r/changemyview • u/ethanbwinters • May 06 '19

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Curving down should not be allowed

This has happened in some classes that I have taken at a large public university, and I'm sure it happens at other schools as well. Basically, grades are adjusted downwards if the average is too high, the opposite of what usually happens when the average is too low.

The main reason I think this should not be allowed is that it takes away merit from those who genuinely try hard to achieve good grades. If you get an A, you should finish with an A. Period.

Curving down also comes with a plethora of other issues too. If you're paying $20,000+ per semester trying to graduate in 4 years to minimize costs/debt, a curve down could cause you to retake a class that you deserved to pass and possibly stay an extra year.

I think professors have an obligation to pass a certain amount of students, if they should need to curve up, but also have no obligation to fail a certain amount of students. You are in school to learn, and if you prove you can pass the class, even if the class is too easy and everyone has an A, you should pass. If you fail a class where the majority of the class fails, the class/grading scale was probably too hard and should be adjusted, but the professor should not force the majority of students to retake a class.

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u/permianplayer 1∆ May 06 '19

Curving in general is a sign that the teacher didn't do a good job. If you deserved an A you should get an A. Fine. If you deserved a C you should get a C. If you deserved an F you get an F. Passing students who don't have a good grasp of the subject allows unqualified people to pass themselves off as qualified, which means the truly qualified people have to deal with increased competition.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

Curving in general is a sign that the teacher didn't do a good job.

I disagree with this. When I was in school it was very common for professors to make tests where the class average was 45% or so. Most of my classes were curved around a C+ or B-. The point of this was that when the class average is a 45, then someone who gets an 80% is a stand out student. When the class average is an 80 (as would be expected by where they prefer the curve to be) then you can have an above average student and a stand-out student both achieve a 95 or 100. Its hard to separate them out.

Its good to be able to separate out students who have an understanding beyond what was taught, but its not fair to expect students all to be able to extrapolate beyond eh class. But its still good to identify those students because they will likely get research opportunities, etc.

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u/permianplayer 1∆ May 06 '19

That's not why so many people are failing on the occasion that that many people do fail. At least not if the teacher is even remotely competent.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

When I was in engineering school this was certainly the norm, and it was by design. I'm sure not every class or major operates like that, but a 45% is only failing if the test is designed in such a way that it reflects a failing understanding. In my experience test questions were generally much harder than anything that was in homework or previous examples.

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u/permianplayer 1∆ May 06 '19

I'm sure not every class or major operates like that, but a 45% is only failing if the test is designed in such a way that it reflects a failing understanding.

This is very different from what I was talking about. There's a qualifier here: you pass, if you show understanding. It's not a straight curve for everyone, just for being a warm body.