Some Harvard students are alarmed over tighter grading standards
Harvard University published a new report addressing grade inflation. The University found that a greater percentage of students received an “A” when compared to students in the past. Some Harvard students condemned the report. One argued that if they needed to focus more on their academics, they would not have enough time to focus on other activities. Over 20 students claimed that the report did not account for the things that normally exist in academic life.
From The Harvard Crimson:
The 25-page report, released Monday by the Office of Undergraduate Education, suggested that Harvard’s grading system had become so lenient that it no longer meaningfully distinguished between students. It warned that current practices were “failing to perform the key functions of grading” and were “damaging the academic culture of the College.”
But in interviews with The Crimson, more than 20 students said the report missed the complexity of academic life at Harvard. Many objected to its suggestion that students were not spending enough time on coursework and warned that stricter grading could heighten stress without improving learning.
Sophie Chumburidze ’29 said the report felt dismissive of students’ hard work and academic struggles.
“The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.”
“It just felt soul-crushing,” she added.
The report called on Harvard affiliates to work with officials to “re-center academics” and devote time towards tougher and more strictly graded courses. But many students said the push felt misguided, warning that tougher grading, without attendant changes in academic quality, would shift their focus from learning to chasing grades.
Kayta A. Aronson ’29 said stricter standards could take a serious toll on students’ mental health.
“It makes me rethink my decision to come to the school,” she said. “I killed myself all throughout high school to try and get into this school. I was looking forward to being fulfilled by my studies now, rather than being killed by them.”
Zahra Rohaninejad ’29 added that grading already felt harsh and raising standards further would only erode students’ ability to enjoy their classes.
“I can’t reach my maximum level of enjoyment just learning the material because I’m so anxious about the midterm, so anxious about the papers, and because I know it’s so harshly graded,” she said. “If that standard is raised even more, it’s unrealistic to assume that people will enjoy their classes.”
Additional Reading:
Church, S. A., & Srivastava, C. N. (2025, October 27). Harvard College’s grading system is ‘failing,’ Report on grade inflation says. The Harvard Crimson. Link.
Renwick, W., & Trivedi, N. J. (2025, October 30). ‘Soul-crushing’: Students slam Harvard’s grade inflation report. The Harvard Crimson. Link.
Category: Society
Back when I was in college, we used to call that meeting and maintaining the standard.
Back in my HS and college days, over half the class did not get A’s. It was more like 10%. When I graduated at my university, my gpa was only 3.2, which made it difficult to get accepted to a law school even though I had good LSAT scores.
Poison ivy league.
Gosh, if we have to study and write papers it’ll cut into “college experience” partying time!
Or protesting time.
True dat lately.
Anything to keep the unqualified DEI students from flunking out…
NOPE.
Sweet!!!
Ivy League victims were in short supply before this news.
“The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.”
“It just felt soul-crushing,” she added.
Hack Stone tried that tact at Parris Island in 1981. Fortunately, the Student Advisor, Sergeant Jones, appreciated the stress that Recruit Stone was under, and offered a therapy session in “The Pit”. Ever since then, Recruit Stone had the coping skills needed.
Full disclosure, the above scenario was entirely fabricated. During Training Day 1 when recruit Murray went up tp the Quarterdeck sobbing to go home, and the Drill Instructors asked anyone else who wanted to go home, Hack Stone stood firm at the Position of Attention online. Unfortunately for quite a few, they actually believed that going up and providing their names to the Drill Instructors that they would be home in three days. Hack Stone still chuckles when he recalls those Recruits being thrashed.
I appreciate Hack using the same quote to offer sincere constructive criticism to tell these fools to get over themselves.
And these are (allegedly) the most intelligent people in America.
Jamie Lee had a nice set!!! Love “Trading Places.”
At Ranger school I watched with amazement as a slightly rotund Ranger Student stopped him on a company street and told 1SGT Brinker that he had to quit cuz every day he was “weak as a kitten.” He was an Air Defense Artillery 2LT that really didn’t want to go to Ranger School, but since he had an RA commission, he had no choice in the matter. Brinker’s response: “You can’t quit. We don’t let people quit. But you don’t need to quit; because when you are so sorry I can’t stand to look at you, we’ll throw you out. Now, rag bag, get out of my face.” A few days later, he was gone. He only lasted about seven days of Phase 1 at Harmony Church barracks.
Jeez, what a waste of a US Army Ranger School slot!
I was about to say the same thing. Hundreds of guys that want it and can’t get it, and this jack wagon throws it away!!! I have known 2 ADA officers and this seems to follow suit with the ones that knew. Now, I know that they all aren’t the same, just the 2 that I knew would have been this guy made over.
All combat arms branched RA 2LT’s were ordered to attend Ranger School that year. My class started with over 220 Ranger students. The swim test culled out quite a few in week one. Only about 110 graduated, including quite a few recycles. About 18 graduated but did not get the tab, including our two Navy SEALs.
I saw a CPT tell an RI “relax, it’s just a patch!”, he was gone very much quickly!
I especially liked the Army Reserve CPT in my platoon who had done a tour in RVN a year is so earlier. He said that Ranger School was so unpleasant that he would volunteer for another RVN tour rather than recycle and have to redo any part of Ranger School. For me, it was the hardest thing I have ever done. But it was worth the pain and discomfort. It gave me many of the skills and determination I would need to be a commander of infantrymen in combat.
” He said that Ranger School was so unpleasant that he would volunteer for another RVN tour rather than recycle”
I had much the same feeling about my year (1969-perhaps we took part in some of the same exercises?) at Ft. Benning. Still, I did learn a few things.
I departed Benning at the end of January 1969, right after completing Ranger School, went home on leave, and then reported to the 2nd Bn/509th Infantry in Mainz, Germany. The next time I was at Benning was for the three week Infantry Officer Vietnam Orientation Course, in May 1970, enroute to the Viet of the Nam.
So you did Ranger school in the winter. I don’t know about you, but my first winter south of the Mason-Dixon line was at Ft. Benning. My company spent a few weeks at Aux. field #6 in the fall of ’69. Off-season for tourists at Ft. Walton Beach. I never imagined swamp water could be so cold. Jumped into one stream that looked like weak coffee and suddenly I had two sets of tonsils. I can understand how they lost a few students to hypothermia in the swamps of Florida.
Spent a few weeks later that winter in Dahlonega. I should have been warned when they issued us parkas, Mickey Mouse boots, etc.
A few years later I was reading a book about the Russian front in WWII and came across a passage about Russian soldiers standing huddled together to survive the night and not moving while Germans, also stricken by the cold, drove by in trucks. Neither group fired. After my time in Dahlonega I understood.
Being that cold and not being able to do a damn thing about it is rather scary, even without someone shooting at you.
My Ranger School class started in mid November. We froze our asses off 8for most of the eight weeks. In Dahlonega we were snowed upon during the week long patrol. In Florida, on one night river crossing I found the reason I kept slipping on downed tree trunks was because the sole lugs in my jungle boots were caked with ice. Our student adopted class motto was “Icicle Rangers.” In Dahlonega we had the mouse boots and were forced to carry and wear them when the temps were well below freezing. Moving with them on caused many blisters.
I managed to get through my entire tour in Germany without having to wear those damn things, but I learned to appreciate them in Dahlonega.
AHHH Hack, we might have been on the island the same time. I was in platoon 2063 from July to October 1981.
“The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.” 1. Want better grades? Try attending all of your classes. 2. Real Life isn’t a Participation Trophy: some people, through luck or dedication/hard work get further. 3. Life is Hard Get a Helmet.
Good last point for her:
Was this discussed on This Ain’t Hell recently?
The Pentagon has pulled key protections for its civilian workers and instructed managers to move with “speed and conviction” to fire underperforming workers, according to a memo issued last month.
The guidelines were issued on Sept. 30, just one day before the government shutdown, in a memo titled “Separation of Employees with Unacceptable Performance” to eliminate workers with “unacceptable” performance reviews.
“Supervisors and human resources (HR) professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully,” reads the memo signed by Under Secretary of War Anthony Tata, the Pentagon’s top personnel policy officer.
Imagine that, actually removing people from the payroll who cannot accomplish what they are being paid to do.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-orders-managers-fire-civilian-workers-speed-conviction
One of my classmates sighed aloud during the final exam, “Man, this is hard!” The learned professor looked at him and replied, “If it wasn’t hard, we couldn’t call it college.”
Im assuming by now this classmate has been introduced to life after college, and has found college to be more preferable.
That classmate probably stares, with envy, at the garbage truck driver. Couldn’t handle being the slinger of garbage bags.
Somehow I cannot relate to the students in this situation. Perhaps, it relates to my own experience attending a Midwestern university under the Vietnam veterans GI bill, where I carried a full time student load, and a full time job.
My professors did not seem to care about my feelings they graded me on my work!
Ditto, here. I had part time jobs for three and a half of the four years I went to my university full time. The same for four years of night law school, where I worked seven hours as a law clerk at a local law firm before I spent three hours a night at law school.
You didn’t happen to go the Birmingham School of Law?
I’m in Alabama and have looked at that place for several years. It’s designed for working students. I’m in my 50s now, so not sure the “juice is worth the squeeze”, but it’s still interesting to me.
No. My law school started out as strictly as a night law school back in the 1930’s, much later it became affiliated with a private university, but kept the night program. I started in the three-year day program, but after one quarter, I shifted to the night program, so I could work at a law firm during the day. Actually, it gave me a much better legal education because I knew how the courthouse operated and I was drafting legal documents for the three attorneys in the firm during my first year of law school. By the time I was a senior I was attending depositions and making court appearances as a certified law student.
I should add that law school anywhere is very demanding and expensive. I could not afford to attend my law school now. I graduated in 1979, and its tuition has increased about 600 % to its current rate. As an infantry and special forces officer, I needed a new profession in the civilian world so I could support my wife and two kids. So, I was highly motivated to succeed and get a job as an attorney. I continuously worked as an attorney for over 36 years.
Graduate school blues!!! After retirement I worked for Dept AF 8 hours per day; 40 hours/week “part time” security work; and graduate school. I wrote many of my papers …. and my thesis … during my security work. Still, 80 hours/week plus school took a toll after two years.
Hard work but you know??? I still enjoyed myself. And I didn’t cry, moaning about how hard school/life was.
What a bunch of ivy league whingers!
Do the students pawk their cars in the hovid yawd. I think I got this right, any of you Bawston commenters correct me on how to talk Boston. Thank you from this former new Yawka now in the Gunshine state.
Isn’t it Jersey where they drive on the parkway but park in the driveway?
Jeff, It’s “Pahk” and it’s “Havahd Yahd”.
Hope that helps.
26
Concur
Or you could say, “Don’t pahk your cah in the yahd or the dahgs will bahk.”
AWWWWW poor little snowflakes, but didn’t “Hahvahd” also just HAND OUT an admission to that school to ‘lil Davie Hoggie just because he was a screeching liberal minion? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Even if Sophie was best in her class doesn’t mean she would be worth a shit.
“It just felt soul-crushing,” she added.
Honey, in 1900 you had to be able to read the great philosophers in the original Greek or Latin.
My dad had to learn Latin in Catholic high school in the 1940s.
Deus meus!!!
Biggus Dikkus!
Up until the early 60s you had to know Literature and Composition just to graduate high school, nowadays they have Remedial English classes in college!
Firstborn Son was, for a while, an English professor at our local state U.
The state of the incoming freshmen was abysmal.
When I taught English at our local private classical school, those kids knew what hard work was.
Back in the olden days of the 1960’s, my university had remedial English and math courses. But you could not pass the entrance exams if were not sufficently literate and not able to do basic math. Remedial English was also for some of the foreign students and those that couldn’t write complete sentences and organize them into a paragraph. To complete my regular English course, one had to write a term paper on the Saco & Venzetti case with all the correct punctuation, spelling, organization and footnotes. Fortunately, I did not have to take any of the remedial (AX) classes.
Harvard. It takes a special kind…. One of my proudest days as a dad was when one of my daughters graduated number two from her high school and gave an amazing speech. Knocked it out of the park. Then she was followed by the valedictorian who basically said, “I’m going to Harvard. I worked hard and sacrificed all friendships so I could get straight As but it was worth it because I’m going to Harvard. Did I tell you I’m going to Harvard? I’m better” for five minutes or do. Her own mother leaned over to my wife and said, “I really should have reviewed her comments.” Absolutely appalling. And she hadn’t even started there yet! Can’t imagine what she turned out like.
Oh, mighty Ivy League, how far thee have fallen.
Pretty much all current Harvard students today.
Calvin should’ve read “Paper Lion”.
“The whole entire day, I was crying,” she said. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.”
Well… sounds like you reached max potential, or maybe you’re not really trying that hard after all. If not scoring high grades makes you skip class instead of work harder you probably don’t belong at that (or any) college.
This is why NO ONE is impressed with college degrees or the names printed on them anymore — unlike what our UCB dropout douchebag terrorist cuck claimed repeatedly.
Drinking at the fountain of liberal tears today, aren’t we?
These snowflakes. Reality is gonna be a rude awakening, isn’t it.
Worked my way through college, then through grad school with two kids (AB Son was still in the future).
Bathing in a garden tub full! I would’ve been a B- student at Harvard.
Can’t hack it at Havahd?
Quit and go to a community college.
Be more your intellectual limit.
Were they upset enough to blow up the campus? There was an explosion there today that is suspected to be terrorism.
I wonder how these children would react to Nuclear Power School.
Clearly they’d skip class and cry — isn’t that what they all do?! (sarc)
They probably wouldn’t last even twenty minutes until they ran crying for a “safe space” with coloring books and hot chocolate and not just at the USN Nuke School, they’d do it the first day of basic!
Talk about peaked in high school vibes.
Well now,, just bless their little pea pickin hearts!
I didn’t finish my undergrad till later in life. Married with a kid, working full time, going to college full time, and in the reserves too!
Guess what? I was expected to learn the course work, be tested on it and pass all of that shit in order to graduate!!!!!!
I went to college with some stupid MFrs, and never thought that this formal education made me “smart”, but I had to have that piece of paper in order to move up and advance.
Nowadays, o think that kids are coming out of college dumber than they were when they entered 4 years earlier!
Charlie Kirk is more and more relevant every day since he was assassinated!!