Grade Inflation Hinders Education, Harms Kids, Expert Says
by Jim Brown
September 16, 2004
(AgapePress) - A columnist and longtime educator says grade inflation is a massive and growing problem in primary and secondary schools across the U.S. In schools nationwide, students are being misled as to whether a youngster is making adequate academic progress.John Stone, head of the Education Consumers Clearinghouse, says too many teachers are awarding students with grades they do not deserve and promoting them to the next academic level in a humane effort to avoid discouraging the children. But Stone contends that such short-sighted accommodations are misguided and create long-term educational problems.
The education expert feels those teachers and schools that inflate student grades are trying to avoid raising red flags. "When parents receive a report card that shows a youngster's not doing well, typically they want something done," he says. "They want action taken, and it really substantially increases the workload of a school and a teacher to find ways to address the problem. I think that as much as anything drives the grade inflation issue."
Also, Stone asserts, teachers who award students unearned passing marks or grade promotions are often seeking a kind of immediate gratification, and their attitude has been reinforced by teacher training. "This inclination to kind of humanely avoid the unpleasantness of a failing grade and that sort of thing just permeates our thinking about how education ought to be done," he says.
"We have teaching practices that for years have, in essence, promoted the idea that kids can learn all they need to learn in school by simply pursuing that which they are turned on to -- that which they are interested in," Stone adds. However, he contends that this thinking discourages an emphasis on setting standards and benchmarks for students and assessing their learning progress according to actual performance.
But the longtime columnist and education reform advocate says even though grade inflation devalues legitimate academic achievement, the problem is ignored in many of America's public schools because it conceals the need for improvement. He believes grade inflation can be curbed, but only if institutions are willing to admit the problem -- something he says they are quite reluctant to do.
Stone believes many teachers, administrators, and school districts that engage in grade inflation do so to keep enrollment up or to improve their public image. But in continuing this practice, he insists they are undermining the educational process and doing the students a grave disservice as well.
