The Evils of Bell Curve Grading...or Why Last Night's Curve Talk Drove Me NUTS!

I remember as I was angrily declaiming against the idea of opening class by assigning the number of specific letter grades that would be given in the class having the sane part of me sit there and go, "What button got pressed here, because this reaction is a bit extreme, a bit...nuts?!" Later, with some distance I was able to figure out what it was that makes true curve grading, or the idea of declaring x number of each letter grades will be given at the beginning of a class really does upset me.

First, it offends my sense of equality of opportunity. In a perfect world with perfect students everyone should get an A. Now because we don't have an ideal situation, I can understand that the appearance of any "academically challenging" class where every student has an A or perhaps even A's and B's is a red flag. However, I cannot accept anything that artificially limits the grade of any student. To me every student should have the opportunity to earn his or her own A.

Second, I don't believe that my performance should be determined by the performance of others. Affected? Inevitable. Determined? Unethical! I do not accept that educational outcomes should be determined by forces outside the control of the individual. Yes, that is part of real life, but that aspect of real life will be reflected in the classroom naturally without us bringing it in artificially. Education is supposed to be like the real world, but there are also idealistic even utopian ideal to it that is supposed to promote people's potential. I see no reason to begin the real world's smack down early. Besides competition for jobs in general is far more reflective of what should happen in the classroom than the example given of competition for a single given position. That is in the real world, failure to achieve a particular position does not preclude you from achieving an equivalent position at another firm. In the classroom, one person achieving a particular grade should not preclude someone else from doing so. We're not limited to handing out a single A the way a firm may be limited to hiring for a single position. Unless we impose that limit and create artificial scarcity. I don't like it. The teacher has an obligation to society/subject and to his or her students and to grade in this fashion fails to honor that obligation to students.

Finally, I believe that grades should be determined by performance against known standards (even, dare I say it, objective standards - to the extent possible) and not against each other. My grade in a given course should be determined by the quality of my performance in that course and my ability to meet that criteria. If I do those things in an excellent manner I should get an "A." Is that going to be subjective somewhat? Yes. But better subjective than arbitrary.