142 - Please Harvard! Don't get it wrong this time!! What's wrong with a cap on A's - a discussion with Dr. Stephanie Valentine

About this episode

The episode discusses Harvard's proposed grading policy and its implications on student wellbeing and academic integrity with Dr. Stephanie Valentine.

In this follow-up to their earlier conversation about Harvard and “too many A’s,” Sharona and Boz welcome back Dr. Stephanie Valentine to unpack Harvard’s proposed new grading policy, which would cap the number of A grades in each class and layer course-based ranking on top of an already troubled system. Drawing on Stephanie’s powerful “Points Are Insidious” manifesto and her experience teaching high-achieving, perfectionistic students, the episode explores how policies built to force distinction can intensify anxiety, undermine risk-taking, discourage collaboration, and ultimately work against the very innovation and intellectual curiosity elite institutions claim to value. Together, the three of them critique the mathematical and ethical flaws of ranking students against one another, examine the gap between top-down policy and classroom reality, and wrestle with what it would mean for faculty to live with integrity under a policy like this—while also reaffirming that the real alternative is not inflated or meaningless grades, but grading systems genuinely grounded in learning, growth, and student wellbeing. Links Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sharona Krinsky, Robert Bosley

Guest: Dr. Stephanie Valentine

Topics covered

• grading policy
• academic integrity
• student anxiety
• collaboration
• educational reform

Keywords

• Harvard
• grading policy
• A grades
• student ranking
• educational anxiety
• collaboration
• academic integrity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard

Books & works: Points Are Insidious

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