Grading on the Curve

When I was in college I had professors who would grade on a curve.  I always hated those classes because it wasn’t about learning the material; it was about competing with every other student in the class.  Now I am seeing that same theory applied in the workplace, but this time attached to performance reviews.

I learned in my statistics class about probability theory and the normal distribution.  Given a population set (a class or a company) you would expect their values (grades or performance rating) to fall on either side of the mean, and if you were to chart this pattern you would have the bell curve.  The bell curve and the statistics behind it are designed to study set populations and then be able to use it as a prediction tool.  I understand that these statistical analysis tools have their place.

When a professor or a company begins to grade on a curve, they are taking a predictive tool and twisting it.  Suddenly the people are conforming to the measurement instead of the measuring device to the people.  It also takes a standard to be measured against and renders it useless because the standard is constantly moving depending on the performance of the population.  When using a bell curve to set the standard the message sent is that conforming to statistics is more valuable than the performances of the individuals being measured.    

I use to grade myself on a curve, comparing myself to my friends, classmates, co-workers, even perfect strangers.  There were times when the comparison would leave my ego inflated, such as when I received the highest grade or special praise for a job well done.  More often than not, there were people who were better than me at the task at hand and my self-confidence would dip when I compared myself to those who had done better.  No matter which side of the bell curve I was on, my confidence very much depended on other people.

I no longer ask myself how do I rate compared to other people.  The questions I ask myself these days are as follows:

• Did I do my best in this situation with the resources available at the time? 
•  What can I learn from the situation? 
•  How would I do it differently next time?

Do I still get disappointed with myself? Occasionally, but only when I know I didn’t do my best work or dishonored what I knew to be true for me.  I no longer look outside for comparison.  I have only to look inward to find the true measure of myself.