Number One: Writing about grade deflation is something like jumping off a 20-story building. It ends in a resounding splat. It’s suicide. Therefore, I’d like to clarify a few things before I hit the ground. If there are statements in this column that you find offensive or irrelevant or egotistical or stupid, you ought to be aware that my building is being ruled by vicious, nasty-smelling, virtually immortal ants and that I have a pet crocodile living in my shower. I also have Jack Bauer’s phone number.
I’m glad that we understand each other.
Number Two: A great deal of attention has been given to what I’d like to call the tangible effects of grade deflation. Princeton’s policy naturally means that fewer students will get higher grades. These grades go on a transcript. This transcript influences our chances of securing a job. And the University has a response to this: sending out letters explaining Princeton’s grade deflation policy to all potential employers.
But there are other issues underlying this policy that I feel have not been given sufficient attention or discussion. Grade deflation also has psychological effects on students that are not simply whisked away by justifying the numbers on our transcripts. Princeton is already full of competitive, motivated and stressed people. Grade deflation takes those attributes and amplifies them to an intolerable and, frankly, rather frightening degree.
Telling a normal student that it is very difficult to get an A in a particular institution will provoke the following rational, logical, calm, quiet reaction: “I’ll work as hard as I can in my classes, but I won’t be too disappointed if I don’t get an A.” But As to a Princetonian are what red cloth is to a bull, signaling only one thing: Charge. Here’s our irrational, illogical, hysterical, manic reaction: “Must. Get. A. I will work as hard and as long as I need to in order to earn it. I don’t care what it takes out of me. Must. Get. A.”
There’s something to be said for encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. But this is obsessive and a little alarming. Princeton is hard to begin with. Grade deflation makes us even more stressed than we would be anyway. This policy forces us to extremes that we may or may not be capable of: long hours of less exercise, less food, less sleep, ultimately leading to a semi-comatose state. Why is there any need to make us live less like normal human beings than we already do?
And that’s not all. Reducing the number of As for a class mathematically implies that students will compete more vigorously for them. So rather than the friendly competition of an intellectually stimulating environment, our academic sphere bears more resemblance to a modern-day gladiator arena. Instead of inspiring an individual pursuit of excellence, which I assume is what the University wants, grade deflation provokes an uglier and nastier competition between students. It gives grades an importance and relevance that they didn’t have before. Think of it as a chain reaction: Grades are discussed more, so getting an A is even more of an academic status symbol, so, psychologically speaking, even previous B students are now goaded in competing with each other vociferously for the elusive A. The A students aren’t the only hyenas; the B students have joined the pack.
One could still argue that grade deflation has the positive effect of forcing lazier students to work harder. But I’m not so sure that’s the case. In fact, students who don’t work hard enough now have the Holy Grail of all excuses. It’s not because I check Facebook on a near 10-minute basis and browse through the most unflattering pictures that I can find of everyone I know (and don’t know) and make fun of them mockingly in my head. It’s grade deflation. It’s not that I’ve stopped bringing a laptop to lecture and instead carry a pillow and an iPod and sit next to someone with a pudgy, comfortable-looking shoulder. It’s grade deflation.
These issues have not received nearly as much attention as our transcripts, and I believe that they definitely warrant some. We can only work toward resolving these problems after acknowledging their existence. Grade deflation is intended to benefit the students, to make the grades that we earn actually mean something. But it doesn’t seem to be benefiting us at all. It often accomplishes precisely the opposite, in more ways than one. We need to remember that grade deflation’s problems are not confined to concern about our futures after college but also involve the right to have a fun, balanced, sane life while still in college.
We also need to remember that the pet crocodile is waiting for you if you try anything funny.
Camille Framroze is a freshman from Bombay, India. She can be reached at framroze@princeton.edu.
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