One does not expect a conservative to openly push for grade inflation, so Robert Zeis offered a big surprise in his column “More Outrage in the Classroom” on February 6. I do not wish to defend the English 105 syllabus, Zeis lambasted, but I disagree with his characterization of a “C” as an unacceptable, bad grade.

In our calculus sequence Math 165-166-265, a “C-” is required for moving up to the next higher calculus course. In other words, a person cannot get a “C-” without mastering enough of the material to proceed further, and a “C” is therefore evidence of accomplishment beyond that.

I always thought that “C” generally meant “average”, and that there was nothing disgraceful about being average in good company. An average ISU degree is a respectable achievement, as long as our standards are maintained at a uniform, high level.

If there is a stigma attached to a “C,” it may be a reflection of the lax grade scales of public schools that students have become used to. The Des Moines Register recently reported on a survey of 250,000 college freshmen around the nation.

32 percent of freshmen indicated that they had an “A” average, while in 1969 this was the case for only 12 percent. Thus a dramatic erosion of standards has happened in high schools, and it is not surprising that a high school diploma has become a virtually worthless piece of paper on the job market.

It is in the interest of all students to prevent the same from happening to a bachelor’s diploma. Holding the line on grade inflation is absolutely necessary for protecting the value of the investment in a college degree.

Timo Seppalainen

Assistant Professor of

Mathematics