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@mekkaokereke Suppose every student does excellent work. Should every student get an A? If that happens, isn’t it a •good• outcome we should applaud?

If it happens consistently, should we raise grading standards? If so, does that mean grades should change meaning over time after all — that we should embrace grade •deflation•?

People think they have clear answers until they actually start thinking.

(To be clear, these are questions to reflect on, NOT to toss off an opinion in my replies.)

2/

Peter Bindels

@inthehands @mekkaokereke I've never understood the US grading system with everybody being graded on a fixed curve from A+ to F. It implies that if you're in a class of idiots you don't even have to do much but you can't score meaningfully high despite being a potential genius, and in a class of absolute geniuses you're never going to get anything but an F, even if you're really smart.

When an F can be really smart and an A+ can be somebody not competent... what value does it even have?

@inthehands @mekkaokereke Of course, *statistically speaking* on average it will average out. But that doesn't happen, which is why you get "XYZ league" schools where smart people go, to know what the grades actually mean, and there are schools invisibly marked as "bad area" schools where even an A+ diploma doesn't mean much.

Statistically speaking, people on average have slightly less than one testicle and half a uterus.

@dascandy42 @inthehands @mekkaokereke I heard about teachers who used grading curves, but I never experienced it myself, not in high school or university.

@ramsey @dascandy42 Yes, grading on a curve is almost unheard of in the modern era. When it happens, it’s usually to correct for an assignment or exam of miscalibrated difficulty.