‘There are professors who delight in seeing their students suffer and openly proclaim their intolerance for the slightest hint of mediocrity.’
AT the recent commencement exercises at the University of the Philippines Diliman, nearly two-thirds of 3,876 recipients of bachelor’s degrees graduated with so-called Latin honors. Of these, 241 were summa cum laude (or a minimum weighted grade average of 1.2), 1,143 magna cum laude (1.45-1.21), and 985 cum laude (1.75-1.46). This has prompted a call for a review of the honors criteria.
It is not the first time grade inflation has been raised at UP, or other schools for that matter. An op-ed by an alum attributed the high grades to “enforced laxity in grading during the pandemic.” Last year the UP Collegian reported that half of grades given during three semesters from 2022 to 2024 were “‘1.0’ and 1.25’” which alone would have explained the bonanza.
Allow me, seasoned after 42 years of teaching — and grading — to offer some thoughts.
First, it’s the teachers who give the grade. We’ve heard them say that they merely record the scores and it’s the students who do the work. But it’s the faculty that determines the requirements, sets the standards, and interprets the rubrics.
Second, we’re talking of the cream of the crop. Certainly, UP students belong to the academic elite, not simply the affectatiously elitist. After all, only 13 percent of those who dare take the UPCAT (college admission test) pass.
Third, did the smartest actually get smarter and we didn’t notice?
Notwithstanding the assessment of one senator that the senior high-school program did not fully achieve its goal, I am convinced that the extra two years are paying off.
Also, kids are starting school much earlier. Some people from my generation probably went straight to first grade at age seven, but most others attended at age six either kindergarten or prep school. Nowadays, we have pre-kinder and even toddler programs! And of course, we hear of some parents who are already playing classical music or reciting Homer to the babies in their wombs.
Some schools also have better teachers in the formative years, as well as superior libraries, laboratories and other learning facilities and equipment. Some have sports programs, choirs, drama guilds, newspapers, orchestras, and even international exchanges and travel to complement classroom instruction. Students who have these opportunities will probably perform better than those who don’t.
Of course we don’t discard those students who at the end of the semester bargain for better grades. Where I teach, we call the occasion “grade consultation day.” There are legitimate reasons for grade consultation that are not limited to computation errors. However, I am uncomfortable when students ask for higher grades they do not obviously deserve.
And there are those who maintain honors standing by dropping classes where they think their best grade is an A-minus.
Fourth, did teachers lower the bar? There are professors who delight in seeing their students suffer and openly proclaim their intolerance for the slightest hint of mediocrity. Yet, some of these “tor-mentors” have bred the most resilient human beings for tougher challenges later in life. They are the guardians of grade “deflation.”
Then there are those who flood their classes with A’s and A-minuses. This becomes disturbing if the high evaluations do not reflect achievement, and occurs at a systemic level.
One veteran professor said he used “normative grading” (somewhat similar to the “forced grading” employed by another columnist-teacher). In his classes, he said, students would find themselves at fixed points of a normal distribution curve — those points being the range of possible grades. He would rank the class from highest to lowest, then divide them by the number of grade options, and finally assign a grade corresponding to their octet. I am uncomfortable with this because in a high-achieving class, those finding themselves at the lowest eighth would end up failing even if their scores were high. Vice versa, in a class of laggards, seven-eighths of the class would pass even if their performance was below par.
Critics of grade inflation blame generous professors, especially when a high mark does not appear to others to be deserved. But there are students whose work is consistently outstanding during the term and rightly deserve an A. I consider it a blessing if several of them were to converge in one classroom, despite a pandemic.
So let me go back to the pandemic. Before the vaccines, COVID-19 gave war-like vibes: lockdowns, masks, law enforcers in combat attire, uncertainty to the max, induced coma, dying at hospital parking lots, an invisible aggressor. No movies, public transport, restaurants, shopping, or church. I admired students who showed up for class even as they mourned the loss of family members or cared for the sick. I noticed one who faithfully attended online meetings from her hospital room, and those who were trapped in distant locations. I would have given them tougher assignments and expected better. Normally. But I know they did the best they could — without the incentive of báon — despite adverse technical, physical, mental conditions. I am convinced the circumstances made many of them more earnest in their pursuit of an education, more creative and resilient. As perhaps was also the case with many of the UP Class of 2025.
In my opinion, there is no need to review the honors criteria. It is up to teachers if they still want to be liberal with 1.0’s — or be exacting, demanding and critical.
