Students expect A’s despite work ethic

For sophomore Rachel Morris, getting an A is the only option.

And she’s not the only college student who feels this way.

Results from a recent study from the University of California-Irvine reported that one-third of students expect a B just for going to lectures, and 40 percent think a B is appropriate for finishing reading assignments.

“In high school, it instills a notion in you that you’ve got to get an A to get in anywhere,” Morris said. “IU’s GPA standards have heightened as well, so you have to get an A to get by.”

The feeling of entitlement to good grades has not always been the case in higher education.

Jon Dilts, an associate professor in the IU School of Journalism, said when he was in school, a C was the average grade.

“In the ’60s and ’70s, a C would have been just fine,” Dilts said. “Most students would have said, ‘Hey that’s good,’ but I do think it’s changed.”

Dilts said one factor could be the minimum grade point average requirement for a degree.

For example, students in IU’s College of Arts and Sciences, Kelley School of Business and School of Informatics must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher to graduate, according to the schools’ online bulletins. A 2.0 is equivalent to a C average.

The IU Jacobs School of Music has an even higher expectation, with a 2.5 GPA needed for a bachelor’s degree.

“Universities expect students to do better than they used to,” Dilts said. “They don’t think poor students should graduate.”

He also said he has noticed a change in faculty philosophy during his 25 years of teaching because professors now put more energy into helping students attain a desired grade.

“I feel a responsibility to make the C students A and B students,” Dilts said. “Not by raising their grades, but by encouraging them to do the kinds of things that go beyond the minimum they have to do in class.”

Justin Rawlins, a Ph.D. candidate and associate instructor in Communication and Culture and American Studies, said he doesn’t feel institutional pressure on professors to give better grades. He thinks students’ high expectations stem from what they shell out to go to school.

“It seems like that is due to a belief that one invests money in a university education and they’re due something for paying all that money,” Rawlins said.

He said he understands why students might feel a sense of entitlement, but writing a check should not guarantee an A.

“I understand that on a very basic level, but that doesn’t get to the heart of what an education is about,” Rawlins said. “It’s about hard work, and sometimes you don’t do so well.”

But determining how to do well on assignments is something sophomore Mark Hoff finds difficult, because each professor has his or her own standards.

“I think it’s kind of unfair because the expectation is unless you do a poor job, you shouldn’t be getting a C, and some teachers view that as a decent grade,” Hoff said. “Different classes have different standards. Looking at a grade, you’re supposed to have an idea of what kind of work you did, and it doesn’t always match.”

Rawlins said students and professors sometimes have different ideas of what is excellent work, but the process of grading is not flawless.

“Professors are human – they’re not perfect,” Rawlins said. “It’s very difficult to sometimes quantify someone. We’re trained to think about these things and how we might do that, but we’re still human.”

Morris said each teacher has different views of a good grade, but most professors want students to succeed.

“I had a class where my professor thought a C was average and pretty much everybody in the class got a C,” Morris said. “I feel like that was an exception, though. Most other professors think kids are striving for an A, so we’re going to try and work towards getting everybody an A.”