When I was Literary Editor at National Review, reader mail suggested to me that parents were anxious about finding colleges for their kids that weren't just spiffy camps for Marxist indoctrination, so I decided we should do The National Review College Guide (1991), which I wrote with Charles Sykes. We wrote about grade inflation at Harvard then. I'm not surprised the faculty have decided to resist such pressures as have previously "compelled" their generosity. But . . . a lot of smart young men and women get into Harvard--kids who got good grades in high school. I don't suppose getting a B or a C in a course at Harvard is a crushing blow, and I don't care. But will there now be pressure on professors not to award a worth term paper an A for fear that will force them to award the same grade at term's end? Will there be an A quota? - Brad
I agree, though I’d argue many professors especially in the social sciences, humanities areas are part of the problem. In the spirit of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's rebuke to the Harvard class of 1978: "The generation now coming out of Western schools is unable to distinguish good from bad. Even those words are unacceptable. This results in impaired thinking ability." We need leaders with courage and a systemic reset: (1) cut the excessive university overhead driving up tuition; (2) reject the consumer mindset and return to a formative character model; (3) require deans and presidents to clearly define academic excellence; and (4) strictly enforce honor codes, including non-toleration clauses. The topic reminds me of a professor of ours, a decorated combat veteran, welcoming our incoming class by noting that while grade inflation swept the country during the Vietnam War, but West Point refused to participate. My class started with roughly 1,440 cadets and graduated only 870 in 1981. We lost a chunk to honor violations for lying or cheating and toleration. The average cumulative GPA was a 2.3/4.0, and failing a class--some years 10% of us failed--meant losing what were only three precious weeks of your summer leave to summer school, then directly off to military training. "Star cadets" made up the top 5% and were genuinely elite. I’m not advocating for a return to a Spartan model but the current institutional rot in many universities has been there for decades and now goes far deeper. Curving grades is a short term band aid. Professors must first change their hearts if they hope to reform and return education to its formative purpose.
Great insights in your article in today's The Catholic Thing The leaves without fruit passage per Matthew 21:18–19 is also a powerful description of our present material wealth that rejects real human "fruitification" and the curse of demographic collapse. Many elements of these "happiness projects" treat religion as just another self help program where the evils of suffering, moral failure and death are obstacles to happiness, rather than opportunities for surrendering our wounded and often rebellious wills to the mystery of the cross so we can receive the "fruit basket" of graces for virtue that would not have been present otherwise. Life is “painfully imperfect” for most of us, real happiness here is only a foretaste of what can be but it is not lasting, not stable, and not free from evils. Only heaven is free of evil. Well done, Michael!
When I was Literary Editor at National Review, reader mail suggested to me that parents were anxious about finding colleges for their kids that weren't just spiffy camps for Marxist indoctrination, so I decided we should do The National Review College Guide (1991), which I wrote with Charles Sykes. We wrote about grade inflation at Harvard then. I'm not surprised the faculty have decided to resist such pressures as have previously "compelled" their generosity. But . . . a lot of smart young men and women get into Harvard--kids who got good grades in high school. I don't suppose getting a B or a C in a course at Harvard is a crushing blow, and I don't care. But will there now be pressure on professors not to award a worth term paper an A for fear that will force them to award the same grade at term's end? Will there be an A quota? - Brad
I agree, though I’d argue many professors especially in the social sciences, humanities areas are part of the problem. In the spirit of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's rebuke to the Harvard class of 1978: "The generation now coming out of Western schools is unable to distinguish good from bad. Even those words are unacceptable. This results in impaired thinking ability." We need leaders with courage and a systemic reset: (1) cut the excessive university overhead driving up tuition; (2) reject the consumer mindset and return to a formative character model; (3) require deans and presidents to clearly define academic excellence; and (4) strictly enforce honor codes, including non-toleration clauses. The topic reminds me of a professor of ours, a decorated combat veteran, welcoming our incoming class by noting that while grade inflation swept the country during the Vietnam War, but West Point refused to participate. My class started with roughly 1,440 cadets and graduated only 870 in 1981. We lost a chunk to honor violations for lying or cheating and toleration. The average cumulative GPA was a 2.3/4.0, and failing a class--some years 10% of us failed--meant losing what were only three precious weeks of your summer leave to summer school, then directly off to military training. "Star cadets" made up the top 5% and were genuinely elite. I’m not advocating for a return to a Spartan model but the current institutional rot in many universities has been there for decades and now goes far deeper. Curving grades is a short term band aid. Professors must first change their hearts if they hope to reform and return education to its formative purpose.
Teaching evaluations produced an implicit contract of we won’t grade you strictly if you don’t grade us strictly.
Great insights in your article in today's The Catholic Thing The leaves without fruit passage per Matthew 21:18–19 is also a powerful description of our present material wealth that rejects real human "fruitification" and the curse of demographic collapse. Many elements of these "happiness projects" treat religion as just another self help program where the evils of suffering, moral failure and death are obstacles to happiness, rather than opportunities for surrendering our wounded and often rebellious wills to the mystery of the cross so we can receive the "fruit basket" of graces for virtue that would not have been present otherwise. Life is “painfully imperfect” for most of us, real happiness here is only a foretaste of what can be but it is not lasting, not stable, and not free from evils. Only heaven is free of evil. Well done, Michael!