Questions for Greater Understanding: Why Colleges Shower Their Students with As

Questions for Greater Understanding

1. Brent Staples presents a great deal of information in a very brief opinion piece. Does the piece live up to the promise of its titlethat of explaining the cause of A abundance? What are some of the reasons Staples gives for why colleges are giving out higher and higher grades?

Questions for Greater Understanding

2. Staples argues that the proliferation of A grades devalues a degree by demonstrating the lack of academic rigor of any college that grants so many As. How do you feel about the degree that you are working toward? If you had the choice of two colleges equally accessible to you in terms of distance and cost, and one had a reputation for academic rigor and maintained high standards for grades, while the other had a mediocre academic reputation but bestowed abundant high grades, which would you choose? Why?

Questions for Greater Understanding

3. How do you feel about Duke professor Valen Johnsons proposal (on page 937) that more difficult classes have more weight in determining a students grade point average (GPA)? Under this system, more difficult classes like Math and Biology would count more in determining a students GPA.

Questions for Greater Understanding

4. Would you consider attending a for-profit university such as University of Phoenix, even though, as Staples states, this school shuns traditional scholarship and offers a curriculum so superficial that critics compare it to a drive-through restaurant (936)?

Questions for Greater Understanding

5. What are the benefits to allowing students challenge the grades they receive from instructors? What are some of the negative aspects of these policies, which Staples discusses on page 937?