The windy road to knowledge

Harvard Professor Harvey C. Mansfield is known among his students for a no-nonsense, non-inflationary grading policy that has earned him the name "C-minus Mansfield." This semester, Mansfield has changed his ways. Mansfield will begin to give his students two grades. The first will be unofficial and will reflect how he believes his students are actually performing in his course. The second and official mark, will stem from the line of thinking that most of his colleagues take -- one that often leads to the average grade in of B-plus. Although I enjoy that Mansfield is giving the institution a try, I would have hoped he would have clung to his old ways, for the sake of his students. Historically, exams have served to test a student's knowledge of a given subject and award them a mark to allow comparison between students. The status quo brings a different scenario. In a world of motivated and successful learners, professors -- particularly here at Penn -- look to the exam as a way to distribute the grades they think should be given and to create their beloved bell curve. Professors, in this pursuit, use their midterms and finals to search for ways to stump, or trick, their pupils. This ensures that only a few will come out with near perfect scores, and the rest of us are left wondering when, if ever, they taught us the material that they tested us on. Not surprisingly, this phenomenon occurs in all four of the undergraduate schools. One nursing student recalled a TA who created the majority of her exams from old test banks full of material that was not covered or emphasized, in her own lectures and assigned readings. In this case, the exam never came close to measuring what knowledge had been advanced because it hadn't even been created in the same vain of the subject matter. Wharton, College and Engineering students face similar quandaries, including the major problem of dealing with poor teaching on a regular basis. Here the question of the professor or lecturer's inability to educate is avoided by giving an A to the highest exam scores in the course, regardless of whether that score is a 90 percent or a 50 percent. Professors never have the motivation to critically analyze their material or the way in which they communicate that substance. This type of arbitrary grade assignment leads to grade inflation, especially at Ivy League institutions. The problem is then compounded when professors use a curve to distribute final scores around their artificial ranges. When I came to Penn, I knew that I was entering a rigorous academic institution and would be taking classes with peers who all excelled in high school. What I didn't expect was the "curve." The curve that plagues college freshman and upperclassmen alike comes in many forms. Apparently, the professors of the recently-created College 002 course feel that the following clearly explains the way in which they will distribute grades to their students: "Letter grades will be awarded based on the usual mapping from numerical grade totals." I hope their lectures aren't as "clear." Statistics 102 this semester spells out this collegiate institutional monster on its syllabus: "Grading curve: the number of As will be around 20-30 percent, Bs around 30-40 percent -- the total not to exceed 60 percent. There is no fixed percentage for the mix of Cs, Ds and Fs." After suffering this for two and half years of my Penn education, I must implore every professor to end the use of the antiquated curve, or any tool that doesn't accurately reflect the knowledge a student has learned over the course of the semester. Teachers need to begin a process that will shake the evaluation system of higher education. Professors, teach the knowledge that you would like your students to absorb. Lay it on the table. Strive to impart more than just this core set of information, but don't spend your exams attempting to terrify your students with the "what-ifs" of what might show up buried in an exam. If we've learned what you've taught us, we deserve our grade. Students, similarly, must be willing to accept the grade that they earn. I don't ask you for overnight trust that professors will hold up to their end of the bargain, and vice versa, but as students, we must demand to be tested on the material we are taught. Let's work together to bring learning back to the classroom.