With high school and college commencements wrapping up, employers now worry about the graduates’ preparedness to enter the work world.
This year, 3.9 million students graduated from our high schools, marking the largest class on record. An additional 4.6 million scholars earned college degrees. Their expertise was graded from A to F.
Grades are supposed to indicate accurate achievement, competence, and knowledge when applied without being inflated. “Grade inflation” refers to a rise in grades without a matching increase in learning outcomes and is widespread throughout high schools and colleges.
Employers are losing confidence in education assessments. Dumbing down tests, boosting grades, cheating, and ignoring plagiarism is increasingly corrupting our current system and weakening learning.
Best Colleges reported over the last 30 years that the average college GPA rose by 12% which distorts the central measure of student academic performance.
According to Education Week, students’ college readiness has reached historic lows according to several metrics—including the lowest scores in 30 years on the ACT and declining scores on the SAT, the two primary standardized tests used for college admissions.
A recent TestGorilla survey revealed that over 60% of employers are not confident the current graduates will meet their workforce needs in the next 5-10 years. Forty percent (40%) of employers feel that graduates are not career-ready when they join the workforce today.
“These days, grades are particularly important in the education system. From grade school to college, students are always told how important it is to do well on projects, tests, and homework,” Mike Sullivan, AZBig Media, said.
“When grades are the focus, critical thinking — the skill of analyzing, judging, and making well-thought-out arguments — often takes a back seat. Kids may learn how to give the “right” answers to get good grades, but they might not really know why those answers are right,” Sullivan added.
Focusing solely on good grades alters students’ learning methods. Instead of trying to fully understand ideas, they might choose to take short cuts like remembering facts or cramming to pass tests.
AZBig Media claims focusing on grades stifles creativity. When young people are worried about their grades, they tend not to think freely—outside the box. They might play it safe and stick to tried-and-true methods or ideas instead of trying something new.
Teachers increasingly need to dissuade students who download reports from the internet and submit them as their own. Artificial Intelligence (AI) looms as a catalyst for additional plagiarism.
Father Robert Spitzer, SJ, Gonzaga University President from 1998-2009, recommends that instructors combat plagiarism by requiring students to participate in classroom discussions. It includes having students complete writing assignments without using their electronic devices.
During the Spitzer years, Gonzaga’s enrollment jumped from 4,500 to 7,000 students. SAT scores and GPAs of incoming first-year students were up, as are annual gifts — tripled to $15.4 million, the National Catholic Register reported.
The current grading system must change. It is broken. We must find new ways to demonstrate competency, and if proficiency is lacking, further training must occur. If that happens, the high school and college diploma will grow in value.
The best competency testing I experienced came in the late 1960s in the U.S. Army at Ft. Knox, KY. Instructors drilled us on the basic skills we needed to know on the battlefield. After three months, we underwent extensive testing. Those who flunked were “recycled” through another dreaded 12 weeks of basic training.
I distinctly remember a 12-station timed field test called military stakes. Soldiers in our squad failed one station due to missing a critical safety protocol: ensuring the backblast area behind a shoulder-fired rocket was clear. Had we fired that weapon in combat, we would have killed our own.
We caught that flaw because of competency testing. It is that important!
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Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer, and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. You can contact him at theBrunells@msn.com.
