In response to the article, “Grade inflation discussion to reopen at BU,” I’d like to make administrators aware of several risks of an absolute, sweeping grade curb (Feb. 27, pg. 1). First, I believe most of the professors at Boston University are intelligent enough to assign grades according to the quality of the work. Second, I have personally been in numerous classes in which every single student consistently submits outstanding work. Is it fair to make the average in a class like that a B-? Should we be punished for having a highly intellectual peer group?
And finally, this business of having to make the average a B- causes some professors to apply a downward curve to certain classes. This, I believe, is extremely unfair. If everyone receives an A because the exam was that easy, how can one distinguish who studied from who did not? It is not right to punish everyone, instead the professor should preserve those grades and make the necessary changes to the next exam to ensure a bell-shaped distribution. A downward curve should never be applied.
These are just a few of the many concerns students like myself have about the issue, and they should definitely be taken into consideration by those who are engaging in the “discussions” regarding grade inflation.
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