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Harvard kicks out student for hacking into instructors' accounts
By adamg on Fri, 05/14/2010 - 8:36am
Allegedly of course, and with the purpose of getting into the registrar's grading system, the Crimson reports. The article doesn't specify what he did, exactly, but sounds like he set up a phishing site to get the instructors to give up their log ins for the registrar system.
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Comments
Why?
I thought everyone got straight A's at Harvard anyway. Maybe he wanted to change other students' grades to make them....less than A's.
Seriously. How stupid do you
Seriously. How stupid do you have to be to have less than a 3.5 at Harvard? You got in...you've done the tough part.
Huh?
The parts of Harvard where I have taken classes are very hard-ass strict about grade inflation - ridiculously so, IMHO if they think there is a meaningful statistical difference between a 96 average = A and a 93 average = A- !
Unless the humanities are different, I'd say you are speculating about grades here.
Not easy to get A's at Harvard
If you work hard (and MOST students did and do), you have a good shot at a B+ or maybe even an A-. But getting (undiminished) A's isn't easy. It IS, perhaps, hard to get less than a B- average -- unless you work hard at blowing off your classes.
Harvard has long been THE
Harvard has long been THE grade inflation capital of the world. A few years ago, something like 92% of their Bachelor's degrees were awarded Cum Laude.
Just looked it up. In Spring
Just looked it up. In Spring 2001, 91% of degrees were awarded with honors.
In 2007, more than 50% of all grades awarded at Harvard were A's.
Do they break that down by school?
I wonder because this doesn't add up with personal experience with courses taken through the TAP program at both undergrad and graduate levels, courses that were taught at Harvard by adjunct UMass faculty, and what I know from working for professors as a researcher.
I don't know
I can't find the original Globe article from 2001 without paying for it. I read it at the time, though. It was interesting, so if you can find it, I recommend it.
Here's the cites I can find, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation#Harvard_University
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2002/02/08/edtwof2.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1133702
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/10/05/doesnt_anybody_get_a_c_anymore/
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20091014/ai_n39269445/
Damn, mike
Here I go making a complete typical (for me) wiseass comment off the cuff, and you have to go in and make citations backing me up.!
Also, they may have fixed it
Also, they may have fixed it in the past 3 years. God knows I've made dismissive comments based on outdated 3-year-old data in the past. I'm sure I'll do it again at some point. If this is the case, I apologize in advance for my mostly-joke.
I'm sure your basket weaving
I'm sure your basket weaving and cash register 101 classes were very strict, but some of the actual classes are rather difficult.
I got an A- in Afternoon Tea 301 and mummy was so disappointed that I couldn't use my jag for a whole week.
not all of harvard at least
the design school uses a scale of Fail, Low Pass, Pass, High Pass, Pass with Distinction, and only a handful graduate with honors. In my experience P is the default, less LPs are given out than HP, PwD is rare but probably 1 or 2 per classroom depending on the instructor, and as long as you truly give an effort you will not fail
That makes so much more sense
Funny, even though I know that's basically a renaming of A-B-C-D-F, I would be totally happy with a "pass" in that system, yet with letter grades I've totally bought into the view of expecting an A if I've done everything satisfactorily.
One thing I totally DON'T get is that the interns I train can't get anything below a B-, or it's considered unacceptable and they risk being bounced from the program or having to do extra training and supervision and whatnot. Which, OK, I get that it's a selective program and that they only want really qualified people going out there, but why deal with this by making grades meaningless? All of the classes they take are taken within the department and limited to students in the degree program with infrequent exceptions, so this means that nearly everyone in the classes is getting a B- or above. Why not just grade it all pass/fail in that case?
How is 96 for A and 93 for A-
How is 96 for A and 93 for A- not typical? That's fairly normal every place that I've been unless they're grading on a curve.
90-93 = A-
94-96 = A
97-100 = A+
subtract 10 and get the scale for B, then C, then D, with an F being 60 and below...
Sounds like someone who saw
Ferris Buller's Day Off one too many times.
Either that or "Wargames"
another Broderick classic. What a bad influence, that guy.