Curved Grades don’t actually help students.
By: Kahlil Kambui, Opinion Editor
The days leading up to receiving an exam grade are nerve-wracking for many students. But, if there are a couple of words that put the students at ease, it is the phrase “the grades for this assignment are curved.”
But first, what is grading on a curve? A curved grade means that your scores are adjusted on the assignment. A professor would use the curved scale when the average score was significantly lower than expected. For example, when the class average failed to pass a quiz the professor can grade on a curve. That means modifying each student’s grade to raise the average.
You may not think much of it until you realize what that means: You are not actually getting graded on what you know or how well you did, but on how everyone else in the class did. Not only is that unfair, but it is not representative of how you truly did on the assignment.
Another problem is that a curved grade invalidates the reason for grades altogether. A curved grade doesn’t reflect your mastery of the subject. It reflects that you are either in a strong or a weak class.
Our grades are supposed to measure our understanding, not the class’s overall performance. If the goal of the class is to show what you learned, the grade you get should be straightforward and represent how you actually did.
A class without a curve encourages complete transparency and clarity between teachers and students.
Curved grades don’t make you a better student; it’s just a band-aid for professors to make their class average seem better.
Professors should curve grades
By: Emily Beebe, Assistant Opinion Editor
When a professor curves grades, it means they adjust students’ grades based on how the class performs overall. Curving grades could bump up a student’s grade so they achieve a higher grade in a class. Professors should curve grades because if students work hard in a class but may not get the best grade, they should get rewarded with a curved grade.
Imagine taking a difficult exam where you struggle with it and feel like you failed it, or even received a poor grade. If everyone in the class received a bad grade on an exam, the professor may decide to curve the grade due to the exam being too difficult. Therefore, this can benefit a student’s grade, so one bad exam doesn’t destroy their grade.
Another reason why students’ grades should be curved is that sometimes students simply have difficult semesters. Students may be devoting so much time and effort to a class, but may have difficulties aside from the class. If students are devoting the time and effort to a class, it’s not fair to them to receive a bad grade, especially if they have stressors outside of classes that may be impacting their grades.
Some people may argue curved grades lead to competition among people. However, at the end of the day, students should be trying their best in their classes and not worrying about what grades other students have gotten on assignments or exams.
Overall, the topic of curving grades is a highly debated one, but it is the right thing to do. College students work hard and have numerous responsibilities, so if they are putting a lot of effort into a class, their grade should be curved.
If you’re struggling in a class, aside from getting your grade hopefully curved, you can also ask your professor for help or even go to their office hours.
