I found an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (www.chronicle.com/article/To-Justify-Every-A-some/128528). Western Governors University has hired 300 adjunct professors to do nothing but grade. The reasoning is that professors who teach the classes themselves can skew grades just from having contact with the students. This leads to grade inflation. The article states average grades have risen for thirty years and the most common grade given at the university level is an A. The article then goes on to debate the merits of the standard professor-as-grader system and the new systems (including artifical-intelligence driven grading of essays) being implemented.
Both sides of the argument, pro-status quo and pro-independent grading have valid arguments. But the most telling portion of the article to me is the reflection of grade inflation on higher education. Are students genuinely better today than they were 30 years ago? Or is the grade inflation indicative of a shift in higher education toward a service mentality (meaning that colleges and universities are serving the public, i.e. customers and the customer is always right). I have heard 'round-the -water-cooler discussions of these topics before. The debates have been very often both optimistic and pessimistic. Which belief is right?
Like many issues that are worth discussing, there is no clear-cut answer. There needs to be discussion, debate and dialog not only at the intra-collegiate level but at the inter-collegiate as well. And while we are at it, why not include the K-12 educational systems as well? If it weren't for K-12, there wouldn’t be a higher education to strive for. I think it would benefit everyone to continue to discuss new, innovative strategies to help students succeed. After all, student success is what education is about, and that’s something we all agree on.
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