Unethical and Deadly Symbiosis in Higher Education

Abstract

As administrators are pressured to increase retention rates in accounting departments, and higher education in general, a deadly symbiosis is occurring. Most students and parents only wish high grades, so year after year many educators engage in unethical grade inflation and course work deflation. Since administrators use the students to audit the educators' performance in order to achieve their goal of higher and higher retention rates, many instructors engage in abusive Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) management under higher education's dysfunctional performance evaluation system to protect their job and pay.

Keywords:

• Symbiosis
• earnings management
• student evaluation of teachers
• impression management
• grade inflation

Notes

Individual Development and Educational Assessment. Available at http://www.theideacenter.org/.

‘How does this educator's teaching rank among other educators you [the student] have encountered?’