Republicans More Extreme than Democrats…When Grading Students

[The Straight Story]

Republicans More Extreme than Democrats…When Grading Students

If you’re a college student, the odds are your professor will be a Democrat, and that’s good if you want to play it safe when it comes to grading.

A recent study found that Democratic professors are “more egalitarian” than Republican ones with grades. The upside with GOP faculty is they’re more likely to give out the really high grades. But be careful because they also are more disposed to dispensing the lowest grades as well.

Another key difference is that black students tend to fare better with Democrats than with Republicans.

After examining the grades of 17,100 students taught by 417 professors at an unnamed American university, researchers Talia Bar of Cornell and Asaf Zussman of Hebrew University of Jerusalem concluded that 6.2% of GOP marks were C- or lower, compared to only 4% of Democratic grades. Republicans also were more likely to give out A+ grades (8% of their grades, compared to only 3.5% from Democrats).

It should also be noted that researchers were working with a far larger pool of Democratic professors than Republicans. Of the professors involved in the study, 90% were Democrats.

http://www.allgov.com/Unusual_News/ViewNews/Republicans_More_Extreme_than_Democrats__When_Grading_Students_110523

[patrice]

1. This entire country needs to engage in a very specific discussion of grades & grading.

All education consumers should ask for and receive examples of precisely how different kinds of "work" are translated into a grade and then how those grades become the grade.

[MadHound]

2. It's called a rubric, and yes, if you're really concerned, you can ask for one.

Frankly I find all this angst about grading to be misplaced. Do your work, do it well, put in the effort, and you will get the grade you deserve. Don't do the work, don't do it well, don't put in the effort, and yes, you will still get the grade you deserve.

You can generally figure out how tough a professor grades by the first exam. Adjust accordingly.

[patrice]

3. I know quite well what it's called. There are major issues that go into the construction

on any rubric, not to mention the weighting if its various elements. And then, of course, how disparate, critically different, things are related to one another and then ultimately represented by a single letter is a useful question when considering curricular elements and the extent to which they manifest what we call education.

I'm also suggesting that this is a discussion that needs to happen at all levels. It SHOULD be less necessary at the post-secondary, but whatever your professors are doing, whether you're interested in it or not, it does represent some statement, of and by the system, ABOUT the system.

[MadHound]

4. Well then, since you know about them, ask about it.

What do you propose this national discussion should cover? What do you want, some sort of nationalized rubric, or nationalized grades? Sorry, you're not going to get it, no matter how you try. Yes, grading is, to some extent, a function of teacher and professor interpretation. The vast majority of teachers and professors try to standardize the grades they give, hence rubrics and other such tools. But it still comes down to a matter of personal interpretation, and that simply won't change.

What also doesn't change is the simple fact that if you put in the work, put forth the effort, and do the studies, you will good a better grade than those who don't. It's that simple.

[patrice]

9. It should cover the processes by means of which "work" becomes a grade.

There can't be A, as in ONE, anything; there should be better understanding of what is going on, how this happens, including how heavy "interpretation" is in the overall grade. And it simply is not a matter of JUST interpretation, there should be interpretive elements relative to more objective/stable elements. How much of which, when, and whose stable standards relative to how much, which, when, and whose "interpretation" all effect outcomes.

With grades about so many DIFFERENT games as they are, Is it any wonder that so many "students" regard "education" as, less learning, and more about how to get the grade and about "passing the test"?

[Snoutport]

5. why bother when colleges go through and raise all their grades?

to help their students get better jobs and into better grad programs.

[patrice]

10. There should be organization like Media Matters who collect data & provide opportunities to

analyze & discuss case studies.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Wouldn't surprise me. Republicans tend to be more 'all-or-nothing' in their attitudes, and to see

everything as Good or Bad; Right or Wrong and not to see nuances. This might make their grades more extreme.

[pipi_k]

7. "More egalitarian"?

From the article:

"If you’re a college student, the odds are your professor will be a Democrat, and that’s good if you want to play it safe when it comes to grading."


Maybe another view of this could be that Democrats in the college system are passing students who are marginal because they don't expect very much, and they feel sorry for the kids.

That would be disturbing, now, wouldn't it...

[xoom]

8. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened more than ya think.

[patrice]

12. At all levels and environments, not just education, and by more than just Democratic evaluators. nt

[patrice]

11. There's at least the same amount of reason to be concerned about the high highs coming from Republic

an instructors.

Without a more specific idea of what an A+ represents you're passing on into many/most other systems an indeterminent value, which there then interacts with other such values in like manner, i.e. inertia alone will pull everything toward the lowest-common-denominator.

[patrice]

13. P.S. I think that is happening, & it is significant!, but that's not the whole story. nt