by Erica L. Meltzer | Jun 14, 2026 | Blog, Issues in Education
After I wrote my previous piece analyzing the Harvard faculty’s choice to impose a cap on A grades for undergraduates, I started thinking more broadly about the effects of grade inflation, some obvious and some less so. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the extent to which thousands of overly generous marking decisions, made individually, not only affect students, but also extend outward to parents, institutions, and ultimately society as a whole.
Yes, in the short term, students may get their perfect report cards, teachers and administrators may avoid parental ire, and colleges may keep enrollment figures up and tuition dollars rolling in, but at what cost?
So here goes my list of the all parties to whom grade inflation ultimately does a disservice.
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by Erica L. Meltzer | Jun 7, 2026 | Issues in Education
As most people involved or interested in the workings of elite higher education have presumably heard by now, in May 2026 the Harvard faculty voted to impose a cap on the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates.
I took the time to read through the report, penned by undergraduate dean Amanda Claybaugh, and unsurprisingly I have a few thoughts on matter.
First, the resolution, which caps the number of A’s at 20% plus four additional students in a given class, applies only to straight A’s—the number of A-minuses is unaffected. So, to be clear, in a five-person seminar or tutorial, every student could still receive an A.
Second, based on the discussions I’ve read, a common misconception seems to be that the decision was made solely in response to the fact that too many A grades were being given, even though that those grades were deserved. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Jan 27, 2026 | AI, Issues in Education
Because I have snow day (!) and some actual free time on my hands, I’d like to offer up this slightly less long-winded follow up to my previous post. At this point, I’ve spent many hours reading various articles, blog posts, and discussion forums about the effects of AI in the humanities classroom, and one recurring theme I’ve noticed is the newfound appreciation of mediocre work that has clearly been produced by actual human students themselves rather than spat ready made out of a machine. Such students—who would have thought?—are apparently the newfound heroes of the AI age.
It is not exactly hard to imagine why this is the case. For a professor who has no choice but to treat piles of AI-generated smarm as if they are in fact students’ own work, an awkwardly expressed piece of (post-)adolescent writing that shows some level of engagement with the material at hand can understandably seem like a ray of light beaming down from the heavens.
I understand this relief, and the ensuing temptation to celebrate it, but I also think it is important not to take this tendency too far. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Jan 11, 2026 | Issues in Education
Note: I began this piece well over a year ago but held off on publishing it because… well, honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I think I sensed then that the hype surrounding AI was sufficiently intense that the points I raised here would simply be ignored. I have the impression, however, that the tide has shifted somewhat, with many educators now beginning to fully grasp what stands to be lost when so many of central components of a humanistic education are outsourced with a few keystrokes. At any rate, it’s a new year, and without a major deadline hanging over me, I’m going to give this blogging thing a try again. Here goes.
AI is part of the landscape now, everyone agrees. Pretty much every agrees also that it is necessary to adapt, and that students should be taught to use it “appropriately.” But what no one really seems to agree on is what exactly constitutes “appropriate” use. Much of the writing I have encountered regarding ChatGPT, and other Large Language Models of its ilk, is filled with vagaries and techno-clichés so similar that they all might have been generated by a chatbot itself.
Although I am sure nuanced discussions of the issue must exist somewhere, I have found only a handful of pieces whose authors are willing to “to delve” (to use a favorite ChatGPT term) into the gritty details of the issue. My sense is that much of the education world is still suffering from deer-in-the-headlights syndrome, unable to come to fully process how radically the game they are accustomed to has suddenly changed. Professors are told to adapt, but they are given very little meaningful instruction as to how. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Apr 22, 2022 | Issues in Education, Phonics, Reading (SAT & ACT), Tutor Interviews, Tutoring, Tutors
At the beginning of March, I spoke with Amy Seeley and Mike Bergin at the Tests and the Rest podcast about some of the issues involved in helping struggling teenage readers prepare for standardized tests. The interview was originally scheduled for 25 minutes, but our conversation picked up so much steam that Amy and Mike decided to keep going and turn the interview into a two-parter.
The first part aired a few weeks ago, but I’ve been so busy that I actually forgot to post it (whoops!), but now that the second part has aired, I really don’t have an excuse.
Listen to Part 1, and Part 2. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Oct 9, 2021 | Blog, Issues in Education, Phonics, Tutoring, Tutors
At the beginning of the summer, after I did my series of posts for tutors who have unexpectedly found themselves working with struggling high-school readers trying to prepare for college admissions tests, I started putting together a presentation for a webinar to address the major issues at play and demonstrate some of the exercises that can be used to help remediate such students.
Alas, my summer and the beginning of my fall got hijacked by my IELTS books, followed in rapid succession by necessary updates to my GMAT, ACT English, and ACT Reading books (followed by the IELTS again).
I’m happy to announce, however, that I finally seem to be back on track and am planning to record the webinar in the next week or so, and then people can access it at their convenience. I’m also doing my best to put together an accompanying materials pack that includes all the exercises covered. (more…)
