The Nevada Sagebrush

Grade inflation devalues degrees, eliminates fairness and is running rampant at the University of Nevada, Reno and across the United States.

The problem breeds a slew of others: teachers who continue to educate students at levels below national averages, a state budget crisis with no one able to solve it and a health care system with not enough nurses, among other issues. More disturbing: Hardly anyone has tried to curb the trend.

Professors are doing a great disservice to students when they artificially inflate grades just enough for a scholarship, parents’ approval or graduation requirements.

Instead of handing out uneducated 4.0s, professors should be thinking of the long-term effects of passing students through classes with grades they don’t deserve.

First, sending recent college graduates into the workforce unprepared is unacceptable.

It breeds some of the following embarrassing statistics: Nevada scores 17 percentage points lower than the national benchmark in workforce preparation, as seen in professional license exams, and is more than 28 percentage points below the national benchmark in preparing students for graduate schools, according to Measuring Up, a 2004 and 3006 national higher education report card.

What about the doctor who slid into medical school thanks to teachers who handed out higher grades than deserved? Or the architect that shouldn’t have passed classes about building bridges?

Higher education is about learning, not grades. But our generation depends on grades to measure academic progress.

Students would be more likely to try to learn more if their grades (which should reflect material learned) were slipping. Instead, students are slacking off, receiving A’s and learning very little in between.

Professors should be educating and challenging the next generation’s workforce to be critical thinkers, independent workers, problem solvers and strong leaders.

The Nevada Sagebrush staff can be reached at editor@nevadasagebrush.com.

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