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Take note! Once again, @mekkaokereke is saying something important that too many people simply have no clue about.
There are some closely related questions I always like to ask when grade inflation comes up. (short thread)
@mekkaokereke Suppose every student does excellent work. Should every student get an A? If that happens, isn’t it a •good• outcome we should applaud?
If it happens consistently, should we raise grading standards? If so, does that mean grades should change meaning over time after all — that we should embrace grade •deflation•?
People think they have clear answers until they actually start thinking.
(To be clear, these are questions to reflect on, NOT to toss off an opinion in my replies.)
2/
What’s the point of grades? Is it:
FEEDBACK: “You’re good at this, not so good at that.”
GATEKEEPING: ”You did well enough at X to take class Y, get into institution Z.”
RANKING: “Hey, employers, grad schools, you suck at interviewing, but don’t worry, we’ll tell you: this student is better™ than that student.”
MOTIVATION: “Work hard or the institution will punish you”
CREDIBILITY: “We only grant degrees to people who actually did something”
These are all in •direct• mutual tension.
3/
@inthehands @mekkaokereke So much this! Former math prof here, and I think grades should be entirely replaced by a binary “Mastered this content?” box. Everything else we try to make grades signify is noise.