It is a non-obvious fact that surveys of Princetonians have revealed and will continue to reveal a dislike of the grade deflation policy. Most students evaluate the policy in the same way a citizen would evaluate the question "Do you enjoy paying taxes?" Both taxes and lower grades are always viewed as a punishment, and few can get past that fact in their evaluations.
But what many students fail to realize is that grades are an inherently arbitrary measure of success. Any undergraduate who claims that they worked at an Alevel but received a B+ is failing to speak sensibly. After all, what is an A-? What is a B+? It's impossible to articulate any clear standard. The best way to determine how well one understands course material is by comparison with other students presented with the same material.
Two complaints are made against a comparative standard. First, one could successfully articulate a clear, absolute standard. These standards, however, usually entail vague concepts like "originality," "student excels" and "paper is well-organized," all of which are arbitrary and relative to begin with. The best way to determine how well-organized a paper is, is to look at similar papers by a similar group of students.
The second oft-heard argument is that classes based on test scores should not be comparative. This complaint forgets that the difficulty of a test is also arbitrary. If half of a class gets an A on a test, that does not mean they all somehow deserve an A. The test could have — and should have — been harder. Grades should be scaled to see how well students perform relative to each other.
The policy is also better than the alterative. Previously, professors and departments formulated their own grading curves and standards, causing a number of problems. Students in departments with tougher grading standards received artificially lower grades than other students. In addition, both across and within departments, certain professors graded with tougher standards than others did. Students with similar understandings should not receive different grades simply because departments or professors have different conceptions of grades. That's why it is far more reasonable that grades be distributed in an equitable fashion, across departments and classes.
Beyond the policy itself, it is certainly not ideal for the USG to continue in the direction it is moving. Since the policy has been in place, various student bodies have unsuccessfully tried to address the issue. That does not mean that nothing should be done, but it does suggest that different tactics ought to be used. Student leaders, including USG president Alex Lenahan '07, should focus on making sure that the system is being implemented in an equitable fashion and kinks in the system — which certainly do exist — are ironed out. That would be far more beneficial than drawing dubious connections between the increase in academic 1's and the rate of increasing grades. If there has been grade inflation at the high school level, for example, Lenahan's point has little validity.
Students need to understand that grade deflation is not a punishment. Just because grades have been rescaled does not mean the previous scale was accurate. The current policy creates a standard that can be applied across classes and departments and makes grades meaningful in relation to each other.
Robby Braun '07 and Michael Reilly '07
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