Grade Inflation or Promoting Failure

Above Image by SpaceX-Imagery from Pixabay

Failure Is Not An Option

I remember the 1995 movie Apollo 13 (a great movie, by the way), which was based on the true story of the Apollo 13 crew barely making it back to Earth alive when one of their oxygen tanks short-circuited, causing an explosion, which damaged multiple components.

In an emergency meeting, a NASA engineer, Aaron, insisted they needed to power down the module to conserve power, or the crew would be unable to return to Earth. The flight director Kranz, played by Ed Harris, laid everything out to the engineers and designers in the meeting, then stormed out of the room, stating, “Failure is not an option!”

Some teachers are implementing this in the public school system: Students can’t fail, or more specifically, the option for teachers to give a student an ‘F’ on their report card is withdrawn. There are multiple reasons for this; one is that not all teachers grade the same.

Lory Hough with the Harvard School of Education wrote concerning middle school and high school, “Your son has eight teachers right now that all have their own way to grade. Completely their own,” he says. “The average kid often gives up trying to figure it out. Some teachers count homework; some teachers don’t, some teachers grade homework; and some teachers grade it as completion. Some teachers count large tests for a lot more than others. What we want to do is not have 85 different ways to respond to a fire alarm.” ¹

Get used to it; that is life. We are dealing with personalities, dispositions, and characters who weigh assignments differently and have different priorities. Some put all the weight on tests and quizzes, while others even out the playing field by counting classwork, homework, lab work, and tests as the same. Some markdown late work, while others do not.

When students join the workforce, they will have supervisors who will ‘grade’ their work, but it will not appear on a report card. These supervisors may have abrasive personalities, negative dispositions, and downright unpleasant characters who will not have a sit down with Mom and Dad. They will expect you to step up and do what is required at a level that meets their satisfaction. If you can’t hang with what they require, you will receive an ‘F’ for fired, get a check, and be shown the door. Then, they will replace you with someone who can do what is needed.

Reasoning Behind Not Failing Students

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a teacher who shared that he did not fail any of his students. Of course, this was not a life-or-death situation, but earning an F was not an option he gave himself for his students. The lowest grade he would give any student on a report card was a D.

Yes, you read that correctly; he would not give any of his students an F on their report cards.

You will recognize the commonly used letter grade scale below:

• 90-100% A
• 80-89% B
• 70-79% C
• 60-69% D
• 59% or less F

This teacher used:

• 90-100% A
• 50-89% B
• 25-49% C
• 0-24% D

With his grading scale, a student could earn nothing and do nothing and still receive a D on their report card. The scale he used promoted failure; there is no question about that.

His reasoning behind this, if I understood it correctly, was threefold.

1. Students who receive higher grades perform better in high school and college. It builds their self-esteem, and studies show they are more successful when they enter the workforce.
2. Students who receive higher grades have fewer incidents of mental health issues.
3. Zeros on a grading system of 0 to 100 are difficult to recover from and are unfair.

Zero Grading System

Zero grading needs a deeper dive and a detailed explanation. Indeed, if a teacher only gives three grades for a semester, and each one is worth up to one hundred points, a zero received would significantly lower their grade. Even if they earned 100s on the other two assignments, their grade would be 67% or a D+ at the end of the semester despite the two A’s.

One blogger explained it this way, “Think about a student who does consistent B (85) work. Their first two assignments are solid 85s, so the average is an 85. If this student doesn’t turn in the third assignment and receives a zero, their grade drops to an F (57). Because of that one zero, it will take that student 14 more 85s just to get their grade back to an 80.” ²

However, this reasoning is a straw man fallacy; it does not realistically address the shortcomings of the grading system. I don’t know of any junior high or high school teachers who input only three grades for a trimester or semester.  

Another Bay Area teacher wrote, “There’s no question that the grading system that’s been around is an inequitable practice. Much of the grading that is involved does not grade anyone’s mastery of the subject content,” he said at the meeting. “Zeros in a grading system do not accurately reflect a student’s proficiency. Awarding zeros as discipline is not an appropriate consequence as they can be almost impossible to recover from.” ³

I would say again that most teachers I know of add multiple grades in their grade book to reflect a student’s knowledge and efforts toward the subject material.

Teachers who input multiple grades over the trimester or semester often drop a low ‘outlier’ score—the lowest score, be it a test or quiz. So, in the above example, if a teacher saw a consistent score of 80-90%, they would probably drop the zero, eliminating the problem. Also, many teachers offer extra credit, which adds to the issue of grade inflation.

Furthermore, some teachers allow students to make up work or redo a test or quiz on which they have a low score if they don’t throw it out altogether. Zeros don’t always remain zeros. Some teachers allow some grace and are sympathetic to students’ circumstances. Is it a perfect system? Hardly, but by and large, most teachers make allowances for students who have had a rough go for whatever reason without having to teardown our grading system, eliminating failing grades, and promoting failure.

F’s Harm Their Mental Health

Concerning the first point, students who receive higher grades perform better in college because, in the past, they earned the grade. They did the assignments, studied the material, and took the required courses, which already demonstrated their work ethic and successful steps toward a goal.

Their grades don’t determine their character and work ethic, but their work ethic determines their academic success.  

Discussing the second point, students have higher grades because they have fewer incidents of mental health issues. Their grades don’t determine their mental health; their mental health determines their grades.

Nevertheless, in 2022, schools in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Oakland, and Sacramento decided to eliminate F’s on report cards and limit the ‘use’ of D’s. ⁴ I ask this question: what of the students who ‘earned’ an F and a teacher has used up their quota of D’s? Does that mean the failing student has a C on their report card? Woke policies like this and DEI hiring procedures do more harm than good. Are you comfortable with a mechanic working on your car who was hired to fill a quota based on their race or gender? How about an airline pilot in rough weather or a spinal cord surgeon?

What About SAT and ACT College Scores?

Those in favor of SAT and ACT college scores point out that grade inflation, which is thoroughly documented, makes the use of GPAs unreliable. “GPA is no longer a reliable metric for college admission. For example, from 2016 to 2022, the average high school GPA grew from 3.22 to 3.39. If this accurately represented the average high school student, we should see a corresponding rise in SAT scores. Yet, what do we see? In the same time frame of 2016 to 2022, the SAT scores dropped to a 30-year low.” ⁵

New York Times reports that grades have only increased in 20 years, most significantly since 2016. “Were this a true reflection of student achievement, it would be reason to celebrate, but the metrics have it differently. From 1998 to 2016, average high school G.P.A.s rose from 3.27 to 3.38, but average SAT scores fell from 1026 to 1002. ACT scores among the class of 2023 were the worst in over three decades.” ⁶

A 4.0 is no longer what it used to be due to grade inflation. Some universities are recognizing the shortcomings of using high school GPAs. For example, as of the fall of 2023, MIT, Georgetown, Georga Tech, and the University of Flordia require SAT scores from applicants. ⁷

Not Everyone is Bright, Capable, and Hardworking

Nevertheless, in the last ten years, we have seen calls from the left to do away with college admission scores. Most colleges require students to submit an SAT or ACT score for admission to the university. During the COVID pandemic, most colleges and universities dropped the requirements due to the difficulty of students having to appear and take the tests in person. ⁸

Most thought the waiver for SAT and ACT scores would be temporary, but by the fall of last year, 80% of colleges still did not require SAT or ACT scores with their applications. We are told the reason for that is racism.

According to universities, scores point to a racist scoring system that punishes Hispanics and Blacks.

Supporters of standardized scores say removing those requirements for admission to colleges punishes students who score well and waters down the value of college degrees. They also point out that high test scores help universities find bright students in their fields of study, and 80% of Black Americans support the use of tests for college admissions. ⁹

Teachers are the most essential input toward student success. Teachers who raise the bar instead of lowering it will find students rise to the occasion, and their success will be palatable if not celebrated. I have seen that for myself as students earn A’s in my classes. They have announced it to all their peers and proudly announced it to me as if I were unaware. My usual response is that it must be a mistake, and I will change it. Laughter ensues, and the atmosphere is one of celebration.

But what of those who earned C’s, D’s, or F’s? Grade inflation fails students in more than one way. First they need to learn to deal with rejection and not everyone gets a trophy. Poor grades can hurt, but students must realize that an A grade should not be a cakewalk. Could they have worked harder or studied more? Probably. Failure can be a gift, and anyone who has ever failed at anything should be able to see that—accurate grading prepares students for the real world.

In this world, talent and effort rule. Inflating a student’s grade because they lack talent or effort gives them an inaccurate view of their ability. Four years, or six if you include Jr. High, of unrealistic feedback on their report cards undermines their ability to function in the real world.

Don’t Lower the Bar, Help Them Clear It

All we are doing is lowering the bar, but we should be teaching and helping students clear it. What does that look like in the long run? Does it build a better generation of young adults or soften their mettle to accomplish?

One study found that higher teacher standards in Algebra I increase student learning in Algebra I and other math classes. This effect was positive across all subject matters and levels of abilities. It was also found that, “Higher teacher grading standards also lead to a modest reduction in student absences.” ¹⁰

Seth Gershenson from American University states, “setting a low bar, in the short term, makes life easier but in the long run hurts students. A low bar gives them a false sense of security and makes them perform less in the long run. A teacher’s attitude that ‘everyone gets a gold star’ seems to do more damage than it does well. Schools, school boards, and teachers should throw that vision overboard and strive to set the bar high.” ¹¹

Imagine if the Apollo 13 engineers were hired because of DEI policies. Imagine if some of them had failed their engineering courses, but ended up with a passing C because the quota of D’s had been met and failure was not an option in the university’s policies. We would have had three Apollo astronauts who never made it home.