For business majors, making the grade now has new meaning, as the business school set new guidelines for grade point averages in major, minor and pre-business classes.
We commend the school for taking the University’s first step in letting students know that a minimum level of work will not result in a B+ or an A-. Average work deserves a C, and curves exist for a reason. In an average class, average students do about average quality work. Students are being given advance notice that if they want a higher grade, they will have to earn it.
An argument certainly can be made that curves such as the ones adopted by the business school don’t hold up in each and every class. Sometimes a class is filled with overachievers, and a GPA cap has the potential to hurt some of those students. But if the University community uses that argument to rationalize having no set standards, then everyone’s effort is devalued. A grade ought to mean that a certain level of work was accomplished.
It’s also worthy to note that the curve established by the business school is somewhat liberal. For major core business classes, grades must fall between a high C+ and a high B. We don’t know how the school chose this range — perhaps it reflects the mean grades for business majors — but the average grade is now set at above average.
A stronger reason to argue against the business school’s move is that other departments don’t have the same standards. People outside the University don’t know which departments have standards and which don’t, so students in other majors are getting better grades for less work.
In response to that argument, we have a challenge for the other departments on campus: Get on the grading-standard bandwagon. If a University education means that students are “citizen scholars,” as the administration has claimed, the coursework and grading policies should reflect it.
We challenge you, as instructors, to challenge us. How can students want to achieve greatness when you expect nothing more of them than the bare minimum? Give University students something to be proud of — a grade they actually deserve.
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Business school alters GPA rules – Oregon Daily Emerald