RSS
Facebook
Twitter
E-PrinceFreshman year, a Princeton student may enter school knowing that a thing called "grade deflation" exists, but he's still determined to do well in classes. Then in the first few semesters, he may do worse than he did in ...(back to the article)
The opinions expressed here are those of the individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. We do not take responsibility for the opinions, facts, or claims presented by individual commenters, and reserve the right to moderate or delete inappropriate comments.
I was held to very high standards throughout my four years. And I'm happy I was. You shouldn't deceive yourself into thinking that all undergraduates were against grade deflation. It is not simply the administration that is defending the policy. Many of your fellow students, particularly the ones doing real A-quality work, are defending the policy. After all, why should A-quality students share the accomplishment and prestige of a high GPA with B-quality students? Just because you're looking for a job? Not a good reason. If you want an A, work harder. That's really all there is to it. If getting an A means not going out on a Saturday here or there, you have a decision to make. Grades reflect intelligence, skill, and dedication, but only with a grade deflation policy can it separate those with excellent intelligence, skill, or dedication, from those with pretty good intelligence, skill, or dedication.
"Grades reflect intelligence, skill, and dedication"
Almost certainly not true for the first two. Perhaps the latter has some correlation.
but, alum08, what do you mean by the ones doing 'real A- quality work'? Princeton kids, when they're being honest with themselves, can tell if they're doing B work instead of A- work. But sometimes, there's just no difference between B+ and A-. A lot of the time, subjectivity of a grader with grade deflation in the back of his mind, NOT "excellent intelligence," etc., separates a B+ from an A-.
-09
PS the 'work harder' philosophy straight up isn't true. I'm assuming you had a stellar GPA, but some of us in large departments like history or politics find it pretty darn difficult to simply work harder. An A is not rewarded for effort at Princeton.
To add to the points made by "@ Alum08," I'm not entirely sure I buy the "work harder" philosophy either. After all, I know a good number of engineers who work their butts off in every way imaginable but still don't get A's. In this case, skill and intelligence probably play a role since you do need a certain level of natural aptitude in the maths and sciences to do well in engineering, but I don't know. Something about the "if you didn't get an A, you probably didn't deserve it" argument just doesn't sit well with me, and I'm not completely sure why.
At least at one point, most students were very skeptical about the decision to enforce stricter grading policies, regardless of GPA of said students. It was not a question of whether you would be getting A's under both policies or not. Rather, it was a rather widespread skepticism about how such a policy could possibly advance the University obligation to create the environment best suited for learning.
> Maybe that's because you have an unwarranted sense of entitlement to that A.
That was in response to this quote: Something about the "if you didn't get an A, you probably didn't deserve it" argument just doesn't sit well with me, and I'm not completely sure why.
"Maybe that's because you have an unwarranted sense of entitlement to that A." Thanks for your lovely (but still BS) assumption, PO5, but that's far from the truth. It's more that the extent to which one's grade is an accurate indicator of one's work ethic probably varies by department (size, rigors, etc.). I just have a hard time believing that if a kid in, say, the MoBio program gets a B instead of an A-, it's necessarily because s/he didn't work hard enough. Now, maybe it is because s/he didn't put in a good effort, and maybe there's more to it. I just don't think this issue is necessarily as simple as Alum08 suggested.
So shrewish, Alum08.
"I just have a hard time believing that if a kid in, say, the MoBio program gets a B instead of an A-, it's necessarily because s/he didn't work hard enough." ------ It would be one thing if you wrote this statement about a major with subjective standards, but one of the hard sciences? What do you think explains grading results in MOL 215 if it's not hard work and dedication?