"Harvard is worried about going soft. Specifically, about grade inflation, the name for giving ever higher marks to ever more students. According to an " Update on Grading and Workload" from the school's office of undergraduate education, released last week to faculty and students, this trend has reached a catastrophic threshold. Twenty years ago, 25 percent of the grades given to Harvard undergrads were A's. Now it's more than 60 percent."
""The whole entire day, I was crying," one freshman told The Harvard Crimson. "It just felt soul-crushing." One of her classmates warned that stricter standards would take a toll on students' mental health-"I was looking forward to being fulfilled by my studies," she said, "rather than being killed by them"-even as the report itself observed that deference to mental-health concerns has made the problem worse."
Harvard undergraduate A grades rose from 25 percent two decades ago to over 60 percent today. Students responded with distress and anxiety, citing fears that stricter grading would harm mental health and clash with athletic and extracurricular commitments. Faculty recognize that grade inflation is widespread and that some professors have contributed to higher marks. Simple remedies, such as lowering the baseline grade and rewarding demonstrable mastery, face practical and cultural obstacles. Deference to student mental-health concerns and workload balancing has contributed to higher grades, making the issue complex, entrenched, and resistant to quick fixes.
Read at The Atlantic
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