students who aren't doing well don't raise eyebrows. But at Yale for instance, students are highly selected at the beginning and a large percentage of them come from rich and powerful homes. Success is expected, almost an entitlement. These students sometimes come from families that the university doesn't really need as enemies, large financial contributors or individuals with high-level political-connections.

 

The topic doesn't just stop in the post-secondary realm of academia....it is (IMO) beginning to trickle down in the secondary level (HS) as well - as far as being an issue.

With school and district grades weighing so heavily on state assessment scores, and districts are relying on additional funding for graduation rates, etc. teachers are literally being harassed by their administration for high failure rates in their classes. Last year, I was scrutinized for a 20-25% failure rate in my HS classes....and even though I argued and defended my position of student laziness, poor attitude, incomplete work, refusal to do work, not attending classes and poor study habits as a result of many failures - administration began to get on my case about it. So, in turn, which was against all my principals and ethics - I further dumbed downed and made the courses easier than I previously done the year before. In turn the failures diminished a little; went from 25% to 15-20%. THEN administration tried to accuse me of lowering my standards to make the grades come up!

I basically made a scene and told them they are a bunch a hypocrites and accused them that they only care about grades looking good on paper, assessment scores to make the HS to beat out the other schools, and be top dog! AND what do they care if students learn or walk away from an education and an experience... but, just as long as they are an "A" school - that is what really only matters!

In the end, I told them that I refused to change my principles any longer, I am the expert in my area/field and they have no idea what it is like to be a classroom on an everyday basis...so don't tell me how to teach and do my job; and just sit there in their little office and facilitate the operations of the school!

The issue is getting worse year by year......the same administration has been known to change failures for senior grades and alter attendance records 48 hours prior to graduation without consent or notification of the instructors, in order to make their "quota" for graduation!

So - it is beginning to happen in HS's too!

 

Nobycane is right. Teachers in my school have been strong-armed into changing grades so that students pass, and if they don't, the administrators can change them anyway. It's making a high school diploma worthless.

-Matt

 

It is a shame that this is occurring in our schools (secondary), it is so insulting and demeaning towards the teachers. It has become that teachers are more like "babysitters" giving kids something to do to keep them quiet than teachers providing a real educational experience and pass along knowledge.

I have a lot of colleagues in my doctorate program that all have left public school system education for the very same reason I mentioned prior, plus all the discipline issues and overall grief and stress that comes along with the job.

Articles that I have read over and over about quality teachers leaving the profession altogether or switching to higher education, all indicate the same thing... the average teacher (1 in 5) leaves public school teaching between their 3rd and 6th year. This statistic is growing by the numbers too especially since the economy is in the gutter, and schools are slashing budgets and salaries like crazy!

This is why I so desperately want out of teaching public school, I love teaching college level courses.....I just keep plugging away and keeping my eye out for a FT position. I am tired of the politics and headaches!

 

An interesting possible loophole... however, it probably still wouldn't be on the list of instructor best practices, in my opinion.

 

I very much hate to dash your hopes, but public school teaching is still the low hanging fruit in education, because of the massive retirements on the horizon. In two years, you can earn a credential and still have a shot a full-time job, albeit a California Title I school with crazy discipline and budget problems...