<p>In my view, grades are indicators of levels of mastery in a given subject. They are NOT differentiators used to categorize students. </p>
<p>Different faculty in different universities may have different standards for levels of mastery. However, there should not be artificial grade distribution imposed.</p>
<p>There is an article about all of this in todays Yale student paper. Its interesting.</p>
<p>[UP</a> CLOSE | Defining the Yale College ?A? | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/04/11/up-close-defining-the-yale-college-a/]UP”>UP CLOSE | Defining the Yale College ‘A’ - Yale Daily News) </p>
<p>This part is strange though</p>
<p>In a News survey sent to approximately a third of student body earlier this week, 57 percent of 573 respondents said they think grade inflation exists at Yale. But the statistics are not so simple: While 37 percent of respondents said they feel they have received a final grade higher than they deserve, 72 percent percent said they feel they have received a final grade lower than they deserve.</p>
<p>Is this right that like 57 percent of students think there is grade inflation but 72 percent think they should be getting even higher grades? Whats that about???</p>
<p>I was talking with a senior at Swarthmore when I visited there and he said that most of his friends got As in high school but werent getting them at Swat so he asked this. Some people are saying that there are higher grades at Yale now because the students are smarter today than they were a long time ago. But he said thats true at Swarthmore and a lot of other schools too. If Yale students have more As than students at Swarthmore, does that mean people think Yale students today are just smarter than students at Swarthmore? He also wanted to know if the kids at Yale thought that about students at the other schools in the Ivy League that also have lower grades. </p>
<p>I didnt really know what to say. Im starting to lean toward going to Yale so I wanted to defend the school!!! What do you think about what he said and what would you say? Also, do you think the professors will change grading next year when were all starting? Im visiting Yale next week so Ill probably get a lot of other opinions then.</p>
<p>“Admissions rates to Yale College have plummeted throughout the last decade, and with selectivity comes greater talent, some professors said”</p>
<p>This is absolutely true. </p>
<p>Yale and other Ivies used to attract applicants from a far more limited pool of talents for various reasons. If the standard for an A remains the same, there is no surprise that we have more A’s today than 30 years ago.</p>
<p>It’s not that Yale students are smarter than students at Swarthmore or Princeton–they aren’t–it’s all about the philosophy of grading. If the purpose of grading is to divide the students in a class into tiers, then somebody has to get a B, or a C. That’s what you get if there is a mandated curve. If there is no mandated curve, then the professor decides who deserves a A based on some other criterion–in most cases, I believe, demonstrated mastery of the material. This generates some inconsistency, but consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.</p>