Since graduating from high school nearly 50 years ago, I have spent about 40 of them on college campuses, with almost 30 of them as a business school faculty member and/or administrator. Much has changed in higher education in that time, and in my opinion, mostly for the better. However, in recent months, I have heard from many colleagues, particularly “Baby Boomers” (born 1945-1964) like me and Gen Xers (born 1965-1980), that the higher education value to students is eroding, and I think they have a point as well.
However, as Billy Joel sings in his hit song, “Keeping the Faith,” “…the good ol’ days weren’t always good and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” So, why do my colleagues feel the way they do? What can we do to fix those issues? These discussions are critical to the business owners and executives who are hiring our students.
According to my colleagues, many of the problems in higher education are associated with an overemphasis or misplaced emphasis on “student success.” While I think the emphasis on student success was well-intentioned, over time it lost its way, spurred on by some recent events. One of those ongoing events is the mental health crisis that has been seen on college campuses for at least a decade. This has encouraged some institutions to reduce rigor to prevent mental health issues. Second, COVID-19 caused many institutions to rightfully be more lenient during that time. However, many institutions have not fully returned to their pre-COVID standards. Finally, as college enrollments and those in the associated demographics decrease, colleges have been under more pressure to retain their existing students, which can lead to easier grading so that enrolled students can progress and graduate. As my colleagues complain, these events and others have caused the following problems:
- Rampant Grade Inflation: As I shared in this space back in November (https://augustabusinessdaily.com/grade-inflation-both-a-cause-and-sign-of-americas-weakening-competitiveness/), grade inflation has been a significant issue since the 1990’s, but has been particularly problematic since COVID. Such grade inflation hurts both the good students who can no longer distinguish themselves and the employers who can no longer determine who knows their stuff.
- D, F, W Monitoring: Schools are monitoring the number of students who receive D or F grades or W (withdraw) from a particular faculty member’s class. There appears to be an implicit conclusion that if students do not do well in a course, the instructor is at fault. While that can be true, it could also be true that students are not expending the appropriate effort. Such monitoring encourages faculty members to avoid giving D’s and F’s, so students who have not mastered the content are moved ahead.
- Lack of Rigor: Some courses have become significantly less rigorous over time. This could be due to grade inflation and D, F, W Monitoring, but could also be due to a lack of student preparation because they were moved along in a previous course.
- Student Course Evaluation “Pandering”: Since course evaluations done by students have become an integral part of a faculty member’s performance review, some instructors believe that their peers reduce rigor and inflate grades to improve their evaluations.
As I indicated earlier, student success is both a critical and admirable goal. However, the major issue that comes through in the above issues is that the onus for student success seems to fall disproportionately on the faculty member and not as much on the student. It should be a shared responsibility in which the student’s ability and effort help carry the day. Here are some things that I do with my students, which allow them to share the burden with me:
- Feedback and Accountability: When students begin performing poorly in my class, I make sure they know it and what they need to do to improve. They know that if improvement does not follow, neither will an acceptable grade. I have found that most students respond when they are held accountable, and you let them know you care. Moving them along with a grade they do not deserve is not caring.
- Resilience and Learning from Failure: Compared to the “real world,” the stakes are low in college. I try to give my students multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of the subjects at hand. How they bounce back from not doing well on a test or assignment tells me much about how they can succeed in the future. While I believe mental health is very important, protecting students from failure will only make their failures in the future more devastating.
- Increasing Expectations: As my students demonstrate competence, I ramp up my expectations in an evolutionary, not rapid, manner. As they build their confidence, they continue to be able to do more and better, and I am sure my colleagues who have them in classes after mine are glad of that.
Unfortunately, business owners and executives such as yourselves are going to hire some folks who are a product of being “moved along.” If that is the case, please try the three methods I outlined above. You will be pleasantly surprised by how young people today respond when they are positively challenged.
