No, I don’t think being assessed relative to subpar students is a benefit. You’d get a better letter grade, sure. But likely a worse education due to “lowering the bar”, which is what you paid for. Educators often can’t grade on absolute scales because the pass/fail ratio of the students factors into their own performance assessment.
Grades don’t indicate the quality of your education anyway, they indicate your performance in a class. If someone else does poorly and that benefits your grade, the quality of your education hasn’t changed, only your grade.
The second would be a net benefit on the rest of the class, no?
No, I don’t think being assessed relative to subpar students is a benefit. You’d get a better letter grade, sure. But likely a worse education due to “lowering the bar”, which is what you paid for. Educators often can’t grade on absolute scales because the pass/fail ratio of the students factors into their own performance assessment.
Grades don’t indicate the quality of your education anyway, they indicate your performance in a class. If someone else does poorly and that benefits your grade, the quality of your education hasn’t changed, only your grade.