The Myth of Entitlement: Students’ Perceptions of the Relationship Between Grading Practices and Learning at an Elite University

Abstract

While the existence of grade inflation in the American system of higher education is well documented, the argument that student entitlement drives this dynamic remains unproven. Drawing on an abductive analysis of twenty-nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted by undergraduate co-authors, this study addresses these questions: (1) How do undergraduates on one elite campus understand the meaning and function of the grades they have received in college and (2) Do these students think that grading practices impact their undergraduate learning experience, and if so, how? Our results show that entitlement is not a fixed generational attitude so much as a conditional sentiment that individual professor’s grading practices can either disarm or inflame. Our study extends qualitative inquiry on students’ perceptions of grades and develops a student-centered “peer-to-peer” method that can be applied to a wide range of other issues in the sociology of higher education.

Why Students Struggle in Undergraduate Biology: Sources and Solutions

“…Students also often cited poor grades on exams when asked why they struggled in the course. Many works have demonstrated the importance of grades to undergraduate students ( Sabot and Wakeman-Linn, 1991 ; Lewis et al. , 2017 ; DeFeo et al.…”

Assigning Authenticity: Future Directions for Undergraduate Writing in Sociology

“…While it was not, and is not, a stated learning objective on my syllabus, I was primed to think about pride in the context of teaching writing because I coauthored a study with undergraduate research fellows on the relationship between grading practices and students’ perceptions of their learning (Lewis et al 2017). One of the study’s surprises was just how much grade inflation inhibits students’ ability to access feelings of pride in their work, especially their writing.…”