Giving credit where credit is due

"Chairman Greenspan will now give his report on the state of the economy."

"I am here to tell you that the Federal Reserve has determined that wages are too high in America. We are concerned about the clear, increasing trend in compensation since the industrial revolution and believe that it is indicative of a systematic overvaluation of the talents and abilities of American workers. We mandate that all employers immediately reduce wages in order to bring them in line with the average wage rate in the 19th century when this alarming trend began."

Of course Alan Greenspan never made — nor will he ever make — such an absurd statement. However, its absurdity echoes the near hysteria surrounding the supposed threat of "grade inflation."

"Grade Inflation." It's the latest hip phrase in the literature for asserting the moral corruption of higher education in America. In the case of Princeton, however, these claims do not withstand even the most basic scrutiny.

Anyone who has taken an introductory economics course could tell you that inflation is a term for an increase in the general price level in the economy as a whole. When prices increase, it can mean one of two things: Either the intrinsic value that people place on goods has increased, or the buying power of money has decreased so that more dollars are required in order to purchase the same quality good.

Similarly, an increase in grades — as has been observed at Princeton over the past several decades — can mean two things. Either the intrinsic quality of students' work has increased, or grades have been devalued so that a higher grade is required to denote the same quality of work.

The University administration and the higher-education community in general seem to be fixated on the second possibility. They believe that the trend of higher grades reflects a lowering of standards and that grades are no longer indicative of the true quality of student work.

However, higher grades do not imply sloppy grading standards any more than higher wages imply that American workers are getting overpaid. No one seems to have considered the possibility that students today actually deserve higher grades than students did 30 years ago. In asserting that "grade inflation" is a problem at Princeton, the administration assumes that the quality of student work has been constant over time so that higher grades are unjustified. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Students have easier access to more information than ever before. The advent of the internet and exponential growth in knowledge have made them more efficient. They are spending more time thinking and learning and less time performing menial tasks, such as finding a book in the library or endlessly recopying a paper in longhand. It is only logical that the quality of their work has increased, and it is only fair that an increase in the general quality of student work merits an increase in the average GPA.

Furthermore, Princeton has become ever more competitive over the past several decades; it is not a great leap of logic to assert that the quality of student work has increased as well. According to the admission office, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2003 was the lowest of any class ever. Princeton's ability to attract more and more highly qualified applicants has brought about an increase in the quality of its students and thus an increase in the quality of their work.

Since the size of the University has remained more or less constant during the past few decades, the decrease in the acceptance rate must reflect an increase in the number of applicants. There are several possible explanations for this increasing trend. Perhaps most obvious is the fact that in 1969 the potential size of the applicant pool was doubled as women began to attend the University. The participation of women in the application process certainly made it more competitive than it was when only men were allowed to apply, and thus the general level of achievement and distinction among each new class increased. This increased competitiveness surely led to an increase in the quality of student work, which contributed to increases in the average GPA.

The argument is the same in the case of low-income students. As a result of expansion of the University's financial-aid programs, Princeton has been able to attract more and more students who could not otherwise have afforded to attend. As in the case of women, the result is greater competitiveness in admissions and thus a more highly qualified freshman class that goes on to get higher grades.

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The University has attempted to counter all of these arguments with an unpublished study of the SAT scores of Princeton students, which was referenced in an article in the Nov. 5 issue of the 'Prince.' I call on the administration to make public the methods, reasoning and data involved in this study so that it may be subjected to scrutiny by students, faculty and all others who are interested. The University should not be allowed to make sweeping reforms of grading policies without disclosing its reasons for doing so.

This study would certainly not win any awards if it were turned in as a senior thesis, but apparently the University is allowed to announce results without doing the same kind of rigorous analysis that it demands from the students it is trying to discredit. Just as we would not accept scientific results without evidence, so should we not accept the results of this illegitimate study.

However, even if the study does show no statistically significant increase in SAT scores of Princeton students over the past few decades, it is not grounds for cracking down on "grade inflation." The Admission Office considers the SAT as only one — and not even the most important one — among an array of factors that describe a student. The SAT cannot be considered an absolute indicator of the quality of achievement among Princeton students. A more thorough and open study of factors other than SAT scores is necessary before the University can make valid claims regarding its students. Until then, "grade inflation" remains a toothless monster.

Worrying about the recent increases in grades at Princeton is like worrying about increases in wages and worker productivity in the American economy — it just doesn't make any sense. Alan Greenspan would tell you the same. Eric Harkleroad is a physics major from Overland Park, KS. He can be reached at eharkler@princeton.edu.