U.S. News

2656 readers

20 users here now

News about and pertaining to the United States and its people.

Please read what's functionally the mission statement before posting for the first time. We have a narrower definition of news than you might be accustomed to.

Guidelines for submissions:

Post the original source of information as the link.
If there is any Nazi imagery in the linked story, mark your post NSFW.
Advocating violence is not allowed on Beehaw in general.
If there is a paywall, provide an archive link in the body.
Post using the original headline; edits for clarity (as in providing crucial info a clickbait hed omits) are fine.
Social media is not a news source.

For World News, see the News community.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

rs5th@beehaw.org

Powderhorn@beehaw.org

Harvard faculty to vote on proposal to limit number of A grades in each course (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Harvard’s faculty is set to vote next week on a faculty committee proposal to cap the number of A grades per course in an effort to curb grade inflation.

The proposal, which was first reported earlier this year by the Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, would cap A grades to 20% of students in a course, with an allowance for four additional As. It also would introduce a new internal “average percentile rank” system, which would rely on raw scores rather than grade point average (GPA) to determine honors and awards.

If approved, the policy would take effect in fall 2027, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The proposed cap has faced criticism from students, including those on the Crimson’s editorial board, which claimed it “falls flat” in trying to resolve concerns over grading.

all 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 4 points 6 days ago

F that. Just give ppl what they deserve and curve base on difficulty like a normal school. If everyone got A then its easy or everyone worked for it. If everyone got c then its too hard and curve.

[–] Steve@communick.news 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I remember a Harvard professor saying someplace that at Harvard, great papers get A+, good ones get A, average ones get A-, and bad ones get B. Give someone a C and you'll have a whole mess on your hands with student, parents, admin, etc.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Doesn't this just assert that grades themselves are somewhat meaningless?

[–] Steve@communick.news 3 points 6 days ago

Just that the range of lables is arbitrary.
Not that grades as a concept is meaningless.

[–] ComradeMiao@beehaw.org 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Is this from a class or just some guy?

At Duke it’s quite similar. Most receive A-/A’s with profs acting like a 1/3 a letter grade somehow affects students. Told to go for a 92 total average for classes

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The university I went to is a state university that isn't nearly as well known as Duke and Harvard are.

Letter grades spanned the whole spectrum. I had one friend fail a calc class two times before finally passing with a B on his third attempt.

Is the issue that professors are afraid of giving lower grades? Seems like a simple pass/fail would be more effective if the letter itself has no meaning.

[–] ComradeMiao@beehaw.org 4 points 6 days ago

Same! I love my state schools. Often they’re as good if not better, sometimes better funded, and real people.

I’ve been told multiple times that the students at Duke are just better, lol!

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You clearly didn't go to UW. There were no letter grades.

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Nope, I went to school in Missouri.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Mizzou?

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 2 points 6 days ago

Nope. Same system, different school though.

[–] MisterMKE@midwest.social 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tf, which UW? I go to UW Milwaukee and I've gotton a few Ds.

[–] MisterMKE@midwest.social 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Or do you mean Washington?

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah, U-Dub. My god, when I spent a week in Madison, NPR pronouncing the full "double-you" was nails on a chalkboard.