Address grade inflation; but don’t hurt students

TO THE EDITOR:

Monday’s editorial, “Proposal deserves an ‘A’: Adding grade distribution of classes to transcripts will provide necessary context for interpreting grades,” (April 19) raises important issues that grade inflation is becoming an important issue that UNC, with its prominent national reputation, should take the lead on.

However, the proposal fails to address the primary issue — grade inflation — and, if passed, students should have a choice on whether their grade distributions are displayed on their transcripts.

Class grades are ultimately up to a professor’s discretion and the student’s responsibility is to work to the best of their ability. Instead of addressing the issue at its core, the proposal unfairly shifts the burden away from grade distributors and places it upon students entering graduate schools or the job market.

Students are not at fault when grades are skewed in classes.

Next, the policy would leave admissions councils and employment recruiters open to subjective interpretations of comparing UNC students against ones from other universities. Further, without a nationwide enforcement of this policy, the comparison would hardly be objective and certainly affect outcomes in acceptances.

The Faculty Council should strongly reconsider the effectiveness of the proposal when voting on Friday and focus on other alternatives to battle grade inflation.

 Students who feel that grade distributions could be beneficial on their transcripts should simply have the option of displaying them.



Haroon Saqib

Sophomore

BusinessTO THE EDITOR:

Monday’s editorial, “Proposal deserves an ‘A’: Adding grade distribution of classes to transcripts will provide necessary context for interpreting grades,” (April 19) raises important issues that grade inflation is becoming an important issue that UNC, with its prominent national reputation, should take the lead on.

However, the proposal fails to address the primary issue — grade inflation — and, if passed, students should have a choice on whether their grade distributions are displayed on their transcripts.

Class grades are ultimately up to a professor’s discretion and the student’s responsibility is to work to the best of their ability. Instead of addressing the issue at its core, the proposal unfairly shifts the burden away from grade distributors and places it upon students entering graduate schools or the job market.

Students are not at fault when grades are skewed in classes.

Next, the policy would leave admissions councils and employment recruiters open to subjective interpretations of comparing UNC students against ones from other universities. Further, without a nationwide enforcement of this policy, the comparison would hardly be objective and certainly affect outcomes in acceptances.

The Faculty Council should strongly reconsider the effectiveness of the proposal when voting on Friday and focus on other alternatives to battle grade inflation.

 Students who feel that grade distributions could be beneficial on their transcripts should simply have the option of displaying them.


Haroon Saqib
Sophomore
Business