Students share their opinions on adding class rank to thier transcripts
CU students acknowledge the existence of grade inflation on campus, but have mixed feelings about the proposed addition of class rank to their transcripts.
The proposal comes from Hank Brown in response to concerns among professors and administrators that grades are no longer an accurate measure of a student’s work, because of grade inflation.
“Certain departments and certain professors are definitely more responsible for grade inflation than others,” said Corinna Gainan, a senior psychology and EBIO major. “I don’t believe it’s happening everywhere, but where it is happening it needs to be addressed. The current system just doesn’t seem to be working.”
Some students worry that the system would actually hurt the students with higher GPA’s.
“It would screw the smarter students who are in honors classes because they wouldn’t compare well to the other honors students,” said Megan Wilder, a sophomore EBIO and Spanish major.
Other students think that the ranking system would be beneficial to all students.
“I’m totally for it. I think it would be a really great motivator for yourself,” said Thomas Heikes, a freshman open-option major.
Most students, however, are taking a more cautious stand on the issue until they have more information.
“If I were at the top of the class, I would prefer to have my rank listed. Otherwise, it wouldn’t really be in my favor,” said senior accounting major Benny Kaplan.
Ideally, Kaplan said, students would be able to choose on an individual basis whether or not their ranking is listed.
CU expects to hold a hearing later this fall to address grade inflation and class rank.
