DISTRIBUTION OF COLLEGE CREDITS 



401 



bution of college grades, does certainly come nearer the correct fre- 

 quency curve than the normal curve, or than that representing the 

 present practise of any college or university in the country. In insti- 

 tutions where many sons of rich parents are dragged just above the 

 failure line by tutors, the curve would be skewed even more than in 

 Fig. 10. 



As we proceed upward through the years of school and college we 

 should thus expect to find the curve skewed more and more in a positive 

 direction, provided the standards are appropriately higher each year 

 and a new base line is taken for each successive group. Those who ac- 

 cept the principle of normal distribution only for freshman courses in 

 college, or for any single period in the school life of the child, would be 

 at a loss to prove its peculiar fitness for that period. 



TABLE in 



REC0BD8 KT Habvabd College of 363 Honob Gbaduates in Law aito Medicinb 



Number of Students receiving Grades in Certain Departments ABOVE their 



General Average in all Departments 



Number of Students receiving Grades in Certain Departments BELOW their 

 General Average in all Departments 



Summary 



At least two institutions now enforce a distribution of grades on a 

 scientific basis. At the University of Missouri, an A is approximately 

 equal to an A, a B equal to a B, in a defined sense ; so that grades may 

 be intelligently and fairly used for administrative purposes. Accord- 

 ing to the definitions adopted in June, 1908, grades A -f- B must equal 



