With programs like ""No Child Left Behind"" beginning almost a decade ago and Race to the Top being included in the Recovery Act last year, the emphasis for national education reform has been on a teacher's ability to reach each and every student successfully. However, as of late, the focus shifted to the students. Specifically, universities have been questioned in their ability to properly highlight academic accomplishments of deserving students.
Going through a K-12 system keeps grading simple: Do the daily work and show up regularly and you're all but assured a decent passing grade if simply for the fact that the teacher recognizes an effort. College, on the other hand, is the stepping stone to a career and life of independence, making it much harder to evaluate who the hard workers are out of the classroom while also making it more important to do this properly, as a bad grade point average could mean stumbling out of the starting blocks of adulthood.
This does not appear to be a problem for many UW-Madison students, however, as a recent report has made news claiming grade inflation over the past several decades.
Coincidentally, students at Princeton University have recently spoken out in opposition to a six-year-old effort by the school to cap grade inflation, where frustrations are finally surfacing because of the toughened job market. The students are not willing to risk a future job over classes that amp up the competition to, potentially, help the students get the most out of the experience.
So the first question to ask is how to fix such a pillar of our education system?
Different majors pose several different angles. Subjects in the humanities are often based on personal interpretations; can teachers treat such assignments harsher when simply asking for an informed observation? And in certain areas of science, inflation isn't even an issue, with some courses employing curves to encourage competitive classrooms. That's the policy Princeton chose to apply across the board, and similar to the response there, some students can feel the cards may be stacked against them when they start looking for a career.
So maybe the real question we should be asking is whether or not this even needs to be addressed in Madison?
One, more students are gaining access to college education making admission to prestigious universities even more exclusive. Two, more information is readily available, providing smarter students the ability to adapt to the advantages of technology quicker than professors. Finally, and most importantly, the fact remains that you get out of your education what you put in, and most career advisors will leave your GPA off your resume unless it's truly outstanding.
At the end of the day, grades will always be a passive, but very necessary way of proving that you should be adept in an area of study. But if college has really prepared you for the real world, you should know by now that when walking into an interview or applying your education in everyday scenarios, people need more than just grades to identify how much you know, and as a result, how much you got out of your college education.
