Response to, "Gimmie An A (I Insist)"

    As a student, I have always worked hard to maintain my good grades. Apparently though, this is not always the case for all students around our nation. In the essay, “Gimme an A (I Insist!)”, which can be found on page 283 of The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers, the author, Abigail Sullivan Moore insists that students of today are more likely to receive an “A”, than the students of yesterday. She draws her facts from a new survey that suggests incoming freshmen at more than 400 colleges and universities received higher grades than usual (283).  Apparently, a researcher at the University of California believes that students of today are not studying as frequently as students of yesterday, which makes her question how these students are still receiving such good grades. Could the teachers be to blame? Are they carelessly handing out “A’s” to the students as to not “shatter the student’s self-esteem”(283)?
    Personally, I find it irresponsible to accuse educators of not really doing their jobs. I simply do not understand why a teacher would feel the need to please a student by giving them only good grades. If we were all just given good grades just to appease our self-esteem, how would we really learn? Where would the lessons on what we need to improve on go? I would hate to think that I have survived in school and received good grades only because my teachers feel “sorry” for me and want to please me. That would not be fair to me, nor would it be fair on my teachers. While I do enjoy getting good grades, I also enjoy the knowledge that I had to work for them. I enjoy the fact that I’m not perfect, nor is anyone else in the world, so there is always something I can improve upon.
    In conclusion, I do understand that some teachers may feel the pressure to give only good grades because of the pressure from their students, or even their students parent’s. While I understand that pressure may be hard to ignore, I believe the teachers should be more focused on helping the students improve on their work. Of course, credit should be given where credit is due, but for the other situations, I believe there is always room for improvement.