Author Harvey C. Mansfield argues about Grade Inflation at Harvard in his article called Grade Inflation: It’s Time to Face the Facts. He is a professor at Harvard and he has also participated in grade inflation in his classes. Grade inflation is where academic grades are increased over time no matter the outcome of the work. Mansfield conducted an experiment in which he “gave students two grades: one for the register and the public record and the other which was private”. He discovered that the “private” grades were not as good as the public grades. This is because he graded them by their work, which resulted to some students with lower grades. Mansfield’s final thought is that grade inflation should not happen and that it “signifies that professors care less about their teaching”. I agree with Mansfield. I believe that grade inflation prevents students who work hard the recognition they deserve compared to students who don’t work as hard.
Author Harvey C. Mansfield is a reliable source because he centers his paper based on his findings from Harvard. He is a professor of Political Science at Harvard and has witnessed grade inflation and has also done it himself. He also points out the different sides of grade inflation giving his point of view and then also mentioning other teachers, “Harvard professors who teach those admirable, self improving souls cannot restrain their own… high grades cost professors nothing.” (60). Teachers who give students high grades are ineffective while students are effective greatly by grades.
I agree with Mansfield because giving a student an A when they really deserve an F is not teaching them how to be a better student. A student can not pass when they don’t deserve it because when someone doesn’t give them an A and gives them an F like Mansfield would, they won’t know how to change their grade. I also believe that teachers giving grades students don’t deserve make the students lazy because when students realize that all grades are high no matter the quality of their work, they will become lazy and not put their full effort in all their work.
I agree that grade inflation does not differentiate those students who work hard and those who do not. Good grades come from studying and working hard. Students should earn the grade with what they know, even though they may not be happy about the outcome. You brought up a good point that teachers who give out grades to students will make them lazy. I believe that this this is true. I have seen a teacher give her students high grades because she did not want her students to fail and get mad at her. This is no excuse for a teacher. And like you said, students will know what to change in their study habits if they fail. No student wants to fail. This will give students the motive to do better in school.
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