Grades used to mean something in colleges and high-schools, but not anymore. In most schools and most disciplines, human nature has done away with meaningful grades.
Most college (and high school) classes are graded. In the past, those grades served two important purposes. First, they motivated students to work harder and put in the time, energy, and effort necessary to acquire a real education. Second, they provided some lasting measure of the students’ performances: how much they’d learned, how well they thought, how deeply they engaged, how motivated they were, and everything people used to mean by the term “education.”
But meaningful grading is hard work and, in the absence of strong incentives, it falls by the wayside. Meaningful grading means that some students won’t get A’s, or even B’s, and some of them might not even pass the class. People are different in so many ways and their performances in educational contexts are inevitably different. Meaningful grades are intended to encourage students to do their best at the time and then to reflect the differences in what they did.
Alas, meaningful grading has some uncomfortable consequences—ay, there’s the rub1. Current students believe that education is all about getting high grades and are unhappy (or even outraged) when they receive anything less. Faced with a B (or less), they complain and browbeat their instructors for regrades, do-overs, extra credit and other special deals that require more work by the instructors. Their parents complain on their behalf and go over instructors’ heads to get what they want. And other institutional and societal constituencies apply their own pressures in advocating for the students they support. There is lots of academic privilege and entitlement around these days.
Thus, instructors who spend the time necessary to give meaningful grades must then deal with pushback and that grief consumes their time and peace of mind. Moreover, instructors are typically reviewed and rewarded based in part on student feedback, so there are direct negative consequences (i.e., punishment) for making students unhappy. Since there are no consequences (and less work) to giving out As and substantial costs to anything less, it’s no wonder most instructors don’t sweat over grades anymore. Let them all have As! 2
Lastly, institutions (I’m thinking primarily of colleges, but also some high schools) are rated in part on graduation rates and how quickly students earn their degrees. Those ratings are important to the institutions, which like all companies and many organizations want happy customers and seek to attract more. Since there are no consequences to awarding degrees to less than educated students, why worry about something as inconsequential as the integrity of grading? We’re “just trying to keep my customers satisfied, satisfied.”3
It should be clear at this point that meaningful grading is an ordeal for everyone. Students don’t like it because they’re in school to have a pleasant four years (I’m thinking of college), not have to work too hard, get the highest possible grades, and receive a degree—that golden credential that will lead inevitably to success in life!? Instructors don’t like meaningful grading because it requires so much additional work and the potential of punishment. And institutions don’t like it because it upsets the smooth flow of students through the years to graduation and upsets people in ways that threaten income and ratings, and introduces various types of risk.
So grades inflate and everyone is happy! It’s a no-consequences celebration! Students are happy because they get As and they will surely be rich and famous going forward. Parents are happy because their kids are obviously doing so well and will be wildly successful. Instructors are happy because they don’t have to work as hard assigning meaningful grades to student output that is increasingly juvenile now that high grades are so easily obtained. And institutions are happy because all their students are excelling, paying tuition, graduating promptly, and touting their schools as great and fun and “the best years of their lives.”
Given the various incentives and disincentives, it’s no wonder that grades have inflated into a meaningless mush here in the United States over the past 30 or 40 years. It’s win-win-win!
Okay, there are a few minor consequences, notably a changing in the amount of actual education delivered per (constant) dollar spent. But I’ll focus only on difficulties meaningless grades impose on the job market. For decades, grades and degrees were used for important purposes, notably identifying people who thought well, knew and understood much, and had strong motivation and character. They were also used to discriminate against certain people without violating laws. But now that everyone looks wonderful on paper and college degrees are abundant, what can a potential employer look for when deciding whom to hire?
The answer is straightforward but requires effort: employers must set aside meaningless grades and degrees, and investigate what is going on between each candidate’s ears independently. They must do their due diligence and study what each candidate knows, what they understand, how they think, what is their motivation and character, and what they will bring to the job that is before them.
For jobs that don’t actually require college educations, employers should stop requiring college degrees—why prefer people with meaningless credentials to others who are willing and able to do the job well and possibly better and have shown the good taste not to waste time on a worthless degree?
For jobs that really do require a college education, assess that education! Ignore the (meaningless) grades and instead ask the candidates to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, thinking, character, motivation, passion, morals, ethics, and intelligence. Don’t be blinded by the flashiness of their credentials—elite degrees have become hollow luxury goods, equivalent to designer bags of dubious quality—and do a serious assessment of the person behind the façade. These days, no one should judge people by their meaningless educational credentials any more than by the color of their skin. Instead, judge them “by the content of their character.”4
- (thanks, WS and Hamlet)
- Marie Antonette
- Simon & Garfunkle
- Martin Luther King, Jr.