Grading Students

Last week's Time magazine had an article on grading standards in Fairfax County and this morning while slugging in my driver asked for my opinion. Since we had a good discussion on the ride, since I've had similar discussions before about grading in college, and since I am a Fairfax County alum, I figured a blog entry was the next step. At issue is the thresholds for grades: currently a student requires a 94% for an A in Fairfax, rather than a 90% in most of the rest of the country. Fairfax students therefore have lower average GPAs for the same performance, putting them at a disadvantage for scholarships and college admissions. I saw this first-hand at Georgia Tech: admissions was primarily based on a formula, therefore those in easier school districts or with easier grading were more likely to be admitted. I saw this again at Georgia Tech, which still fails out 1/4 of its students. In my graduating class of 2,020 students there were zero with a 4.0 and no withdrawals. This put us at a disadvantage for scholarships and law and med school applications. I saw this in Federal Government recruitment where my agency values a 3.0 from Phoenix well above a 2.9 from Georgia Tech. Higher grades benefit students in applications. But that doesn't mean that inflating grades is overall beneficial to students, and it doesn't make it responsible for the schools. The Time article points out Jefferson's slow straight-A rate (<4%) when most students are straight-A capable at almost any other school in the country. As an alumnus I must defend this practice. Jefferson is an incredibly functional meritocracy, where students challenge each other to excel and to compete in a friendly manner. Making an A harder to attain makes these success-driven students work harder to try to earn it. More challenging classes and more challenging grading is a huge benefit where students emerge with more knowledge and better skills (despite a lower GPA). Increasing the grades of students also removes the distinction of those few top students and reduces their competitiveness. I'm one of those people who missed 2 questions on the Math SAT and still got an 800; someone who got a perfect should be able to say they did better. A 4.0 in Fairfax County or Georgia Tech means something; if 36% have above a 4.0 how should the most exclusive colleges and scholarships pick the top few? Is a competition more likely to accept the student who was his school's only 4.0 or one who was one out of a hundred? An Ivy who knows Thomas Jefferson High School's reputation or a grad school who knows Tech's but can only choose the top few students needs to be able to identify those top few rather than randomly selecting at the expense of the most qualified. Finally, the real problem must be addressed. Fairfax County's grades aren't artificially low; the grades of other school districts have been inflated. Even if this does provide a relative disadvantage to students in a few visible ways, the problem is not Fairfax's. It is in Fairfax's best interest to remain a district famous for its challenging schools and successful graduates. This reputation and purpose, although harder to measure, is far more valuable to all students and graudates than a slight increase in GPA.