In the midst of a global pandemic that is causing tens of thousands of deaths, ravaging the most vulnerable of us, and bringing millions to the brink of economic catastrophe, college students throughout the country are worrying about their grades. How can they protect their GPAs at this unprecedented time? Student stress is understandable. Grades, students believe, are really important: good grades lead to good jobs and graduate schools which in turn is their ticket to upward (or at least not declining) social and economic mobility. Many are socialized from an early age to focus on their grades (becoming, in William Deresiewicz’s memorable phrase, “excellent sheep”). In my own experience teaching, over the last decade or so it has seemed to me that students are much more concerned with grades – and therefore much more transactional about their learning – than they used to be. And in some areas, grades do matter. Graduate schools, particularly professional ones such as law and medicine, use grades as a criterion for admission and some employers weed applicants by GPA. On the whole, though, grades probably matter less than most students think. The same schools and companies that consider GPAs know well that they […]
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