Chronicle: Humanities Grading Hit By Inflation

Harvard humanities professors grade students too generously, charged an article in last weeks's Chronicle of Higher Education.

William D. Cole, an instructor in the department of Romance Languages and Literatures, wrote that professors in the liberal arts--unlike their counterparts in the sciences--are unwilling to give poor grades even if students deserve them.

Cole cited a number of reasons for grade inflation in the humanities.

Relativist standards in the humanities make it difficult for a professor to judge one student's work as better than another's, according to Cole.

"Having embraced this relativism, some faculty members may feel that it is incompatible with making absolute judgments of our students," Cole wrote. "Giving everyone a good grade becomes the path of least resistance."

By contrast, science professors give low marks because they use more objective methods to gauge student performance, Cole wrote.

Cole also indicted professors for resorting to grade inflation out of laziness. Rather than hassle with justifying a poor grade to a disgruntled student, some professors simply dole out high grades.

Cole recommended that the mean grade given in a course appear on students' transcript alongside their grade to inform a future employer or admissions officer about the course's difficulty level.

Although Cole mainly blamed the faculty forperpetuating the trend, he also reproached Harvardstudents.

According to Cole, today's students are"pragmatic individuals who, while eager to learn,are even more eager to succeed."

But some humanities professors interviewed lastweek objected to Cole's comments. TrumbullProfessor of American History Donald H. Flemingcalled the claim that today's students compareunfavorably with their counterparts from yearspast "rubbish."

Fleming said Harvard students get high gradesin the humanities because they are the topstudents in the nation.

Cole said yesterday in an interview that "ifall the students are better, then the entiregrading system should be shifted in order todistinguish, the most excellent students from themerely excellent."

Baird Professor of Science Dudley R.Herschbach, who teaches Chemistry 10, was"generally sympathetic" to Cole's article,agreeing that "setting meaningful standards isparticularly difficult in the humanities given thecontext in which they make their decisions."

Herschbach was critical, however, of Cole'ssuggestion that the mean grade of every courseshould appear on a student's transcript. If aclass is particularly brilliant one year, thestudents should not be "punished," he argued.

Instead, he suggested putting on the transcriptthe Course Grading Index, a figure computed by theOffice of Instructional Research and Evaluationfor every undergraduate course. The index comparesthe students' course performance with theiroverall performance at Harvard.

Cole, whose scholarly interest is comparativemedieval literature, has served as tutor andthesis advisor in fields ranging from Visual andEnviornmental Studies to English and AmericanLiterature

Although Cole mainly blamed the faculty forperpetuating the trend, he also reproached Harvardstudents.

According to Cole, today's students are"pragmatic individuals who, while eager to learn,are even more eager to succeed."

But some humanities professors interviewed lastweek objected to Cole's comments. TrumbullProfessor of American History Donald H. Flemingcalled the claim that today's students compareunfavorably with their counterparts from yearspast "rubbish."

Fleming said Harvard students get high gradesin the humanities because they are the topstudents in the nation.

Cole said yesterday in an interview that "ifall the students are better, then the entiregrading system should be shifted in order todistinguish, the most excellent students from themerely excellent."

Baird Professor of Science Dudley R.Herschbach, who teaches Chemistry 10, was"generally sympathetic" to Cole's article,agreeing that "setting meaningful standards isparticularly difficult in the humanities given thecontext in which they make their decisions."

Herschbach was critical, however, of Cole'ssuggestion that the mean grade of every courseshould appear on a student's transcript. If aclass is particularly brilliant one year, thestudents should not be "punished," he argued.

Instead, he suggested putting on the transcriptthe Course Grading Index, a figure computed by theOffice of Instructional Research and Evaluationfor every undergraduate course. The index comparesthe students' course performance with theiroverall performance at Harvard.

Cole, whose scholarly interest is comparativemedieval literature, has served as tutor andthesis advisor in fields ranging from Visual andEnviornmental Studies to English and AmericanLiterature