Fitting the curve

'Honey? Do my As look fat to you?" My transcript wiggled from side to side as she asked me the question that every guy dreads.

"Not at all, transcript! You were at the library and Pottruck last semester working hard on those As. They look fine on you."

I wasn't lying. The fact is that the popular conception of "grade inflation" does not exist. Furthermore, the standards used to gauge and reduce grade inflation only end up hurting students.

Last week, administrators at Princeton proudly reported that their efforts to curb grade inflation were beginning to take effect: Only 41 percent of grades awarded in Princeton undergraduate courses last year were in the A-range, down from 46 percent the year before.

Princeton's ultimate goal is to have only 35 percent of undergraduate grades awarded in the A-range. Unfortunately, the logic behind this initiative is as deeply flawed as the Tigers' basketball offense.

I feel bad for the orange-bellied infidels in the other 65 percent. In New Jersey, Bs don't buy BMWs.

The concept of "grade inflation" is that professors are handing out an unreasonable proportion of high grades. This, in turn, lowers academic standards.

The fears that average grades are skyrocketing across the country should be allayed by Department of Education statistics. Analyses of these statistics indicate that the proportion of students who receive As and Bs has not increased much over the past three decades. Despite some periods of fluctuation, these trends are consistent even at highly-selective institutions such as Penn and Princeton.

However, the proposed solutions to grade inflation are even worse than the perceived problem. To curb the supposed trend, Princeton has begun requiring that departments gradually aim to allow only 35 percent of their students to receive grades in the A range.

This simplistic solution is almost as bad as the infamous "Wharton curve," which spreads grades for each class across a pre-selected distribution to the point that razor-thin numerical grade deviations between students can produce significant letter grade differences.

Limiting the proportion of students who are allowed to receive an A-level grade denies an honest reward for honest work. In the name of a vague feeling that us students are somehow getting along easily, these broad measures do nothing besides try to mold student performance along an imaginary bell curve.

It also potentially encourages negative attitudes towards class work, such as unhealthy competition, back-stabbing, extreme brownnosing and even cheating. After all, if one enters a class knowing that only a certain percentage will get an A, how far do you suppose some people will go?

Some college administrators seem to be as self-conscious about grades as my sultry transcript. I really don't understand why it's so hard to believe that students at places like Penn or Princeton -- most of whom received top grades in high school -- are unable to continue do well in college.

While the proportion of students who receive As is a terrible measure of academic rigor, we all know that there is a such thing as an "easy A." Grade inflation is less quantitative than it is qualitative.

For example, while Harvard University accepts students of a similar caliber as Penn, Harvard's undergraduate program is notoriously easy. While Harvard also frets about the percentage of As its students receive, some commentators have accused Harvard's undergrad program of inadequately challenging its bright student body.

We don't have this problem at Penn. By and large, Penn's classes are challenging. No matter what percentage of Penn students get As, I will always prefer the judgment of my individual professors to a social engineering experiment to try to fit my GPA onto a school-wide bell curve.

This is a policy that Penn should not touch with a barge pole. A truly healthy reckoning of the grading system would examine every aspect of grading, from how professors determine grades to how graduate schools look at them. However, fretting about the proportion of students who get certain grades will not only waste time, but will encourage "solutions" that could hurt us in the end.Eric Obenzinger is a junior history major from New York. Quaker Shaker appears on Wednesdays.

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