Why Is the Bell Curve Controversial?

Although the normal distribution, colloquially known as the bell curve, is foundational to parametric statistics, it is contested in some academic circles because of its implications for student achievement and grade distributions. Research some of the arguments for and against the bell curve representing a normal distribution of student achievement. Develop an original response providing your perspective, guided by these questions: Should we expect a quartile of students achieving at the top and bottom ends of the curve as “normative” in education? Why or why not? If a curve representing student achievement is not normally distributed, skewed to the left or right, what does this imply for the distribution of grades? Is it necessarily a bad thing if grades are skewed one way or another? Why, in most cases, do statisticians defend the bell curve as representing a “normally distributed” sample of any given population?