Shouldn't We All be Certified?

As an educator, I have long been concerned with the process and result of grading. Not the least of which was my concern for grade inflation. I have seen some creative approaches to this problem. One I would mention is an approach by an institution to evaluate faculty by the grades they give. The standard is that the grade point average of all students in the class must be no greater than 3.2. This pretty well forces the instructor to grade on the curve. While that might not be a bad thing, society has pretty well told academic institutions that we should not fail our students. We have a tough time with failure in academia. Academia would much rather pass the part about telling a student that he or she sucks on to the employers. It is easier that way.

In an opinion piece date May 6, 2009, Walter Williams of George Mason University stated that due to grade inflation, possessing a college degree often does not mean much in terms of basic skills. Here is part of what he said:

"Last year, the Delaware-based Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) published results of their national survey titled "Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions." The survey questions were not rocket science. Only 21 percent of survey respondents knew that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Almost 40 percent incorrectly believe the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war. Only 27 percent knew that the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States. Remarkably, close to 25 percent of Americans believe that Congress shares its foreign-policy powers with the United Nations. Other questions asked included: "Who is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military?" "Name two countries that were our enemies during World War II." "Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?" Of the 2,508 nationwide sample of Americans taking ISI's civic-literacy test, 71 percent failed; the average score on the test was 49 percent." (Williams)

College graduates, although gaining ever rising grade point averages, cannot pass basic skill tests. He recommended that employers deflate grades of applicants by one letter and interpret a C grade as an F. I would make another suggestion. There should be a certification for the basic skills needed to perform as an entry level employee. Who cares what the GPA is if the person can’t form a complete sentence, solve a basic math problem, or interpret data? For some reason, educational institutions want us to believe that a degree means something, but they seem to want to give one to anyone that can pay the tuition.

 

In order to get my Ph.D. I was required to take a battery of tests on educational theory and practice and then compose and defend a dissertation. My grade point average mattered for nothing if I couldn’t pass the comprehensive exams and convince five committee members of the validity of my research and conclusions. That to me is certification to the max.

One of the great features of LearningZen is the ability of the master to certify the student. Nobody questions Plato as he was "certified" by his master and mentor Socrates. Shouldn’t we all be certified? Dennis Phillips, Ph.D.