First, The Powers that Be tell us we're a generation of slack- ers who will never learn the meaning of hard work. Now, according to a national study of GPAs at colleges, they tell us we're getting too smart for our own good. In 1969, 7 percent of college students averaged an A-minus average or better, but in 1993, that average had risen to 26 percent of students, while the number of Cs had gone down from 25 percent to 9 percent. So instead of praising the hard work and effort of students, administrators have decided that the grading scale is too easy and must be adjusted.
Duke University is considering converting from a 4.0 scale to an "achievement index," which would have teachers give grades as usual, but then grades would be fed through a computer which would distribute them, so that students would be compared to others on a giant curve. With high schools always preparing its students for college, it won't be long until the achievement index filters down into secondary schools. The problem with the achievement index is that there would be no standard for which a student could strive. There wouldn't be a certain number he could get right on a test to get the A for which he was aiming. Overachievers - who are driven to get the best grade possible - would burn themselves out trying to be the absolute best, because if there is someone doing even better work than he, his grade will go down.
But classes aren't getting easier. My mom tells me the work I'm doing in high school was considered college level when she was in school in the 1960s. Perhaps the reason GPAs have risen is that there is no incentive to take hard classes. Students can take standard classes and receive As, or take challenging advanced classes and receive Cs. When it is so vital for college and job applications to have graduated with honors or be in the top percentage of the class, there is no incentive to take difficult classes.
The GPA system has to be changed so that there is a reward for taking hard classes, but the achievement index isn't the way to do so. A weighted grading scale, where advanced classes count more towards the GPA, would allow students to know how much work they have to do because they aren't competing with classmates - while still taking challenging classes and haveing high GPAs. If students are getting too smart for their own good, then they should rethink the grading scale instituted by the Powers that Be, who all had lower grade averages than we.