[eikenberry]

Did anyone else find the "Relative Distance" section seeming wrong. Not the harvard-vs-random school thing but the conclusion they draw, that you perform relative to your standing. How are students aware of their positions? Do some schools post rankings or something? When I was in school you're standing/grades were private and no one knew another students standing (aside from the obvious, people failing out and such).

If I was guessing at a cause, I'd put it more on the teachers/school. That they have it in their mind that there should be a range of performance in the students and they enforce that idea. Eg. if everyone gets an A in their course they start making it harder until they get the distribution they expect.

[tppiotrowski]

Many universities grade on a curve. X% get an A, Y% get a B, etc. If you are getting C’s in your classes you can infer that you somewhere in the middle 30%, A’s and you’re likely in the top 30%. You are correct in saying that you don’t know who is the best and worst in your class but all you need to know is where you stand for Relative Distance to work.

[Artlav]

Seems wrong to me too, but for a different reason - i would expect a better school to not only attract smarter students, but to also be harder. So it should balance out to the same curve.