Grade Inflation Harvey Mansfield Analysis

In Chapter Seven: Lessons From My Year as a Freshman, Rebekah Nathan summarizes and answers questions on the knowledge she gained from becoming a freshman. The author begins the chapter with a cross-cultural conversation between professors and students. She discusses how professors are not aware of the students living conditions or the effort that goes into achieving a high GPA. Likewise, the students do not understand professor rank and advancement.

Response to “I Just Wanna Be Average" by Mike Rose Had Rose and her mother been educated enough, they could have a voice to raise concerns about Rose’s marks. The author seems to suggest that the teachers were responsible for his underperformance. The author feels that parental and teacher responsibility on his part could have helped understanding what discipline is before going to college. However, it is also possible that he did not try hard enough to be disciplined. Nonetheless, Rose is right that environment plays a bigger role in what an individual eventually becomes in adult life (Munns et all, 2013).

In “College Pressures” by William Zinsser, leader of one of the residential colleges at Yale University, the author describes the different amount of pressures that students struggle with in college. Because of his position at the university, he constantly noticed the students around him and the anxiety that was radiating off them. He believes that economic pressures cause students to feel anxious about paying back student loans after college. However, parental pressure leads students to make decisions that their parents would be happy with because of the feeling of guilt and wanting to please them.

In Kurt Wiesenfeld’s article “Making the Grade”, he address the issue that students want a higher grade than they deserve. He goes on to prove this be by giving examples of previous students that he has had and what can happen when students get the grades that they want and not what they deserve. In Wiesenfeld’s article he states that about ten percent of students that take his class do not care about their grades until final grades are over. “You might groan and moan, but you accepted it as the outcome of your efforts or lack thereof,” Wiesenfeld stated.

In his article “I Just Wanna Be Average”, Rose makes the statement: “students will float to the mark you set” (Rose, 1989, p. 3). This remark is one of the truest I have ever read. When teachers have high expectations, students tend to rise up and meet those expectations. Students want to please their teachers and be praised by them. Rose describes: “I loved getting good grades from MacFarland…

This not only put regrets into the student’s head, but it also distracts the students from the teacher’s lecture. The teacher, although the can see and hear the students that are misbehaving, will most likely not mention anything to the students. Following the teacher’s lead most student slack off and decide to take advantage of the lenient professor and begin to cheat on test, pay no attention during the lecture, and turn in work late. The author explains that the professors are simply too afraid of the students causing problems for the professor with the higher ups therefore the professors choose to devote their talents into other areas like research. Finally the student will find no help from the admission staff, Edmundson reports that the admission staff is mostly focuses on the reputation of the university which is a picture of the alumni of the university as a result the staff also has a fear of

If you were to change something about the education system in the U.S, what would you change? How would you critique the quality of education? Education historian Diane Ravitch answers these questions in her excerpt that was published in 2014, “The Essentials of a Good Education.” In her text Ravitch argues that the education system is flawed and that the vision of a good education is unfair and unequal. Ravitch supports her claim by providing examples of the negative effects of the educational system and using historical context.

He believes that professors are softening the grades. Phil Primack also is aware of the many excuses professors give for grade inflation, he even comes up with a reason. He sates, "colleges are unwilling to challenge and possibly offend students and their hovering, tuition- paying parents with some grade tough love. And without institutional backing, individual faculty members simply yield to whining students."

Have you ever deemed the modern college admissions process unfair? In the article by Frank Bruni tilted “College Aadmission Sshocker” he explores the increased greed of the universities at the expense of the students. Bruni is able to establish a well thought out and cunning satire about the insane practices in modern day universities, through the use of the rhetorical devices wit and incongruity. The article well establishes incongruity throughout the piece helping develop a strong satire. As colleges strive for the top percent of students each year Stanford university decides to kick it up a notch:

Imagine blowing up a balloon, with every exhale of breath the balloon gets bigger. Similar to a balloon, with every year that passes grades inflate. In “Grade Inflation Gone Wild” by Stuart Rojstaczer, he discusses how the grading system has changed over the years. Rojstaczer’s overall purpose is to increase awareness of grade inflation and persuade his audience to take action. He argues that “changes in grading have had a profound influence on college life and learning” (2).

The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, is an article published by the Atlantic Journal about the negative effects trigger warnings and microaggressions have on students in college. Trigger warnings are disclaimers about any potential emotional response from a class or its material. Microaggressions are words or actions that have no sinister intentions, but are taken as such. Greg Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. (47)

They lack the indication of students’ knowledge as they are only a depiction of their effort. Absences, laziness, and disengagements are just a few of the factors of why grades are a poor representation of students’ intellectual capacity. While others may argue that grades motivate them, it is not genuinely correct since grades encourage

I’ve noticed that we carry the habit of the criticism without reconstruction into our lives outside of the classroom. We deride the overwhelming stress culture on campus, yet continue to perpetuate it. We complain about the workload our professor assign us, but rush through our SEQs at midnight without providing suggestions for improvement. We criticize the state of mental health resources on campus, but don’t share our concerns with anyone in the administrators who are able to do something about it. And while we ought to be critical of our community, Wellesley, this beautiful, magical institution, with all of its problems and all of its faults, is in much better shape than the rest of the world.

(Source B). It seems as if this statement is now more relevant than ever. The school system spends so much time and energy grading each student the same way, without stopping to take into account the various types of

Thus, encouraged me to elaborate more about time management, modes to overcome obstacles when faced with unexpected situations, and to explain in greater depth why I identify myself as a kinesthetic learner. Critiquing another classmate’s written work helps to learn how to better communicate with one another and how to accept corrective criticism from their peers. Most positions, within the workforce, require staff to effectively collaborate with one another. Therefore, learning to accept corrective criticism is a must and it will help you achieve success not solely within the workforce, but also in your day to day life