5,000,000 units of currency—enough to last a long time? Apparently not if you were in Venezuela in July 2018. At most, it would have got you one kilogramme of tomatoes. With hyperinflation surging in Venezuela, the Venezuelan government started issuing larger bank notes from 2016. It introduced a 500 unit note in 2016. By 2017, it was forced to issue a 100,000 unit note. By August 2018, it was forced to issue a new currency altogether, which lobbed off five zeroes from its existing one. Thus, one kilogram of tomatoes started to cost 50 units of the new currency as opposed to 5,000,000 of the earlier one. Devaluation of currency is sometimes a strategic tool to increase foreign reserves. However, coupled with inflation, devaluation of currency leads to an economic and political crisis. The real notional value of the country’s currency starts to lose value for foreigners who remain wary of the currency (either old or new) losing further value and becoming junk.
Dear reader, let me not dissemble any longer. I am not here to inform you about either Venezuela or tomatoes though I have nothing against these two venerable entities. My concern here is academic marks in India. The only point of comparison among both these aspects being hyperinflation.
Gone are the days when 60% or a first class was considered respectable. 98% in all subjects in your school-leaving examinations may leave you wondering whether you can get past the portals of the higher education institute of your choice in India which admits students solely on the basis of school-leaving examination marks. The reason being 98% is passé. There are likely to be several holders of that distinction of your age wanting to get into the exact course in the exact same institution you want to attend. Rhetorical flourishes aside, the point is we are in the midst of a hyperinflation of marks at the school level. Such economic indiscipline regarding marks is a trait across most Indian school certificate boards.
What is the problem with such inflation? Is it a case of sour grapes? Since your humble writer could not achieve such high-hanging fruit in his time, does he despise juniors who managed to strive, to seek and to find such fruit? I am afraid not. There is something else that is rotten in the state of academic marks in Indian schools.
What do marks mark? They mark the ability of a student to have mastered a subject to a level that is considered appropriate for his or her peers. Why are marks taken as a cut-off mark? Institutions often have lesser supply than demand. Hence, their wares are sold only to the highest marks holders. What then is the problem with the current system where, in certain institutions high up the National Institute Ranking Framework where students are admitted solely on the basis of marks obtained in school-leaving examinations, a student with 98% marks may not make it through but someone with 98.1% may just manage to get past?
The problem is epistemological in nature. Can a student solve every mathematical problem expected to be solved by his or her peers? Yes, so 100% marks. Can a student interpret literary texts to the best level that can be expected from his or her peers? Yes, so 100% marks once again.
Let us relook at these two questions. Can a student solve every mathematical problem expected to be solved by his or her peers to the fullest extent possible? Can he or she solve it in such a way that it is not mathematically possible to solve it any further irrespective of age or skills? Yes, so 100% marks. Can a student interpret literary texts to the best level possible so that they cannot be interpreted in a more nuanced manner irrespective of age or expertise? This, my dear readers, is a difficult question. Interpretation and absolutism are not always the best partners. I would argue that we can never interpret a literary text to its absolute extent. Thus, 100% marks in literary interpretation is epistemologically untenable for me.
Are we splitting hairs here? Ay, there’s the rub! Pedagogy expects students to follow what is being taught. It is desirable that students understand what is being taught. In order to improve this exercise, it is sometimes (but not always) useful that students prove in some manner that they have imbibed the knowledge imparted. One way of proving that is through academic exercises which must be evaluated in order to judge whether the understanding is correct. Textbooks with answers provide a format for self-evaluation. Software with answers provides machine evaluation. Human instructors carrying out the evaluation also understand whether their students have followed what they attempted to teach. So far, so good.
Assigning marks to evaluation is not necessary in an ideal world. However, since few things in life are ideal, not all evaluations are without marks. Some academic evaluations are without marks though. Think of research degree examinations. One either passes or fails. Marks are not assigned. Either the research is acceptable according to certain standards or it is not. Why then do other academic programmes such as school-level examinations, undergraduate and graduate examinations assign marks? For the first two categories, it is often a question of supply and demand. The supply of further avenues of higher education is limited but the demand is high. Hence, highest marks holders acquire the right in most cases. Other factors such as reservation on the basis of background, other abilities such as sporting abilities and financial abilities are also factors but even within such categories, academic marks are an important criterion for admission to higher educational institutes. What about the last category—graduate examinations? What is the point of master’s degree marks? Perhaps the reason why marks are awarded in master’s degree programmes but not in research degree programmes is that students study set courses in master’s degree programmes and hence there is a concept of peers where several people are studying the same course and are expected to acquire almost similar knowledge by the end of it. Thus, one can think of assigning marks and comparing them to find out who has managed to acquire it and address queries in a manner deemed desirable.
Returning to the two cultures of mathematics and literature, in mathematics, irrespective of expertise, ‘x’ can sometimes be found in one manner only. In literature and the humanities, not so. How do I love thee? Sometimes you can count the ways and sometimes it is to the depth and breadth and height one’s soul can reach. Three hundred or three thousand Ramayanas? Not all that can be thought is measurable. What cannot be measured cannot be marked. When I was in school, my English teachers used to deduct 0.5 for every grammatical mistake in a long answer. If it was a one sentence answer, one grammatical mistake ensured that the answer was marked zero even if one exhibited knowledge about the specific question being asked. As an undergraduate college teacher of English literature, I make up my mind that 60% in a long essay ensures that there are almost no grammatical mistakes, the answer addresses the question and displays awareness of the relevant details of the text. 65% if the answer is nuanced, 70% if it shows evidence of relevant secondary critical opinion, 75% if it shows evidence of a high amount of relevant secondary critical opinion, 80% for an answer I would have been proud of had I written it as an undergraduate, 85% for answers which are as good as research papers, 90% for answers which are as good as the best research material I have ever read on the subject.
Dear reader, you may be disappointed by my climax interruptus. Your humble writer cannot epistemologically think of 95% or 100% marks for a long answer in the humanities. Thus ends the limits which my mind can fathom. It is either a failure of my imagination or an expression of my belief that not all which can be imagined has already been imagined. The humanities rarely deals in absolutes. 100% marks in the humanities is incongruous with my belief system.
Irrespective of my beliefs, where does hyperinflation in academic marks lead to? I was not mentioning 98% marks being passé simply for the sake of rhetoric. St. Stephen’s College, Delhi has regularly been setting 99% cut-off for certain students seeking admission to their English honours course.
When I mark my undergraduate English students much less than the marks they were used to receiving in English in school (mostly because of their incapacity to string a few sentences together as a result of various disadvantageous circumstances which they were subject to while learning English in school), they are often shocked by this sudden fall in marks and by the different evaluation norms. It is not that your writer is trying to detract from the hard work that students have put in to achieve academic success (irrespective of the method of evaluation). As a teacher, academic excellence in students is what one works towards. The bone of contention is regarding the expectation of absolutism in the interpretation of the humanities. The inflation plaguing our schools is not so hyper in our colleges yet, though with objective questions in the humanities, it is perhaps not too long before the republic of higher education is also beset by the economy of hyperinflation of marks.
Will this hyperinflation lead to devaluing of the Indian marking system? If so, it only affects foreigners who have to deal with our Indian marks. They may devalue our marking system. However, coupled with press reports and practical experience of the poor academic quality of most of our students, overseas academic institutions may be wary of both our quantity of marks as well as the quality of our education. Devalued currency runs a high risk of becoming junk currency for foreigners. However, only a minuscule proportion of our students ever come into contact with overseas educational institutes. Thus, the problem may not be portentous.
For domestic academic transactions, the problem of high marks can easily be replaced by the concept of percentile. Then, if most students get more than 80% marks, the value of 79% marks will be in a low percentile. However, epistemologically, a percentile value of 99 in the humanities is much more acceptable to your writer than a percentage value of 99.
Improving the quality of our education system is a tedious task which most educational administrators seek to achieve. As for the quantity of marks that our evaluation system produces, is it time to start lobbing off a few tens from school marks, especially in the humanities?
Dear reader, let me not dissemble any longer. I am not here to inform you about either Venezuela or tomatoes though I have nothing against these two venerable entities. My concern here is academic marks in India. The only point of comparison among both these aspects being hyperinflation.
Gone are the days when 60% or a first class was considered respectable. 98% in all subjects in your school-leaving examinations may leave you wondering whether you can get past the portals of the higher education institute of your choice in India which admits students solely on the basis of school-leaving examination marks. The reason being 98% is passé. There are likely to be several holders of that distinction of your age wanting to get into the exact course in the exact same institution you want to attend. Rhetorical flourishes aside, the point is we are in the midst of a hyperinflation of marks at the school level. Such economic indiscipline regarding marks is a trait across most Indian school certificate boards.
What is the problem with such inflation? Is it a case of sour grapes? Since your humble writer could not achieve such high-hanging fruit in his time, does he despise juniors who managed to strive, to seek and to find such fruit? I am afraid not. There is something else that is rotten in the state of academic marks in Indian schools.
What do marks mark? They mark the ability of a student to have mastered a subject to a level that is considered appropriate for his or her peers. Why are marks taken as a cut-off mark? Institutions often have lesser supply than demand. Hence, their wares are sold only to the highest marks holders. What then is the problem with the current system where, in certain institutions high up the National Institute Ranking Framework where students are admitted solely on the basis of marks obtained in school-leaving examinations, a student with 98% marks may not make it through but someone with 98.1% may just manage to get past?
The problem is epistemological in nature. Can a student solve every mathematical problem expected to be solved by his or her peers? Yes, so 100% marks. Can a student interpret literary texts to the best level that can be expected from his or her peers? Yes, so 100% marks once again.
Let us relook at these two questions. Can a student solve every mathematical problem expected to be solved by his or her peers to the fullest extent possible? Can he or she solve it in such a way that it is not mathematically possible to solve it any further irrespective of age or skills? Yes, so 100% marks. Can a student interpret literary texts to the best level possible so that they cannot be interpreted in a more nuanced manner irrespective of age or expertise? This, my dear readers, is a difficult question. Interpretation and absolutism are not always the best partners. I would argue that we can never interpret a literary text to its absolute extent. Thus, 100% marks in literary interpretation is epistemologically untenable for me.
Are we splitting hairs here? Ay, there’s the rub! Pedagogy expects students to follow what is being taught. It is desirable that students understand what is being taught. In order to improve this exercise, it is sometimes (but not always) useful that students prove in some manner that they have imbibed the knowledge imparted. One way of proving that is through academic exercises which must be evaluated in order to judge whether the understanding is correct. Textbooks with answers provide a format for self-evaluation. Software with answers provides machine evaluation. Human instructors carrying out the evaluation also understand whether their students have followed what they attempted to teach. So far, so good.
Assigning marks to evaluation is not necessary in an ideal world. However, since few things in life are ideal, not all evaluations are without marks. Some academic evaluations are without marks though. Think of research degree examinations. One either passes or fails. Marks are not assigned. Either the research is acceptable according to certain standards or it is not. Why then do other academic programmes such as school-level examinations, undergraduate and graduate examinations assign marks? For the first two categories, it is often a question of supply and demand. The supply of further avenues of higher education is limited but the demand is high. Hence, highest marks holders acquire the right in most cases. Other factors such as reservation on the basis of background, other abilities such as sporting abilities and financial abilities are also factors but even within such categories, academic marks are an important criterion for admission to higher educational institutes. What about the last category—graduate examinations? What is the point of master’s degree marks? Perhaps the reason why marks are awarded in master’s degree programmes but not in research degree programmes is that students study set courses in master’s degree programmes and hence there is a concept of peers where several people are studying the same course and are expected to acquire almost similar knowledge by the end of it. Thus, one can think of assigning marks and comparing them to find out who has managed to acquire it and address queries in a manner deemed desirable.
Returning to the two cultures of mathematics and literature, in mathematics, irrespective of expertise, ‘x’ can sometimes be found in one manner only. In literature and the humanities, not so. How do I love thee? Sometimes you can count the ways and sometimes it is to the depth and breadth and height one’s soul can reach. Three hundred or three thousand Ramayanas? Not all that can be thought is measurable. What cannot be measured cannot be marked. When I was in school, my English teachers used to deduct 0.5 for every grammatical mistake in a long answer. If it was a one sentence answer, one grammatical mistake ensured that the answer was marked zero even if one exhibited knowledge about the specific question being asked. As an undergraduate college teacher of English literature, I make up my mind that 60% in a long essay ensures that there are almost no grammatical mistakes, the answer addresses the question and displays awareness of the relevant details of the text. 65% if the answer is nuanced, 70% if it shows evidence of relevant secondary critical opinion, 75% if it shows evidence of a high amount of relevant secondary critical opinion, 80% for an answer I would have been proud of had I written it as an undergraduate, 85% for answers which are as good as research papers, 90% for answers which are as good as the best research material I have ever read on the subject.
Dear reader, you may be disappointed by my climax interruptus. Your humble writer cannot epistemologically think of 95% or 100% marks for a long answer in the humanities. Thus ends the limits which my mind can fathom. It is either a failure of my imagination or an expression of my belief that not all which can be imagined has already been imagined. The humanities rarely deals in absolutes. 100% marks in the humanities is incongruous with my belief system.
Irrespective of my beliefs, where does hyperinflation in academic marks lead to? I was not mentioning 98% marks being passé simply for the sake of rhetoric. St. Stephen’s College, Delhi has regularly been setting 99% cut-off for certain students seeking admission to their English honours course.
When I mark my undergraduate English students much less than the marks they were used to receiving in English in school (mostly because of their incapacity to string a few sentences together as a result of various disadvantageous circumstances which they were subject to while learning English in school), they are often shocked by this sudden fall in marks and by the different evaluation norms. It is not that your writer is trying to detract from the hard work that students have put in to achieve academic success (irrespective of the method of evaluation). As a teacher, academic excellence in students is what one works towards. The bone of contention is regarding the expectation of absolutism in the interpretation of the humanities. The inflation plaguing our schools is not so hyper in our colleges yet, though with objective questions in the humanities, it is perhaps not too long before the republic of higher education is also beset by the economy of hyperinflation of marks.
Will this hyperinflation lead to devaluing of the Indian marking system? If so, it only affects foreigners who have to deal with our Indian marks. They may devalue our marking system. However, coupled with press reports and practical experience of the poor academic quality of most of our students, overseas academic institutions may be wary of both our quantity of marks as well as the quality of our education. Devalued currency runs a high risk of becoming junk currency for foreigners. However, only a minuscule proportion of our students ever come into contact with overseas educational institutes. Thus, the problem may not be portentous.
For domestic academic transactions, the problem of high marks can easily be replaced by the concept of percentile. Then, if most students get more than 80% marks, the value of 79% marks will be in a low percentile. However, epistemologically, a percentile value of 99 in the humanities is much more acceptable to your writer than a percentage value of 99.
Improving the quality of our education system is a tedious task which most educational administrators seek to achieve. As for the quantity of marks that our evaluation system produces, is it time to start lobbing off a few tens from school marks, especially in the humanities?
