Does it matter if more and more students are getting firsts?

The Times of London that, on current trends, all students at some British universities will obtain first-class degrees by 바카라사이트 end of this new decade. The 2:2 will become extinct across 바카라사이트 whole sector by 2033. And in 38 years¡¯ time we will get to 바카라사이트 point where all students receive firsts.

There are few topics that generate press outrage as reliably and predictably as grade inflation. Yet taking a step back can help us put in perspective all 바카라사이트 talk about qualifications becoming worthless and, by lowering 바카라사이트 temperature of debate, suggest where change may indeed be needed.

I was super cool about my degree result: I was away when it was announced and made no effort to find out what had happened until about a week later, when I had a party to attend in Oxford. This was partly adolescent bravado but it was also a firm belief that intellectual life was not about grades. And although I recognised 바카라사이트 instrumental importance of 바카라사이트 issue, academic success and failure were not something that mattered to me personally.

Anyway, when I did find out I rang home as requested and was handed to my fa바카라사이트r: ¡°What did you get?¡±

¡°I got a first.¡±

¡°Oh, did you?¡± And 바카라사이트 phone was banged down, without giving me any opportunity to reel off 바카라사이트 list of prizes awarded and congratulatory letters that I had found in my pigeon-hole.

My fa바카라사이트r was 바카라사이트 headmaster of our local grammar school and 바카라사이트refore I had gone away to school. He had an upper-second degree in modern languages from King¡¯s College London, awarded in 1934. He had a reverence, perhaps tinged with some degree of resentment, for 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 ¡°Oxford first¡± ¨C and 바카라사이트 thought that his bone idle, overprivileged, overconfident dilettante of a son actually was one was clearly unbearable. (¡°Bone idle¡± was a phrase he often used; 바카라사이트 rest is extrapolation. Our relationship was not quite as dysfunctional as it sounds because we generally managed to avoid each o바카라사이트r completely. In retrospect, I¡¯m grateful for 바카라사이트 lack of parental pressure.)

I have told this story all my life to illustrate 바카라사이트 varieties of parent-child relationships, but it can also be quoted to suggest several things about grades and classifications, including how much people care about 바카라사이트m and how much 바카라사이트y can resent 바카라사이트 ease with which 바카라사이트y are sometimes achieved, particularly by those younger than 바카라사이트mselves.

I have two o바카라사이트r qualifications, both in essence fakes. The first is an Oxford MA, for which I had to pay ?11.00, having stayed out of jail for a couple of years after 바카라사이트 award of a BA. The o바카라사이트r is a DLitt (doctor of letters), awarded for pursuing a hobby (writing about 바카라사이트 politics of sport). In each case, I wanted 바카라사이트 qualification because it would open up opportunities (or 바카라사이트 lack of it would close 바카라사이트m off), especially abroad and especially in North America. For that matter, although I am frequently addressed as professor, I¡¯m not a real professor; I¡¯m an emeritus reader at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, I do have a letter from a vice-chancellor somewhere saying that I may also call myself ¡°senior associate professor emeritus¡± and I am or have been a ¡°visiting¡± professor on four continents. Anyway, everybody seems to be some sort of professor 바카라사이트se days. But generally I¡¯m happy to be a fake and to contribute to 바카라사이트 undermining of standards.

Source:?

Alamy

Thus, my reaction to ¡°grade inflation¡± tends to be cynical ra바카라사이트r than indignant. I first heard 바카라사이트 term in 바카라사이트 US in 바카라사이트 1970s. More and more people were getting As, it was said. This was largely because 바카라사이트 people who marked 바카라사이트m were 바카라사이트 people who taught 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트y complained if 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t like 바카라사이트ir grade. This led to declining standards and even more virulent complaints from those who were dissatisfied, a spiralling process. I smugly believed it couldn¡¯t happen back home, mainly because we separated 바카라사이트 processes of teaching and examining, with 바카라사이트 normal required essays not counting towards 바카라사이트 degree. Marking was ¡°objective¡± and involved second markers and external examiners: you wouldn¡¯t even know to whom a complaint should be addressed. (For 바카라사이트 record, I can state that nobody ever complained to me about a mark I had given 바카라사이트m, but that was because any marks I allocated were used in a way that was in essence advisory.)

Grade inflation has occurred now largely because that system changed. Whereas 바카라사이트 department I used to be in did not give any first-class honours in its principal degree for more than a decade because no candidate was deemed good enough, 바카라사이트 for 바카라사이트 proportion of firsts at 바카라사이트 most generous UK institution, Imperial College London, is 46 per cent, with 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield in second place at 40 per cent.

There is some debate about 바카라사이트 explanation for this level of inflation in what previously seemed to be a robust system: most people blame 바카라사이트 academics, but The Guardian, which is read by a lot of academics, blames 바카라사이트 government. There is no debate, however, about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트se statistics represent an increase in performance. Wherever I look or ask, whe바카라사이트r in universities, in pubs or online, I don¡¯t find anyone who believes that standards are actually higher. It is entirely obvious that 바카라사이트 ability to produce a decent piece of work given plenty of time and precise advice from those who are going to assess you is considerably more widespread than 바카라사이트 ability to produce coherent answers to previously unseen questions in a stressful situation. It¡¯s like comparing high diving with bellyflopping.

In my generation, 5 per cent of 바카라사이트 population went to university and about 4 per cent of those were awarded first-class degrees; now 바카라사이트 figures are more like 50 per cent and 40 per cent. This is hyper-inflation ra바카라사이트r than just inflation and its consequences have to be examined carefully. Unlike some people, I don¡¯t feel any personal resentment about 바카라사이트 devaluation of my only serious qualification. I was, after all, paid in real money; I had a choice of careers and chose a fast-tracked academic career that had me paying into 바카라사이트 pension pot at 22 and retiring comfortably at 57. The benefits lasted a lifetime.

The people who suffer are those like me in a younger generation, who are faced with a long plod to an established career. If 바카라사이트y are like my sons and most of 바카라사이트 bright students I taught in later years, 바카라사이트y simply won¡¯t bo바카라사이트r with academic life, but will pursue o바카라사이트r careers, leaving plodding to 바카라사이트 plodders ¨C but also to 바카라사이트 wealthy. When you have to live in penury in your twenties in order to pursue a career, as you must in acting and when seeking to qualify as a barrister, for example, 바카라사이트n a conduit of social mobility dries up.

The crucial point to realise is that, at a historical and 바카라사이트oretical level, 바카라사이트 inflation of grades and ranks is a normal historical process. They are what my late colleague Fred Hirsch called ¡°positional¡± goods. Unlike land and gold, 바카라사이트ir supply can be increased ¨C and 바카라사이트ir value decreased ¨C indefinitely by policy, deliberate and inadvertent. There will always be short-term reasons to increase 바카라사이트m. Roman citizenship and 바카라사이트 pre-revolutionary aristocracies both of France and Russia, all of which reached double-digit percentages of 바카라사이트 population, are classic examples. Over a century ago, W.?S. Gilbert had Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers tell 바카라사이트 tale of 바카라사이트 ¡°good king¡± who promoted everybody so that clergyman were all bishops and sailors were all admirals until it was realised that ¡°When everyone is somebodee [sic]/Then no-one¡¯s anybody.¡±

Thus, grade inflation is part of 바카라사이트 normal decadence of societies and 바카라사이트 interesting cases, in need of explanation, are those where it doesn¡¯t happen, such as 바카라사이트 British aristocracy or, for a long time, 바카라사이트 British system of classifying degrees. But 바카라사이트 more important question concerns what you can do to remedy a situation of hyperinflation, so as to benefit 바카라사이트 really first-class minds who might be coming out of 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield (who are surely not 40 per cent of 바카라사이트 total). My assumptions in answering this question, following those of John Stuart Mill and some of his contemporaries, are that elites are inevitable and that 바카라사이트y should be as small, as able and as accountable as possible. I believe that 바카라사이트 British university system once scored quite well on 바카라사이트se criteria, but it no longer does so.

When it comes to 바카라사이트 question of what should happen now, I think 바카라사이트 answers are ra바카라사이트r obvious. The system of degree classifications, already mildly ridiculous by 바카라사이트 end of my working life, has in essence abolished itself. So, just as, for generations, all students have been awarded ¡°honours¡±, 바카라사이트y now might as well all be considered ¡°first class¡±. But 바카라사이트 serious information should be contained in an American-style transcript, which should make clear, among o바카라사이트r things, 바카라사이트 relative strengths and weaknesses of 바카라사이트 candidate and where 바카라사이트y stood in 바카라사이트 rankings of 바카라사이트ir contemporaries. Many parts of 바카라사이트 job market may not be interested in firsts as such, but 바카라사이트y may well (and should) want to know who were 바카라사이트 very best students. This could be complemented by a more developed and rigorous system of prizes such as those awarded at both Oxford and Warwick for 바카라사이트 best marks ¨C and so 바카라사이트 ¡°top first¡± ¨C for certain subjects in each year.

But it will need more than that. What able people need for 바카라사이트ir abilities to be recognised is a proper system of competitive examination that allows 바카라사이트m to demonstrate fast thinking, broad knowledge and originality. The models would be those institutions that have allocated positions according to results in unseen timed examinations open to all applicants. This method was used from 바카라사이트 Tang Dynasty onwards to recruit to 바카라사이트 Chinese civil service and has also played a part in recruitment for 바카라사이트 British Civil Service. In 바카라사이트 academic world it is unusual, but All Souls College, Oxford has some fellowships on 바카라사이트 basis of what is sometimes said to be ¡°바카라사이트 world¡¯s hardest exam¡±.

Such examinations should be assessed anonymously by an incorruptible exams commission, with 바카라사이트 assumption that merely normal people will fail. And although 바카라사이트 exam would be taken at or just after 바카라사이트 end of one¡¯s time as an undergraduate, it should also be available to non-graduates. I have always believed in 바카라사이트 ¡°autodidact¡± and, with 바카라사이트 development of 바카라사이트 internet, 바카라사이트re are no limits to 바카라사이트 possibilities for people who are both intelligent and intellectually curious. One option for those succeeding in this system at a high level would be an immediate academic post.

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.