Regarding 'The Taming of the A' (Editorial, April 12):
I am both amused and dismayed at the proposed changes in grading standards. I am amused because one must first believe that grade inflation exists and, if it does, that it exists because professors are acting in concert throughout the University. Are the "offending" Princeton professors slack, easy graders or might they be professionals who recognize the difficulty in differentiating small gradations in performance among an essentially homogenous population of highly-talented and highly-motivated individuals?
The administration at Princeton goes to great lengths to extol the academic qualifications of its applicant pool and admittees. Why does it feel uncomfortable that 50 percent of its students do A quality work, when 100 percent did A quality work in high school and likely 100 percent would do A quality work at other highly-regarded colleges and universities? I am dismayed because Princeton graduates will compete head to head with other bright and motivated graduates who will not be subject to artificial grade "deflation."
It would be disingenuous to believe that selective postgraduate institutions will prefer a solid B Princetonian to an A student from a less rigorous institution, all other things being equal. Once that slippery slope of artificial grade deflation is undertaken, it will not take long for undergraduates to be placed at a severe competitive disadvantage.
A Princeton education is not always an end in itself, but, rather, it is often a means to an end — graduate school admission. Were I advising a prospective student with postgraduate aspirations, I would recommend that the undergraduate institution be selected on the basis of its success in placing its graduates in graduate school.
If Princeton pursues this proposed path, don't be surprised if other universities rush not to follow suit and be prepared to sacrifice a large number of graduate school positions to, perhaps, lessqualified applicants with higher GPAs. In the infantry, no one wants to be the "point man" on patrol in enemy territory. There is a reason for that trepidation. Thomas Hunter P '07 Savannah, Georgia
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