Grade inflation discourse often engages with letter grades as instrumental means to an end: workforce employability, grad-school competitiveness, post-college salaries, and social mobility. At Pomona College, though, debates over grade inflation are also debates about what a liberal arts education should demand of its students.
Tag: Grades
Office Hours for the Soul: Learning “you don’t matter” from Professor Fanthome
Siena Giacoma PZ ’27 shares unexpected advice from Eduard Fanthome, Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Analysis at Pitzer College. Giacoma describes Fanthome’s teaching origin story as one worthy of “Netflix miniseries,” and she suggests the advice he offers may be just as profound.
OPINION: Eliminate the zero-sum game of quota grading
Quota grading fosters competition over collaboration and does not reward improvement, argues Serena Mao HM ’25.
OPINION: The 5Cs can lead the way in grading reform and alter academic incentives for students
We should replace the letter grade system with an alternative form of evaluation to address school disengagement, says Kyle Greenspan PZ ’23.
OPINION: We need to detach our self-worth from our grades
We are not our grades, and this format of online learning is a reminder of that, says Aarushi Phalke PO ’24.
OPINION: Pitzer should rethink its fall grading system
Pitzer’s return to traditional letter grades fails marginalized students during the coronavirus pandemic, says Luciénne Reyes PZ ’24.
![A graphic that reads: "Labor-based grading could be uniquely suited to distance learning because, according to [history professor Pey-Yi Chu], it could help alleviate the inherent disadvantages that some students face when trying to study away from campus."](https://i0.wp.com/tsl.news/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ben-hogwarts-grading.png?resize=715%2C390&ssl=1)
OPINION: The case for a Hogwarts grading system
A labor-based grading system similar to that at Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series may be worth considering, says Ben Reicher PO ’22.
Pomona students greenlight ASPC constitutional amendments, ‘shadow grading’ referendum
Pomona students approved amendments to the ASPC constitution and a proposal to grade first-years on a P/NC basis their first semester.
How Letter Grades Are Failing Higher Education
A, B, C, D, F. Letter grades have always had a simplistic appeal; they allow us to judge our performance in a class with a mere symbol. Unfortunately, the reality of education is far more complex than the neatly distilled grades would have us believe. For starters, there is a