The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 6

A4 Monday, Nov. 27. 1978 HONOLULU ADVERTISER Grade inflation ers deflation at UH trim 7 And, as happens at all levels of education in times of shrinking enrollment, some teachers and departments "grade easy" so enrollment will not decline and the department's size can be maintained. A recent and blatant example of "buying" students in this way appeared in this semester's "Hard Core" booklet (published by the student government), which describe Arts St Sciences core courses SwKl one professor, in describing hi introductory philosophy course "Students in this course will not fall below the (Manoa campus) uvrr-age for core-curriculum course ami. if necessary, will be artif leinlly ml justed to ensure this treme, have gravitated to another and have burned down the barn to get rid of the "Gresham's Law says In essence that bad money drives out good money.

The same sort of thing happens with grades: Cheap grades drive out good grades, and soon there is no real distinction between good and mediocre students or good and mediocre schools." There are other, lesser causes of inflation. Some professors, for example, confuse popularity (i.e. from giving high grades) with effectiveness. Others want to show their contempt for grades and "standards" by giving everyone high make grades JesJ less negative. In the old days, teachers were concerned mainly just with the cognitive domain: helping the.stu dent acquire skills and knowledge Today, they are also (ijf not more so) concerned about the affective dor main: fostering in the student a positive feeling about learning.

"In the old days," says Linn, "it was a matter of pride for a college department to show its academic rigor and respectability by arbitrarily flunking 45 percent of its students. I think that sort of thing only raises the question of who was really (ailing: the student or the teacher." Linn and others feel! that professors, in reacting to that ex One is that universities and colleges have become more inclusive and less exclusive. Almost everyone regards this as a welcome change from the days when higher education was only for the privileged few, yet one result of increased educational opportunity has been lower standards and higher grades. Colleges are admitting more students of marginal academic ability, and what was a ten or 20 years tgo is not necessarily a today. It is usually a higher grade, because yesterday's average student has been pushed toward the level.

Another reason for grade inflation is that teachers for the best of intentions have been trying to i 1 "A S1 7 Continued from Ptge A-3 need all the help they can get. Nor wiU it restore the public confidence; and Cod knows it plays hob with our own morale. Maybe we should clean up the act. "Discussing grades can be a tacky business, with sundry alarums about academic freedom, grading-by-the-curve. Big Sibling Watching You, etc.

But twice recently, accreditation teams have zapped this college for inconsistency in grading and certainly my figures imply a hefty moral issue. "We require students to choose from among presumably equal contributors to their general education. And yet (students) have up to nine times as much chance of making an A or up to 17 times as much chance of flunking if they choose the right or wrong course." What has caused grade inflation? There are almost as many interpretations and interpreters, but certain reasons are mentioned most often. i James Linn 'There's a lump in my throat" Tine Meut Vataes inii8 Fdummiii ait Kailua Furniture and Furniture City-Try Us! ALL BUTTE COFFEE CAKE 1 09 (b REG $160 SPICIAl! a I ff IIDUMAT 3 EjIJIJ DCTCH Ml RAIT SHOWl TtOMC UXIIT rsjj BW I 14MIIUM urns. it nJ41CTA Jgj 3 roomful of beautiful furniture at one low price! I 'hV.

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