This episode's ethics challenge:
Anyone even tangentially associated with education is familiar with the phenomenon of grade inflation. Where a C used to stand for competent but uninspired work, it now stands in place of D or F, either of which is viewed as an academic nuclear button. Participation trophies are the norm in baseball and soccer, lest some children feel less accomplished than others – even if they are.
To make matters worse, instructors are under pressure to not only inflate students’ grades but to write glowing recommendations, even if this forces their testimonials into the realm of fiction or fantasy. In a few celebrated cases, disgruntled students and parents filed lawsuits against instructors who dared to issue a grade the student actually earned.
Many instructors have given up the fight and acquiesced to the new normal. They simply don’t believe it’s worth subjecting themselves to angry calls, pressure from administrators, and the specter of litigation. But more than that, they may rationalize that grade inflation is necessary for those good but unexceptional students who will find themselves competing with other good but unexceptional students. If students from other schools enjoy the benefit of inflated grades and fancifully written recommendations, why should their own students appear lackluster because they were honestly evaluated?
What should a teacher do? Provide an honest assessment, or go with the flow of inflated grades and hyperbolic reference letters?
Meet this week’s panelists:
Steve Epner is a serial entrepreneur who flunked retirement to become a business professor and mentor at Saint Louis University. He is also the godfather of Grappling with the Gray, so we wouldn’t be here if not for him.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveepner/
Catherine Fitzgerald has survived her own harrowing leadership roles as CEO and mother of three boys. She now works with organizational leaders as they navigate the choppy waters of aligning people, performance, and profits as owner of Catapult Leadership Group.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine...
Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski is the founder of KSP Partnership, developing and delivering project management and project leadership courses.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimihirot...
You can’t be ethical until you’ve fully examined and understood both sides of any issue.
Few things in life are black and white. That’s why we have to learn to Grapple with the Gray.
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