.Brad_Polumbo asks: Is Harvard turning into a huge joke?
Rojstaczer theorizes that this is in part due to the increasing and exorbitant cost of college, creating an era in higher education in which “students are consumers.” When they’re paying tens of thousands of dollars each year, they feel entitled to good grades and put enormous pressure on colleges to cough them up so they can get good jobs and recoup that investment.
Universities are so desperate to keep the money flowing in that they’ll do whatever students want, including giving out A's like candy on Halloween. I’m a professor and can tell you that the focus and pressure on most campuses is student retention, i.e. continuing tuition revenue.December 30, 2022Well, for one, it sabotages the spirit of meritocracy that has long underpinned American exceptionalism. When everybody gets A's, there’s no real reward for those who worked hard or excelled — meaning there’s much less incentive to do so.
It also discourages risk-taking because if you by some chance get a B, it’s suddenly an enormous outlier. As Barton, “grade compression ultimately perverts the liberal arts education, which should center on risk-taking and pushing oneself intellectually instead of sheltering in ‘easy-A’ classes.
American economic excellence and innovation have long depended on our renowned higher education system. So, its evident corruption should concern and frustrate us all — not just those of us old enough to have a few B's on our transcripts.