The Importance Of Grade Inflation In Higher Education

Grade inflation has been a concern in the higher education for some time now. Grade inflation has been a concern in the higher education for some time now. There are a number of factors that come along with this concept, but the real question is—does grade inflation really that big of a deal? Jordan Ellenburg argues that grade inflation in higher education is not anything to worry about. In her article, “Don't Worry About Grade Inflation Why it doesn't matter that professors give out so many A's” she proves statistically, that student’s GPA’s can still exhibit a variety of rankings despite the grade inflation. Even though this evidence may be true, I believe that knowledge and grading is beyond a student’s GPA. Take Eva for example, who scored in the 70th percentile. With the bell curve, the author proves that it would be particularly unlikely for her to score two standard deviations above or below her average. This statistical angle shows that higher education grading methods with inflation can be not only reliable, but valid as well. When looking at the student’s grades with a standard bell curve, it shows a consistent measure in addition to external and predictive validity. By taking any student’s percentile and inferring a standard deviation, we can predict their future achievements based off of the standard bell curve. Therefore, it is possible to measure a student’s scores on an A and A- grade scale. However, this method is not perfect. This particular grade scale focuses on the student’s cumulative GPA throughout a four-year transcript. It is a respectable argument that this two-grade method creates a grading hierarchy between student’s percentiles. In spite of these propositions, I overall disagree with Ellensburg’s dispute that grade inflation should not be a top concern. In her article, she focuses on the broad spectrum of a student’s four years. Her overall generalized argument lacks to take into consideration each individual course throughout the student’s college career. When taking each class individually into perspective can showcase a student’s abilities. In fact, several graduate schools pinpoint student’s performances in certain courses when admitting students into their desired program. Having a general outlook on their performances does not always indicate their full capabilities and potential as a student. Standard deviation permits a division of levels between the best, the very good, the good, the mediocre, and so on. However, in this case the standard of deviation only showcases the overall performances of the student. I do not believe there is enough distinction between a student earning an A versus and A-. In the article, the author explains that a student in the 70th percentile would have a tiny chance of attaining a higher GPA than …show more content…
With grade inflation there becomes an over-estimate of population parameter. While there are differences amongst each college and their course difficulty, grade inflation can still play a factor. For example, Harvard’s Dean of Undergraduate Education concluded that their median grade was an A-. This can potentially be because of the lurking variable that students at Harvard are more likely to be more motivated and therefore more successful in their studies to excel in their courses, or it could even be influenced by grade inflation. Therefore, this would then decrease Harvard’s internal validity of the number of A’s received due to the