Grade inflation (pre-AI)
In the first frame, Gary Trudeau shows the student having a perplexed look as she sees his paper. “An A?” she ponders. In the next frame, she says to herself, “I’d like to thank the Encyclopedia Britannica without which this paper wouldn’t have been possible.”
(Reminder, this scenario is pre-AI but worth paying attention to.)
The student knows copying from the Britannica––and only from one source––would be woefully short of an A. The professor’s response indicates that he might have been overwhelmed with the number of papers to grade; or more likely, he thought he needed to give good grades to get good evaluations and keep his position. The professor and student reside in a conundrum, both in search of self-respect.
Have we felt sometimes that we have resided in this same paradigm? As a parent, we are overwhelmed so much so that we let things slide by. At work we may do the same. Once we recognize this conundrum, we can see the need to escape and to see things as they are and act accordingly.
Have you dealt with grade inflation either as a student, a parent, professor, or teacher? We live in a world that requires experts in their fields to solve serious problems facing the planet. If eighty percent of students in a university receive A’s or A-’s, how can society distinguish those who know from those who don’t? Whether you are connected to an educational institution or not, how might you address this issue?
The impact of AI complicates this paradigm. It offers much more than plagiarizing the Encyclopedia Brittanica. AI is not only the source, but it will have composed the student’s paper, pretending that the student is the author, a double conundrum.
The student in Trudeau’s scenario recognizes that her work is inadequate for an A. She knows that her paper, one that she wrote, came up short. She wants to be treated honestly. Had she used AI, AI would have done all of it. Without effort, she would have been the same as she was before she “wrote” her (AI’s) paper. No effort. No brain engagement. Simply a conduit.
Think about that.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.” (Kierkegaard)
I write to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century. My latest book, Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way is available on Amazon. And I welcome comments here on my Substack or by email at frankthoms3@gmail.com.
