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Striving for the 4.0 GPA, students manipulate their environment through their teachers. Most students who attend prestigious universities were at or near the top of their class in high school. They didn’t have to work very hard to achieve the high grades they did in high school. At college, however, they have to compete with their peers who most likely also received the same high grades in high school. Instead of working harder, students are getting better and better at convincing their teachers to give in to grade inflation, considering grades were once the reliable measure of success in college. As grade inflation continues, however, this measure is not so reliable.
Teachers and departments compete for the favor of students, and one way they gain this favor is through grade inflation. Good grades, happy consumer, more money for the university. At most colleges, teacher evaluation forms are filled out by students after completion of a class. Teachers who receive poor ratings usually receive them because their course was too difficult or because the student was frustrated with low grades. Department heads look at the evaluations and in turn evaluate their teachers, based on what the students have said. Edmundson presents a shocking result of these evaluations, the mandate “teach what pulls the kids in, or walk” (438).
Teachers therefore begin to inflate grades not only to win back the favor of their students but simply to keep their jobs. Michael Gordon, professor at Rutgers University at New Brunswick, expresses that many faculty members believe that giving low grades would put their students at a disadvantage when they compete for jobs or admission to graduate school with students from programs or institutions whose grading standard is more lenient (1). Soon enough, entire departments are engaged in grade inflation to try to interest students in their classes. Do teachers feel guilt at the thought of giving a grade that means nothing? I think that many teachers don’t think of grade inflation as a punishment, or of having any detriment to their students. The teachers are giving the students what they want.