<p>^^On the subject of suing over bad grades I also think that theoretically this could be possible given the current state of affairs in academia.</p>
<p>Decades ago when the average GPA was a little over 2.0, if a faculty were to dispense a bad grade, the student could compensate with a good grade and be back on track.</p>
<p>Say, in the old days, you get a D (this means you are a bad student), then you study and get an A (this means you are a good student). Taken together you get:
(D = 1.0 + A = 4.0)/2 = 2.5 . This means that you are actually an average student (the midpoint between good and bad).
In other words, a D does not make your academic records “unrecoverable”.</p>
<p>Now, consider what happens when average GPA is 3.3 (at private schools):
You get a D (this means you are a bad student), then you study and get an A (this means you are a good student). Taken together you get:
(D = 1.0 + A = 4.0)/2 = 2.5 . This means that you are still a bad student. The grade dispensed by one single faculty has a disproportionate inpact on a students’ overall performance profile.</p>
<p>If the student wants to get back on track, the student needs 4 As to make up a single D:
(D = 1.0 + 4*A = 16.0)/5 = 3.4.</p>
<p>The question than is: Despite our traditional beliefs of grading scales, should schools be responsible to adopting a grading scale that is relative to their average GPA? If the average is 3.3 and the maximum scale is 4.0 (difference of +0.7), do schools have the responsibility to be extremely careful not to dispense grades below 2.6 (difference of -0.7)?</p>