Grade Inflation is Real

Graduation rates are higher than they have ever been. That sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? You would assume that higher graduation rates correlate to higher rates of literacy and math proficiency. Except that is not the reality. The reason our graduation rates are so much higher is because we have lowered the standard to get there. We’ve lowered the standard everywhere.

There has been some recent attention to a conversation about the idea of grade inflation, essentially that giving out As, 90s or a 4.0 GPA, depending on where you are, has become commonplace. This isn’t because the current generation of students is more intelligent or harder working, it simply means these marks are being given out much more readily. Want to know why?

Students are given an absorbent amount of chances to get them across the finish line. Personally, I think the finish line needs to be set on fire and the entire foundation rebuilt.

There is a sense of entitlement that is sweeping education, and I’m frustrated as an educator, but terrified as a parent. It used to be that schools and parents worked together to support children. Instead of the royal we mentality that parents and schools used to have, there has been a sharp turn to a we versus them dichotomy, and it’s dangerous. There are multiple instances of teachers inflating marks from pressure, both from the higher ups who run and present our data, and parents.

It is no longer abnormal for parents to contact teachers saying that their child needs a 90 in their course. That’s not the problem. The problem is that the conversation leads with “my child needs a 90.” It is not articulated as, “my child needs a 90, what do they need to do to get there?” Teachers are made to feel like if they do not capitulate to this pressure it is single handedly their fault that a child will not get a scholarship or won’t go to the college or university of their choice. There are so few expectations that students who do co-operative education, meaning they experience real work in order to obtain high school credits, don’t even have to meet a minimum amount of work hours to do so.

What is more alarming, however, is the amount of times that parents jump in for their teenage child instead of having the child advocate for themselves. When a student feels like they are above the rules, and a teacher calls them on, it is not uncommon to have a parent jump down that teacher’s throat and accuse the teacher of bullying their child. When a child gets a grade that is not what they want there is no encouragement on the part of the student to speak to the teacher, to look at the feedback that was given on past assignments or to take the initiative to do better next time. Instead, parents are calling to ask why their marks are in the 70s with me when they are getting 90s with others. Subjects are different, and standards are different.

My best friend, who was formerly a university professor, and left because of these same academic frustrations, has told me stories of parents emailing her for their 21 year old child to say that they had family reunions or were ill and therefore would need extensions or have their 50% midterm scheduled at a later time. Parents are fighting their children’s battles for them. Instead of the empowerment they think it is giving their children, this is paralyzing them because they do not know how to take failure.

You won’t be able to be in your child’s job interview to negotiate their salary. When your child has their first performance review at work and is told that they are not meeting the expectations of their job description, you cannot leave a voicemail for their boss explaining why that is the case. The problem is that instead of recovering from the failure and persevering, they are simply forfeiting.

It takes a lot of work to fail. Teachers are pressured to take work late, to allow multiple chances to write tests. In an extreme case, a student can do nothing all semester, hand in all work on the last day and be pressured to mark it to pass the student with a 50. Who cares about the mark? Think about what we just taught that kid. We taught them that they are above the expectations. That they can do nothing and get away with it when Dad comes into the office berating the teacher on the last day. We have rewarded their entitlement. Many teachers simply capitulate and inflate the grade to avoid the beratement that comes with a realistic one.

Students are consistently putting in mediocre effort with the assumption of exceptionality. We are doing a massive disservice to these kids to tell them that they can do and be anything. Not every kid is going to academically be able to achieve that, and that’s okay. If that child works hard, is kind and respects themselves and the people around them, then they are going to be okay. Setting that kid to one standard might also be detrimental to that kid, who instead of pursuing other avenues or education or passion, simply believes they can’t.

Furthermore, we need standards of exceptionality for a reason. The standard for a surgeon who can cut me open needs to be high. The standard for the tradesperson that builds my house also needs to be high. If everyone walks away with inflated grades what incentive is there to work hard? There are plenty of hard working students in my classrooms, and to give them the same due as kids who can’t be bothered is an insult to those kids who are willing to put in the work.

We cannot keep blaming Covid. There is ample data that suggests ability has been plummeting prior to the pandemic on standard assessments like the SATs in the United States as one example. Where I teach we have had record high literacy test proficiency. Sounds great, until you realize that the test expectations were cut in half. There is no denial that Covid impacted education, but it didn’t dismantle a foundation that was solid, it simply exacerbated cracks that were already there.

My high standards have remained, and the reality of carrying those expectations is draining me. While I can’t blame some of my colleagues for lowering theirs because they have been disrespected one too many times, or belittled so often that it’s easier for them to just acquiesce. I’m not saying I won’t get there either, but if I care for my students enough to hold them accountable to their future selves, those standards will hold in my current classroom.