Harvard Says It's Been Giving Too Many A Grades To Students (fortune.com)
- Reference: 0179891542
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/28/1520235/harvard-says-its-been-giving-too-many-a-grades-to-students
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2025/10/27/harvard-grade-inflation-students-ivy-league-education/
> More than half of the grades handed out at Harvard College are A's, an increase from decades past even as school officials have sounded the alarm for years about rampant grade inflation. About 60% of the grades [1]handed out in classes for the university's undergraduate program are A's , up from 40% a decade ago and less than a quarter 20 years ago, according to a report released Monday by Harvard's Office of Undergraduate Education.
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> Other elite universities, including competing Ivy League schools, have also been struggling to rein in grade inflation. The report's author, Harvard undergraduate dean Amanda Claybaugh, urged faculty to curtail the practice of awarding top scores to the majority of students, saying it undermines academic culture. "Current practices are not only failing to perform the key functions of grading; they are also damaging the academic culture of the college more generally," she said in the report.
[1] https://fortune.com/2025/10/27/harvard-grade-inflation-students-ivy-league-education/
a-BUH-buh, buh-buh (Score:1, Troll)
"A" doesn't mean anything. Because you haven't assigned a meaning to it! Except maybe, "This guy got got 90% of the test questions right." Who cares? You're a professional educator. I wanted you to teach him 100% of the subject matter, and you didn't.
That he got one more percentage point than the next guy down doesn't exactly move me. Because I don't care about ranking people! Your shouldn't either; it's dumb. Teach everybody everything.
Re: (Score:2)
That's now how education works. Not that I expected you to know anything about it.
Re: a-BUH-buh, buh-buh (Score:3)
Ranking is important as a feedback and as recognition. Getting less than one deserves leads to loss of motivation and depression. Getting more than one deserves leads to overconfidence and entitlement. Accurate grading and ranking is important.
Re: a-BUH-buh, buh-buh (Score:3)
Grading != ranking. Ranking can lead to outcomes not correlated to your actual performance.
Re: a-BUH-buh, buh-buh (Score:2)
Grading leads to ranking. Can you share auch outcomes, please?
Some upward shift is expected (Score:4, Insightful)
If teaching were perfect, then all students would get A grades. If teaching methods did actually improve, some grade shift upwards would be expected. Or maybe college being a possible life long major expense makes students more serious about studying.
I don't think any of those things are the major cause of this level of grade inflation, but probably contribute at least a little.
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If teaching were perfect AND students put in the correct effort. Perfect teaching won't work if students put minimal effort in.
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Harvard has also become more selective in the last 20 years. The US population has grown by 16% in the last 20 years but Harvard's undergraduate enrollment has stayed the same. And the number of foreign students has increased 60% over the past two decades. These factors alone could explain most of the grade inflation simply because the student body is smarter on average today than they were 20 years ago.
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> If teaching were perfect, then all students would get A grades. If teaching methods did actually improve, some grade shift upwards would be expected. Or maybe college being a possible life long major expense makes students more serious about studying.
> I don't think any of those things are the major cause of this level of grade inflation, but probably contribute at least a little.
Students also have to put in the work, It's a two way street.
Part of the problem is the path of least resistance. Friends who still teach say they will get calls from parent (!) over grades so at some point it's easier to give A's and let the real world sort it out
A good instructor knows what questions are say and others hard and can craft a test to be pretty assured it will fall into a certain score distribution. Reviewing answers can also identify confusing questions or gaps in th lessons if people regu
Is corruption happening? (Score:2)
When A grades are given en mass, we have to ask ourselves if favors are being done here. It's quite easy to audit this. Demand the review of random tests, essays, projects, etc.. Even a student can tell you if A was given appropriately. Won't take a genius to figure out.
I'm not saying this to undermine the legitimately bright students. But we have to understand that our Ivy Leagues have seen explosive foreign admissions last 20 years. Those students come from international families of either great power
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There is a much simpler explanation, the bar has continuously risen for admissions. It shouldn't be surprising that the students today are better at academics than they were in the past when it was easier to get into the schools.
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Professors are also getting pressured to give good grades and students that get marked down complain and get parents and administrators involved
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The number of college attendees vs. college age population is higher than it ever was, including at the school in question. It is predicted that population decline will overtake this higher rate of college attendance in the next few years.
In light of those two facts, what bar are you talking about exactly?
Grade Inflation Or Something else? (Score:1)
Grade Inflation sounds like a way to say one of two things, students are getting smarter and working harder (or using ChatGPT) or they are dumbing down the education standards to make sure students get an A. From my own college experience, not at Harvard, undergraduate classes are turning into high school courses in their grading system - meaning - some classes would count things like participation in the grade and if the average on any test was below a B average, bring everyone's score up so the average wa
Re: Grade Inflation Or Something else? (Score:2)
When I was in college (stone tablet days), I had a Calc4 TA fail me. Didn't matter my tests and homework were 3.95. He instituted a mandatory attendance policy midway through the term and, with my not being there, I, like several others, didn't get the memo. Why didn't I go? I couldn't look at the dweeb without laughing (he dressed like a clown). I couldn't take him seriously. Yeahâ¦i should have. That, and I was doubled up on classes as I switched majors and needed to graduate on time.
So c
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Multiple choice question? If that even enters your thought process, are you sure your own college experience wasn't high-school level?
"...saying it undermines academic culture" (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the problem behind the problem. Who actually cares about "academic culture" outside of academia? The function of a grade should be a way to measure how good someone is at a job using the skills and knowledge pertaining to the coursework. That's it. It shouldn't be about maintaining some ivory tower status quo. Until they correct this thinking, they're not ready to correctly address grade inflation.
Bad Premise (Score:3, Interesting)
If 90% of students in a class complete the required work, and score above 90% on an exam, then they are all deserving of an A. If a class is supposed to teach a set curriculum and the students master that curriculum, they deserve an A. Doesn't matter if it is 1 in 30 or 29 of 30 students.
Harvard does not admit "C" students from high school. They only admit students who have earned top marks in high school. Which means that the students there are generally pretty smart in the first place. Which seems to infer that the majority would be capable of achieving high marks in college as well.
Now if the class has a grading curve then it could be argued that that the curve is too generous.
Also, there is a big difference between freshman general ed classes - required for all majors - versus high-level classes that are specific to one's major. Is the grade inflation in the general ed classes or the higher level classes?
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If 60% of the class master the material to an A level, maybe the class is not challenging enough? There is no shame in getting a B, in a difficult class. Originally, as I understand it, a C meant you had mastered the basics of the subject, a B meant you had done more, and an A mean outstanding. Then the grade inflation began. One class I took in college (an elective not core) out of sixty students the instructor gave one A and 3 Bs. That is kind of ridiculous in the other direction. One class I was a
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Are you trying to say there's a difficult type of, say, linear algebra and an easier type?
Perhaps there is a harder version of Hemingway they could be teaching?
Given how competitive the kids are who made it through the insane contemporary university admissions derby, it's no surprise to see them continuing to run on the hamster wheel of credentialism like their lives depended on it.
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Yes. My experience with many years of schooling is that at the undergraduate level, there is a wide range of ability and preparation. I had one professor who said up front that he created his tests with the objective of having an average grade of 50%. When dealing with new knowledge not everyone gets it the first time. That is why final exams are usually weighted more heavily that the ones given during the course.
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> [...] Which seems to infer that the majority would be capable of achieving high marks in college as well.
"imply"
Gen Classes vs Honors (Score:2)
Even back when it was less competitive to get in, there was a marked difference between the gen ed classes everyone took (wide grade distribution curve) and honors major specific courses (almost everyone is getting 90% or above). The latter couldn't really fairly be graded on a curve. If everyone is applying themselves and focused on their education you're not going to see much spread.
An 'A' from Harvard isn't ... (Score:1)
.. as [1]valuable [wikipedia.org] as you think it is.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
Problem is GPA matters after college in some place (Score:1)
Unfortunately places like Med School and Law School (just to name 2) use GPA as a very-heavily-weighted factor for admissions.
In reality any group of people is going to have above average, average, and below average. Just so happens that theoretically, the below average Harvard student is still way above the national average.
A self-contained system like a college, imo, should still have a general bell curve and be giving out mostly C's. Of course the material would need to be adjusted so that only a few ver
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Hmm, symbols message up.. that shoudl be a generic "U of State"
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Bell curve results do not serve the purpose of formal education. The concepts of "discovery" and "mastery" ought to be used instead, and course content ( NOT fudge grading ) limited as required to achieve those goals. For example, after E&M-101 & vector calculus course, mastering elementary Maxwell Equation tasks ought to require 3-18-week semesters not 2-12-week terms. The top 1/2/3 A-students are smoking, but also 50% of the class is ready to take-on J.D.
This is the problem with formal education (Score:2)
They noticed a pattern and sounded the alarm. There was no mention of whether or not these students deserved the A grade. Just that the pattern was off. I teach at an institute and we have the same system. If you pass many students, or fail many students, you get questioned, so most instructors *force* the grades to be within the range that doesn't get them into trouble.
This all means is when you, as a student, get a grade in school (I don't care which school) you can't tell if that's your honest evaluatio
Darwin wins again (Score:2)
Here's what happens when you have a policy of "legacy admissions" that gives a free ride to the scions of wealth, power and privilege...DEI for families with the political connections to ruin the life of anyone who might dare to point out that their 20 year old offspring still have trouble dressing and feeding themselves.
That fluttering sound you hear is chickens coming home to roost.
They are just following Goodharts law (Score:2)
Where the measure becomes the rule.
Oh goodie stack ranking (Score:5, Insightful)
So it doesn't matter if you're doing good work you're still going to get a B or a C because there's a pecking order and we are going to maintain it.
Remember, America is about knowing your place.
Re:Oh goodie stack ranking (Score:4, Informative)
Where have you been lately? Trump claims to be doing exactly that. Although under his program to get an A you just have to pay him and praise him publicly.
Re: (Score:2)
It all comes down to money and who you know.
Re: Oh goodie stack ranking (Score:2, Insightful)
If everybody is getting an A, your grading scale needs to be adjusted. You evidently are not presenting challenging enough material.
Has nothing to do with stack ranking.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Your position assumes a specific purpose of the grade, which many disagree with.
Is the purpose to show how well the material is mastered? If that is the case, then a high set of A grades is no reason at all to adjust the material's difficulty level. The nature of the knowledge itself is the only determinant. Like, say, algebra. If the goal of the A grade is to show how well you have mastered algebra, and a lot of people are getting As, that does not mean that your course content is bad. It just means t
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The correct answer is for colleges to stop giving grades at all. Grades should be given by separate testing institutions whose only job is to assess and rate competence in various domains. The purpose of the college is to give you the knowledge and skills you need to do well on the test, but not to administer the test.
That matters because colleges are judged by how many As they give out. If they give out too few, students don't want to go there. Why would the? They know darn well that THEY will be judg