The fairness of grades as an admission metric

Abstract

The fairness of admission to upper secondary and higher education is a recurrent political debate in many countries due to the complexity of defining selection criteria. Many systems rely heavily, and some exclusively, on performance measures, such as grades. This study examines the attitudes towards grades as an admission criterion, focusing on how accountability for factors influencing grades-such as effort, ability, parental support, and sickness absence-shapes perceptions of fairness. Using a hypothetical dictator experiment, adolescents were randomly presented with information about the causes of grade differences and asked to assign a study seat to one of two students. The results indicate substantially lower support for the high performer when grade differences are attributed to differences in ability, parental support, or sickness absence, compared to when differences are attributed solely to effort.

Keywords: inequality acceptance, fairness, educational inequality, grades

JEL Classification: I24, I21, I28, D63