Palestinians Studying Free In Israeli Jails Complain Of Grade Inflation

“Inmates suffer under this harsh grade inflation regime.”

Ofer Prison, near Jerusalem, January 20 – Palestinians convicted of terrorism offenses against Israelis accused the administrators of their free university degree program of padding the scores the inmates achieved on exams and papers, an attorney for one of the prisoners said today.

Jibril Ahmad, who represents a man convicted of trying to run down three Israelis last year, said his client was one of many Palestinian prisoners dissatisfied with the laxity of the grading taking place in the free university courses the inmates are provided. Instead of a serious approach that would ensure the students have grasped the material, he charged, the teachers often skim the papers and set a low bar for passing test scores.

“It is a basic right my client and his colleagues have, this education,” asserted Ahmad. “That education must be real, not some contrived system to check attendance and thus certify that somebody has learned enough, for example, to earn a degree in political science. The current situation is a gross violation of my client’s rights, and the rights of all the other inmates who suffer under this harsh grade inflation regime,” added Ahmad, whose cousin is currently being starved in a Syrian prison.

“What if my client is eventually freed in an inevitable prisoner release in exchange for comically superficial Palestinian concessions, and he finds himself unprepared for the rigors of life?” continued the lawyer. “Aside from his generous pension from the Palestinian Authority and celebrity status they’ll give him, what does he have to look forward to?”

The phenomenon of grade inflation in degree programs for Palestinians convicted for terrorism has not been examined, and its existence can only be assessed anecdotally, if at all, says educational consultant Rhea Liticzek. “This… this isn’t a problem I’ve ever encountered before. Uh, are you sure you have the story right? Really?” she said, shaking her head. “I just… this is what people are worried about?”

Prison authorities claimed no knowledge of grade inflation. “We are unaware of any improprieties in the conduct of the academic degree programs,” said a Prison Services officer who gave his name as Major Proctor. “Our last review, conducted in advance of the current semester, indicated no anomalies in the standards for grading exams or papers. If there is grade inflation, it occurs with no greater frequency or scale than in all other Israeli academic institutions.”

That is precisely what worries Ahmad, he says. “I know the joke of an education I got in law school,” he recalls. “I mean, what kind of professor would give a passing grade to someone who insists convicted murderers and attempted murderers somehow have an inalienable legal right to an academic degree they can earn while behind bars?”