Cathy, et al.:

This is very timely, as we're having a series of campus conversations about grade inflation and the culture of grading.

"What would we come up with if we could start over, from scratch?"
Here's one of my favorite long-range dreams:
- We re-envision our institutions as interdisciplinary think tanks.
- We tell students that they aren't in school anymore, they are functioning, early-career members of research teams, digital media production groups, architectural design teams, management consulting groups, performance companies, etc.
- Students and faculty work together on these teams addressing research-driven problems and creative challenges. These teams would produce actual work products and contribute them to society. When there is economic value to the work, students share in the revenue and royalties.
- Grades would be irrelevant in an organization like this. Assessment and evaluation would blend input from peers, supervisors, mentors, project clients, and especially the individuals themselves. This experience is more like the so-called real world, including the academic world once you're done taking classes for a grade. Widespread use of tools like e-portfolios make this much more feasible than in the past.
- We'll keep plenty of classrooms and lecture halls available for work-in-progress talks, interest group meetings, and for faculty who are good enough lecturers to attract listeners who don't need credit or a grade.

I've worked in higher ed for 25 years and could list all of the reasons why this won't work, but let's not bother with that right now. What do you think?