Harvard College’s Office of Undergraduate Education issued a 25- page report sent to faculty and Harvard College students this week. Incredibly, it revealed that more 60% of the grades awarded to Harvard undergraduates are A’s, which, of course, means that the school’s standards of performance are elusive at best. The report concluded that Harvard’s current grading system is “damaging the academic culture of the College.” Ya think? It is more than that. Such low standards of excellence mean that a Harvard diploma, which the world accepts as powerful evidence of merit and superior intellectual skills, is a fraud.
The report drew on years of data on student grades and course evaluations, as well as surveys of faculty and student leaders. A faculty committee found earlier this year that undergraduates often prioritize other interests over classwork…you know, like protesting in favor of terrorists and against Jews. Still, the report found that the amount of time students say they spend on coursework outside of class each week has remained stable over the past two decades.
But the most infuriating aspect of the report notes that some faculty members, especially in the humanities and social sciences said that they had to reduce some assigned readings and drop others, and even switch from novels to short stories. because their students were not up to the challenge. Significant numbers of Harvard students find it harder to pay sustained attention to complex texts. The College also encourages instructors to be “sensitive” to students who begin studying at Harvard with limited high school preparation. The faculty’s response is to be less demanding in evaluating classwork.
Oh. What? Why is Harvard, supposedly an elite institution for the best and the brightest, admitting students who are not prepared for college? Why are such students passing their courses and getting degrees? And this is supposed to be the best of America’s colleges? The unaffordable tuition buys what, exactly? If there is no integrity to admission or grading, then there is no integrity to the degrees or diplomas.
Claybaugh’s report concluded with recommendations for combatting grade inflation. She suggested instructors clearly communicate the quality of work required for a particular grade and consider instituting in person sit-down exams.
“Seated exams are prudent in this age of Generative AI,” she wrote. “They are also useful for encouraging students to engage with all course materials, and they tend to produce a broader distribution of grades.”
Ethics Alarms 
Harvard used to only accept, and graduate, “The Best and Brightest”, but now it seems to be more focused on the politically reliable.
“and they tend to produce a broader distribution of grades.”
That’s the problem. They don’t want to admit they accept unqualified applicants because many of those applicants will be disproportionately minorities. Returning standards to what an elite institution should have will mess with the faculty push for D.E.I. The standards have to stay low if the experiment is to be prioritized over pure academics.
They have set too many precedents to easily back away now. A similar phenomenon has affected the news media. Some media outlets seem to have recognized that they have contributed to the creation of a population unable to think outside of Talking Points. When they attempt to be a little more fair, however, their readership/ viewership hits back. The subscribers have gotten used to a protective bubble that never challenges the preferred narrative.
The schools are in the same position. They have created bubbles where remote learning, mask wearing, protesting for the correct causes and making equal outcomes are virtues valued over a solid education. Backing up now will cause mass revolt on campuses. Like the news media, the colleges will be accused of caving to Trump.
The asylum has been run by people who should have been inmates for so long that the actual inmates can’t be helped.
Very nice comment, AM. That would be an A even before grade inflation.
Thank you. They have created monsters without considering that the monsters might turn on them someday.
In the early ’70s, the thought of students “evaluating” professors would have been dismissed as preposterous. The idea of professors giving out high grades in order to obtain high student evaluations is so obvious, it’s laughable the entire system has been put in place.
Very true. Talk about the need for common sense practices. They don’t seem able to predict the most logical result of these changes.
This is endemic throughout all public schooling.
The state of even elementary schools, even in prosperous neighborhoods with active parents and very low crime rates, is depressing.
They’re passing children to the 7th grade who don’t know their basic times tables. Who read at a second grade level.
And many teachers, if not most, will give the kids low grades at the beginning of the year assessments so they show growth when they get their “passing” grades at year end.
“the report found that the amount of time students say they spend on coursework outside of class each week has remained stable over the past two decades.” (bolds mine)
Think that’s as reliable as people’s declared weight on their driver’s licenses or the amount of alcohol consumption they disclose to their doctors?
PWS
The amount of time spent is the same even though technology had made research much more easily done and writing much more quickly?
I would question not the quantity of hours spent doing the work but the quality of the work being done.
Curious if any EA denizens have heard a Harvard grad describe (in any way) the quality of the education they received while at Harvard? As opposed to simply advertising (generally ad nauseum) their association with the Brand? As far as I can tell the latter is absolutely obligatory… but thinking back I don’t think I have EVER heard a Harvard grad actually describe the quality of their education. Perhaps because it was indifferent and not memorable? Perhaps the actual accomplishment is being accepted and graduating with a top branded diploma, not actually anything one learned there?
A friend was a librarian at Princeton. She reported having difficulty getting a student to do any of his work at the library, which was part of his work/study scholarship. He also didn’t seem to be doing much schoolwork. When she asked him about it, he responded, “I don’t have to do anything. My work is done. I got in.”
“Perhaps the actual accomplishment is being accepted and graduating with a top branded diploma, not actually anything one learned there?”
That appears to be the case with a number of graduates from elite schools. While students seem to think that a degree from any given school should guarantee success in life, those who attend Ivy League institutions appear to think the very act of getting in should set them up for life.
AM Golden: “the very act of getting in should set them up for life.” And I expect not infrequently they are right — they have made the right connections, have the proper resume…. all but ONE of current SCOTUS members has Harvard Law or Yale Law on their resumes. The only exception is Amy Coney Barrett. Not that good people can’t graduate with that pedigree and do good work… many SCOTUS members ARE quite accomplished..but it seems pretty implausible that ONLY those two schools produce the best choices for SCOTUS re merit… so I suspect connections and brand imprimatur account for the rest.
What? I have. Frequently. In public. So has my Harvard grad sister.
I suspect you and your sister actually worked hard rather than coasting! Glad to hear your experience was worthwhile and not a disappointment compared to expectations.
She worked harder than I did. The professors were great but the students were better: learned more in the late night bull sessions than in class, and I skipped a lot of those. I spent as much time directing and performing in shows as on reading assignments. But I did write a thesis, and that was a great project and learning experience.