By KERI ANNE FOX
News Editor
and ERIC WEI
Staff Writer
 

Along with grades come the questions: "Does this work deserve this grade? Would this work have received this grade one year ago? Five? Ten?"

If any of the answers are "No," a more important question is "Why?"

One possible answer on the minds of some professors, students, employers and administrators is grade inflation. Another question is whether or not it occurs at Bates. And if it does, one is prompted to wonder, what it means and if it should be stopped.

Several professors responded by e-mail to a query about the status of grade inflation at Bates.

"I believe that what is considered an acceptable grade has changed over the years. And I believe faculty are more reluctant to give unacceptable grades than in the past," said Professor of Theater and Department Chair Paul Kuritz.

Some, like Kuritz, see the grading process as growing tougher.

Others, like Professor of Psychology and Department Chair John Kelsey, said that, "The average GPA earned by Bates students has ... steadily increased over a five year period. ... by at least one definition, we (the

College) are inflating our grades."

"Some would argue that the increase in grades does not represent `inflation,' but represents an increase in student performance due to better students, better teaching, alternative methods of teaching, alternative methods of evaluation, smaller classes, changes in the kinds of behavior that the faculty values, et cetera," he said.

"Others would argue that the increase in grades represents an erosion of standards and an over evaluation of student performance and that, like most over-evaluation (or under-evaluation), this is likely to be harmful in the long run," Kuritz said.

Grade inflation tends to occur gradually over the years. A presiding theory is that it really took off during the years of the draft during the Vietnam war. If a male student's GPA dropped below a certain point, he would be drafted. Sympathetic professors would try to help as they could, sometimes by boosting the student's grade.

Once the war ended, it was impossible to go back to the way things were.

Attempting to define grade inflation more theoretically, Kelsey said, "I would assume that the most common definition is an increase in the average grades given over a period of time. One could also argue that it represents an absolute over evaluation of the students' work, e.g. mediocre work that used to earn a C, now may earn a B or even an A."

Bates participates in a yearly survey conducted by the Franklin and Marshall Grading Survey of Selected Institutions, along with 11 other schools which studies how academic institutions grade and how the grades are distributed.

"Due to policy reasons, this survey cannot be publicly released," said Bates's Director of Institutional Research Jim Fergerson. If it were, the findings could influence current grading procedures.

Institutional Research was able to provide a few graphs to help illustrate possible grade inflation at Bates and how Bates grades compares to similar schools.

According to Kelsey, "The average grades received by students in psychology courses have increased steadily over the past five years such that the average grade is now approximately .2 [points] higher than before."

Graph 1 supports this in a corollary fashion, as the percentage of students graduating with Latin honors (cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude) has increased by more 10 percent since 1995.

But when you compare Bates to other schools, as Graph 2 illustrates, the College is on par with so-called "peer institutions." Students at Bates get slightly fewer `A,' `D' and `F' grades an slightly more `B' and `C' grades.

If grade inflation is occurring, it is happening at a steady, overall rate, at least according to Graph 2.

Some offer a different view of the grading process. "Professors take this matter [grade inflation] seriously and struggle to come up with a grading system that is meaningful, fair, and, ideally, educational -- in other words, students learn something in evaluative processes besides the letter grade that they have been given," said Associate Professor of Art Erica Rand.

While the letter grade itself does not indicate all of the learning process, it does have an impact -- even if it ends after graduation. And grades that come easy can hurt more than they help.

"An athlete trains by competing against his or her best time. We should do the same, even if it means the standards keep getting higher," said Associate Professor of Religion and Chair of Classical and Medieval Studies Robert Allison.