Instead of deflation, higher standards

said in a September statement

In the five years since the grade deflation policy was adopted, many have decried the harm it has invited on Princeton and its students. Much of the concern has focused on the fact that Princetonians are now subjected to a different standard than students at our peer institutions. It is harder, the critics claim, to maintain a high GPA — in other words, a Goldman-worthy GPA — here than anywhere else in the nation.

I would like to suggest a slightly different perspective, one that illuminates a flaw in the current grading policy that few actively discuss. I believe that the deeper problem is not simply a higher standard — it is the creation of an entirely new paradigm, one which defeats the original aims of the policy’s architects.

Here are two ways to think about grades: First, we can understand a grade as an absolute standard. That is, only work that demonstrates exceptional intellectual merit, thorough research and polished writing skills warrants an A. The second distinct way we can understand a grade is as a comparison of one student to another. Perhaps earning an A represents superiority relative to one’s peers. Notably, accepting either paradigm does not imply anything in terms of our attitude toward intellectual rigor. One can make either the absolute or comparative standards as lax or as rigorous as possible.

What, then, is grade deflation? In its current incarnation, it was not simply a movement from a less rigorous absolute standard to a more rigorous one. It was actually a shift from a (putatively) absolute standard to a nakedly comparative one. At this point, receiving an A implies your triumph over roughly two-thirds of your classmates in any given course. Unfortunately, this system does not restore content and meaning to our transcripts. In fact, it renders each person’s grades incredibly difficult to evaluate.

Consider two courses: Let’s call them Widgets 100 and Programming 126. One class is significantly harder than the other, and those who self-select to take it are considerably more intelligent on average. The mean on the midterm in Widgets is 60 percent, so receiving an A in the class implies one’s superiority to two-thirds of a large body of students, among which there are quite a few mediocre minds. On the other hand, almost every member of Programming 126’s population could easily get an A in Widgets. Because of grade deflation, however, only a third of them will attain that grade in Programming. Something has certainly changed in the grading system, but I would be hard-pressed to term it the reintroduction of “content and meaning.” There is now another level of mystery added to any grade: What does the A in Widgets mean relative to the A in Programming, given that different populations take the two courses?

There is an alternative. Rather than setting a hard cap on grades and effectively shifting the paradigm from absolute to comparative evaluation, the University could simply have asked for more absolute rigor. Even a very demanding absolute standard may still result in 50 percent of the students in Programming receiving the highest grade. On the other hand, perhaps only 20 percent of those in Widgets would reach that high-water mark. Ironically, the current critics of the program would likely level the exact same complaints: The higher standard is hurting our job prospects, it creates stress and misery and so on.

Perhaps those arguments are sufficiently strong to discourage such a move, but I’m personally not opposed to a higher absolute standard. In fact, its intellectual honesty appeals to me. If there is to be a dream that is Princeton, and that dream is to be distinct from our desire for a $5 million apartment in New York, then it may even be necessary. As it stands, however, grade deflation is a far cry from that vision.

Jason Wu graduated from Princeton in 2009 and is currently a graduate student at Yale. He is also a former executive sports editor for The Daily Princetonian. He can be reached at jason.wu.jw679@yale.edu.