To the Editor:
In regard to the Nov. 19 story "Concerns persist as grade distribution remains steady," I'd like to point out that Brown undergraduates consistently score above the national mean on college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT, as well as on pre-professional exams such as the MCAT and LSAT. Furthermore, it is well-known that admission to Brown has become increasingly competitive over time, leading to a student body that by definition possesses high levels of motivation and intelligence. In that light, should it necessarily be of concern that over half of our students would be capable of performing what their instructors deem to be A-level work in the courses that they take here? I believe that the time is right for a University-wide conversation as to the meaning of grades in general. More specifically, we need to ask what an A should primarily signify - should it reflect individual performance, as measured by the instructor's standard? Or is it more important to indicate relative performance, that the student has ranked within some predetermined fraction - e.g. the 35 percent standard employed by Princeton - of their peers? As a teacher, I strive to impart the highest possible level of understanding to all of my students, a goal that I am certain the administration supports. I give exams that are considered challenging by the vast majority of my students, but part of the deal is that all those who rise to the challenge by meeting my standard for excellence will be graded accordingly, which in practice does tend to lead to a "non-Princetonian" grade distribution. However, I do recognize the concerns of students who feel that there may be substantial variations of effort and, more importantly, of subject mastery within a particular letter grade, especially given the lack of the pluses and minuses that are commonly employed at other institutions. While the addition of pluses and minuses is likely to be a nonstarter, I propose that we consider resurrecting the "with distinction" option for letter grades that existed as recently as 2007. Although the "A with distinction" carried no official weight in that it did not change GPA computation and was not reported on the external transcript, returning it as a grade option would give instructors additional flexibility in acknowledging the highest levels of excellence in a manner that would not negatively impact those students receiving a "standard" A - a truly Brunonian compromise.
Richard Bungiro PhD'99
Lecturer in Biology
