Last week I attended the convocation of a friend of mine at a local liberal arts institution offering Bachelor of Education degrees. Their program is new: it began in September 2008, with the first class graduating only last year.
My friend graduated with a History degree, I should say right at the outset.
I was surprised to read in the program that 35/36 of the graduates in the college’s new Education program graduated with baccalaureate honours.
The convocation program contains an explanation of these honours:
Baccalaureate honours are awarded upon graduation to students with exceptional achievement in their undergraduate studies. The honour of Cum Laude is defined as with praise. Magna Cum Laude is defined as with great praise and Summa Cum Laude means with highest praise.
Cum Laude is awarded to students who achieve a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 to 3.74 with no failed courses. Students who achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.75 to 3.89 with no failed courses receive Magna Cum Laude. Summa Cum Laude is reserved for students who achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.90 to 4.00 with no failed courses.
Thirty-five out of thirty-six of the Bachelor of Education students receiving honours means
that 97% of graduates achieved grade point averages of 3.5 or higher in this new programme. Eight students received Cum Laude honours. Thirteen students received Magna Cum Laude honours. Fourteen students received Summa Cum Laude honours.
This class of graduates might be phenomenal. However, the statistical likelihood that all, but one are excellent in such a new programme is nearly impossible.
A 3.5 GPA used to be a B+ in most circles, so achieving this is not so great a distinction. There is an institutional effort here to make what may be very good seem excellent. Most likely, the grades have been severely inflated to boost and maintain interest in the new program.
With the type of spread shown above, the exceptions are no longer the few distinguished scholars; the exceptions are now the rare outliers who do not achieve the honours designation. In this case, one rare one.
Saying that the Summa Cum Laude designation is “reserved” is also peculiar considering that honour students in this designation were the most numerous of all the honour categories, making up 40% of the crop.
The language should reflect the reality that Summa Cum Laude awards, at least in this specific class of graduates, seem to be the norm rather than an exception.
Grade inflation follows the same principles as monetary inflation. If the supply of high grades is inordinately and unduly increased, then the value of these grades will go down. Where such honours have traditionally served as legitimate academic currency, this currency is now running the risk of being rendered meaningless.
Students, beware of institutions, departments, programs, and professors that devalue your academic currency!
I can just imagine the headline:
Academic austerity programs, initiated to reduce the intellectual deficit created by false grade inflation, have led to widespread academic bankruptcy. Students, now dependent on nanny-academia, are flunking out in hoards! In a fit of outrage, university presidents have been threatened with hate campaigns and petitions from grieved parents. Plans are in the works to stimulate the academic economy in this time of crisis with new, simpler courses designed to bring grades back to their pre-depression values.
My only question is this: Are universities or governments even able to think long term these days, or are they hog-tied by widespread beggary and dependency caused by the gradual removal of accountability? It appears that the only answer to your woes, Amanda, is good old competition. Useless degrees and inflated GPA’s are only relative to the school you graduate from, hence, if there were competition, people would no longer choose hack-job schools. (Anyhow, I pretty much feel like an old man when I tout arguments like these.)
The big disaster is the future students these BA of Education will teach. Will they have any ability to reward students for genuinely exceptional effort and achievement, or will they regard those students as being anti-social misfits?
Perhaps grade inflation needs to be looked at in the bigger picture where universities are “competing” for students. Instead of providing their students with an education that will equip them to succeed in life, I wonder if some organizations are becoming the equivalent of mail order college degree operations?
I still believe that is essential that university budgets and executive compensation be determined by the value-add they provide to students. While there are many methods to establish such a calculation, a starting point is to ask if their graduates earn any more than people who did not attend their institution.
In particular, executive pay of presidents, vice presidents and deans should be based on this type of calculation instead of paying them high salaries just for being there. These executives need to approach their job as being the equivalent of venture capital investors, but the difference is that they are human capital investors and that can pay much higher returns if done effectively. I have no problem paying excellent educators exceptional returns if they have demonstrated an ability to produce superior returns on investment.
Hi Amanda,
I just wanted to add a few pieces of vital information about the Bachelor of Education program you are referring to. For the most part, the professors in this new program are used to the typical grading method for most Bachelor of Education degrees at different academic institutions; a pass/fail system. On transcripts, following the pass/fail method, a pass is given the mark of an “A”, while a fail is given the mark of an “F”. A number of the professors at the academic instution you are referring to in your article explain this at the start of the semester. Therefore, if one can prove they are capable of completing all required tasks in a course to the professors high expectations, then they deserve an “A”.
Also, the main aspect of the Education degree is not found in the marks one receives, but in how well one does in the practicum portion of the semester. Many professors at the institution you referenced have also explained that one’s grades in the Education program are the last thing that a future employer is going to acknowledge.
Lastly, the work load at this school is rigorous, the tuition is expensive, and the expectations for any teacher in Alberta are extremely high. Is it too hard to believe that maybe all these students gave 100% of their dedication and effort in a professional program in order to be rewarded with a teaching degree? The academic instition which you have mentioned is not attracting students with a promise of high marks. This academic institution is attracting students by being one of the only schools in the world to offer a Catholic Education degree, and by being one of the first programs developed by experienced teachers to create extremely well rounded educators.
I hope you can gain some insight from my response. If you don’t buy anything I have typed, I will gladly send you a link to apply for the Bachelor of Education program so you can see what it is like first hand.
Sincerely,
Peter Schreiber
I don’t know which school you guys are talking about, but it doesn’t matter. It’s true like Pete says that some schools, including good ones, use the pass or fail system. To me that doesn’t make the pass or fail system any less stupid, though. It’s egalitarian nonsense that makes the best students the same as the rest. The joke that this post exposes, and which Pete in his nice defensive stance seems to miss, is that if a school goes out of its way to unceremoniously make people equal during the three or four years of a programme (or whatever it is), then what is the point of handing out honours in a ceremony, in three different categories even.
Who are we really kidding? It’s crappy for the really good students but the longterm joke is on those who actually believe the silly rules and think they’re great.
And one more thing comes to mind, if it’s all pass/fail and everyone who passes gets an A regardless, you have to wonder why everybody didn’t graduate Summa Cum Laude right?
pete.schreib implies that Amanda doesn’t think that the graduates at this college should have degrees when he says:
She’s not saying they didn’t deserve their degrees, dude. She’s talking about honors. She finds hard to believe that 35/36 were entitled to honors. Don’t you?
You show a certain feeling of entitlement. Working 100% hard doesn’t entitle anyone to success, never mind high honor. Many people who work super hard often fail, and they all don’t get recognized. If 97% of all hard working Canadians all got Orders of Canada, wouldn’t you think there was something funny going on? Can 97% of olympic athletes all get medals? I don’t go to the same rigorous and expensive school as you, but I got her point.
[Edited for formatting error].
That was not what I was implying, dude. I was implying that all of these students worked as hard as possible to receive the highest grades possible. I One should not dig deep into criticizing a program which they are not a part of. She has no idea what the program is like, and the politics behind the conflict of receiving traditional marks vs. a pass/fail system is in my opinion what causes the extremely high rate of honors graduates. Like I have said before, according to many educational professionals, the grades one receives in a Bachelor of Education degree have very little impact upon their future as a teacher.
I found her article interesting, but I think that it would be a more valid argument if she was writing about an undergraduate degree, not a professional two year after degree. In my undergraduate program, at this same institution which Amanda and I both attend, the majority of the students graduated with honors as well. Maybe the entire honors system should be abolished then… it’s all just superstructure, right? I was very concerned by her bold statement surrounding grade inflation. My program does raise grades to attract students. There is simply a “glitch,” if you will, in the grading system for a professional degree program within a traditionally liberal arts institution.
I reread the post, and there has been no criticism of the program. The criticism is on the outcomes of the program. That’s no small difference. Weird that now you help advance the opposite argument to yours by saying that the majority of the graduates of other programs also get honors. It’s not just the teaching program that gives grades away then. It’s a liberal grades school! We have a few of those in the States.
It’s not just that you don’t seem to get the point of the post, but the reply you give doesn’t sound like it came from a liberal arts student. I googled your name and see that you are part of the cream of the school. And you’re a grad student, right? Still, there are so many fallacies added to your contradiction.
1. all students should get honours because they work as hard as possible. You’ve made this point twice and it’s pretty lame. It’s the sort of thing you hear in kindergarten. Everybody gets a sticker, but the grown ups always know that the stickers are not about merit.
2. One should not criticise a program one doesn’t know. There was no criticism of a program.
3. No idea of the politics behind the grading. Uhmmm. You are admitting that grades there are determined by political questions and not by merit? This is worse than handing out stickers then. One student in the program didn’t kiss someone’s rear? Sounds like a swell place to be except for that one person.
4. Grades little impact on one’s future as a teacher? Oh, dear… That’s what they teach and then they give you all honors? Where do you start with this one? And you are now, or are soon going to be a teacher yourself?
5. Concerned with the statement about grade inflation? If the majority of all students are getting honors as you claim, the smart students should be more concerned with the reality of that inflation and the expensive tuition that you pay instead of a statement on a blog.
I never knew that Canadian colleges were so screwed up.
1. All I stated was who knows, maybe it was a brilliant class.
2. “Most likely, the grades have been severely inflated to boost and maintain interest in the new program.” Absolutely not, see my explanation of the pass/fail vs. traditional grades system.
3. You are misinterpreting what I said. Once again, the new Education program within a traditionally liberal arts institution causes for some conflicts in the grading system. I will admit it, as I received my undergraduate from that school, and am currently in the Education program. Maybe students in the Education program should not be rewarded on the same criteria as the undergraduate students, only because the curriculum is so much different. It goes from writing critical reflection essays to making unit plans and lesson plans.
4. Once again, you have misinterpreted what I have said. The most important part of an Education degree, here in Alberta, is what the results of your practicum are. One’s practicum does not receive a grade, simply a pass/fail. Many official comments come from your supervising teacher, principal, and coordinator as well. The practical application of what you learn is what affects your future as a teacher; not the lesson plans you are graded on.
5. I was concerned about the statement on the blog because Amanda attends my school. She is not in the Education program, and I just wanted to add some of my thoughts. By the way, tuition prices for any Education program are extremely expensive in Alberta.
Thanks for the keyboard warrior comment. This problem of inflated grades has been prevalent in universities for quite some time. When I stumbled on this good post, and I saw your comment I was taken by your lack of rigour and wonky logic. At the time I thought you were a teacher. I apologise about that.
A. It’s still a tad childish to argue that one deserves honors for working hard and for completing all required tasks though.
B. it’s really bad to suggest that people can only know what they have experienced. This coming from someone with a liberal arts degree is pretty sad. Try reflecting on your own learning sometime, and see if that is the case.
C. It is interesting that when confronted with evidence, you suddenly mention that you are writing about a previous year. Can you substantiate the claim that the majority of the liberals arts students received honours when you graduated? Something tells me that your creative writing instinct took over on that.
D. You are a fearless guy, and that’s wonderful. There hasn’t been much of a debate, but there has not been personal attacks.
E. If tuition is expensive, the more reason to mind the program’s outcomes, especially by those in it. By the sounds of it, you will no doubt distinguish yourself among your peers next year.
Thank you everyone for engaging in the discussion on “Rising Inflation by Degrees.”
The honours distinctions were given to an inordinate number of BEd students versus the number awarded to the Bachelor of Arts students.
Honours breakdown by degree:
Bachelor of Education: 35/36
Bachelor of Arts, Major in English: 3/15
Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in English: 0/5
Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in General Studies: 2/15
Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in History: 3/7
Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in Psychology: 1/5
*Source: Convocation Program 2011
Someone is sticking to facts. If what Amanda posts here is true, pete.schreib smeared the whole school. There was no majority of honors awarded to other group of graduates. It’s the professionals only. Glad to see. Rarely does a whole school get to be so bad all at once.
I thought you were a teacher, Pete (http://www.stmu.ab.ca/programscourses/programs/english.html), sorry!
I was referring to my grad class, from last year. I’m entering my second year in the Education program. For the record, I stated Amanda’s article was interesting, but wanted to add some insights from someone who is in the program itself. I not afraid that you know who I am, that’s why I’ve added my name to my response. When keyboard warriors, such as yourself, start attacking others on a personal level, I believe the debate is over. Everyone’s a tough guy behind a screen. This added a lot of excitement to my summer, have a great day
Amanda, honest congrats on an entry which has caused so much debate online (amongst fellow Ed. students, as well). In my responses I was only trying to offer a different explanation for the 35/36 honour awards in the 2011 graduating Ed. class, from your interesting approach discussing grade inflation. At first I was a little upset over your entry, but came to realize that if I wasn’t part of the Education program, I could see where you are coming from (it is difficult to detach myself from being a part of the education program to see your argument).
The Education program is so much different than the rest of St. Mary’s, in terms of grading and curriculum. It is all about writing creative lesson/unit plans for students and performing engaging presentations, which is a lot different than the endless essays and research papers that I encountered during my English degree at St. Mary’s. There is a large, tough workload that accompanies the Education program. As I have mentioned before, it is very different than the work involved in obtaining a liberal arts degree from St. Mary’s. I can easily see how other students within St. Mary’s could be irritated by 35/36 students from the Ed. program receiving honours. I was only trying to offer an explanation of how the grading system works within the education program, and how this can definitely clash with the rest of the liberal arts institution. I did not mean to come across rude in any response, and once again, congratulations on an entry which had me spending my lunch breaks on the computer. I’ve taken this time to offer an explanation in which I have not been rushed. Thanks.