NOW: Stanford President Resigns

Hey Wise Ones,

The world of Education typically doesn’t have as much drama and scandal as many other industries. Or at least, they aren’t as well publicized. The President of one of the top universities in the world resigning? Doesn’t happen often. Read on for more

Michael & Stella

Stanford President Resigns Following Ethics Probe

• Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne resigned after an independent investigation found that some of his research papers contained errors.

• A scientific panel appointed by Stanford's Board of Trustees found that Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne did not intentionally falsify data, but that there were serious flaws in some of his research papers, including manipulation of data.

• A 2009 research paper published in the journal Nature sought to identify causes for brain degeneration in Alzheimer's patients. The paper was hailed as "groundbreaking research" by Genentech, where Tessier-Lavigne was employed at the time. However, scientists struggled to reproduce the results documented in the paper, leading to questions about the accuracy of its data.

Why It Matters:

• It’s the President of Stanford, for goodness’s sakes. This is a University trying to keep its hands squeaky clean while simultaneously wiping cake from its face.

• This is part of a larger crisis in science - the replication crisis: One 2015 attempt to reproduce 100 psychology studies was able to replicate only 39 of them.

• And…The Stanford Daily, a student-run campus newspaper, helped bring these concerns to light with a series of articles over the last year. (Three cheers for student journalism!)

Dinner Table Debate:

• What’s the bigger story and why: 1) Tessier-Lavigne’s resignation prompted by student journalism, 2) Stanford President appointed without effective research verification, 3) the ‘replication crisis’ enabling gross over-publishing of research?

Did You Know?

• Journals now retract about 1,500 articles annually — a nearly 40-fold increase over 2000, and a dramatic change even if you account for the roughly doubling or tripling of papers published per year.

Grade Deflation in the UK + Sweden. Is the US Next?

• After much effort to reduce grade inflation in the UK, half of first class degrees awarded are still unexplained by statistical modeling. Of 32.8% students awarded top marks, 16.4% of the total don’t make sense.

• In the USA, the average high school GPA increased 0.19 grade points, from 3.17 in 2010 to 3.36 in 2021, with the greatest grade inflation occurring between 2018 and 2021.

• Susan Lapworth, Chief Executive of the Office of Students (UK), said: “We recognise there are likely to be a range of factors – including improved teaching – that could lead to an increase in the number of firsts awarded. But the sustained increase in unexplained firsts and 2:1s since 2010-11 continues to cause us concern.”

Why It Matters:

• Grade inflation is explainable by a number of factors, including value for money, university league tables, student + parent satisfaction, the graduate earning premium, and much more.

• Six of ten Swedish Teachers reported they felt pressured to award higher marks to students than they felt were merited.

• A classic tragedy of the commons issue, this doesn’t appear to be ‘solvable’ unless there is some type of friendly collusion between schools, government intervention, or union action.

Dinner Table Debate:

• If you were the head of a university, would you want to tackle the issue of grade inflation? Or does it actually serve your purposes?

Did You Know?

• In Swedish, the word for grade inflation is ‘glädjebetyg,’ literally “joy grades.”

Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Admissions

• Citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that race is not able to be considered in admissions, Wesleyan University announced it will no longer award preference to student applicants with family or donor connections.

• This continues to build on a growing trend of high-profile institutions that have eschewed legacy admissions, including MIT, Amherst College, Johns Hopkins University, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Why It Matters:

• An Associated Press review of some of the top universities in the US found that the proportion of legacy cases among first-year students stood at between 4% and 23%.

• Another study, from MIT, found that over a third of legacy applicants at an unnamed "elite" East Coast university were admitted, compared to 14% among non-legacy applicants.

Dinner Table Debate:

• What benefits and drawbacks do legacy students bring to a college campus?

Did You Know?

• 75% of Americans are against legacy admissions, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll.

Quick Reads:

• Northwestern athletes speak up on culture of hazing.

• Florida Ed Board approves curriculum despite protest.

• 50 years ago, 20% of students sought a degree in education.

• Only 36% of US Parents are confident in the education system.