Curb the Curve

Chris Massad

There are a great number of universities that are academically challenging, to say the least. Georgia Tech, for example, is one of those schools. Because the level of education is so rigorous, many professors curve the grades of their students to offset the lack of good scores. In fact, many students see grade curves as a safety net and a GPA booster, and in turn, support the ideal. But is curving grades really necessary? Is it possible that curving grades is worse for students than they realize? The answer is yes.

It’s understood that professors curve grades because they know their class is so difficult, but does this not counter the rigor of the class? Why not make the class a bit less challenging and actually make it possible for bright students, who attend rigorous universities because they are bright, to get good grades on their own. Colleges do not need to give out F’s and D’s to prove they are challenging. It’s understood that an A at MIT is much more impressive than an A at ITT Tech, and its also understood that any given student would have to work much harder to earn an A at MIT than they would at ITT Tech.

To add on, each professor has his own way of curving grades, but from research, curving the grades of students based on their performance compared to the rest of the class is a popular system among the faculty. The problem with this system is that students know this, and instead of working to be the best they can be, they work to just be better than everyone else. This creates a population of students who may not be studying their hardest, but are studying just enough to beat the rest. Learning should not be a competition, but when grades are curved, it becomes so. Higher education is for students who want to get the most out of their academic careers, and curving grades is simply holding them back.