The discussion centers on the differences in grading systems between Canada and the United States, specifically the interpretation of an A- grade. Canadian institutions, such as York University, do not utilize plus/minus grading, while U.S. institutions often do, leading to discrepancies in grade interpretation. Participants argue that these differences stem from cultural and institutional calibration rather than the inherent difficulty of the educational material. The consensus is that comparing grades across countries is impractical due to varying grading conventions and the subjective nature of assessments.
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bobob said:This is a poor way of assigning grades. A much better way is for the instructor to write an exam with some idea of what he/she should represent what the average student in the class should know and set that as an average score. After grading the papers, make a histogram of the numerical grades, possibly adjust expectations a little and then look for natural divisions between clusters of scores that can be used to differentiate, say, an A- from a B+, where the numerical score itself is not relevant other than to place the scores into bins. The scores WILL fall into clusters (which may seem surprising, but try it and see).
If you decide that the average score should be 50% and that represents a B or a C or whatever, then simply placing cutoffs between clusters will do the rest. This also allows you to use the entire numerical range from 0-100% meaningfully instead of being restricted to artificially predetermined percentages, grading on a curve or other rather arbitrary ways of assigning grades.