| I don't think so, especially given these sentences: "C marks virtually always denote unsatisfactory work in American graduate education. Law schools are the primary exception to this convention." So it sounds like there are some law schools where the curve is simply that the bottom N% get C's or below. The author claims that in most graduate programs, C's are reserved for "unsatisfactory work." Being in the bottom N% doesn't necessarily mean that you're unsatisfactory; it may just mean that you're mostly learning the material, but you're doing a bit worse than your classmates. It sounds like the author basically wants C's to turn into a soft F. If everyone is making decent progress in a class, there is no reason to fail anyone, even the very bottom student. It sounds like this author is arguing that there's no need to give C's as a matter of course, but only if someone is borderline-failing. It sounds like the biggest issue is that C's being reserved for unsatisfactory work has been implemented at some law schools but not all. Since most employers aren't that savvy and can't know everything about every school, students at schools that routinely give out C's are hurt by the lower GPA that says more about their school than what they learned. Ultimately, the author seems to be calling for a grading scale that is more similar between schools. But it's easier to convince schools to do that through inflation of the harder-grading schools ("Help your students!") than deflation of the easier-grading schools ("We promise this won't hurt your students ... if everyone else follows along") |