Chart of the Day: Grade Inflation

Everybody’s a winnah! In today’s universities, almost everybody does “excellent” work — even though students are spending less time studying and preparing  for class. This chart comes from “Where A Is Ordinary: The Evolution of American College and University Grading, 1940–2009” by way of the Carpe Diem blog.

Once upon a time, a “gentleman’s C” actually required a modest mastery of the subject matter. Today, a C means maybe you showed up to class.

Grade inflation is the logical culmination of our egalitarian/therapeutic society in which we hesitate to elevate some individuals over others, and we surely hate making anyone feel bad. The malaise permeates all social strata, so it’s hard to single out higher ed as being any more at fault than anyone else. But higher ed has the most to lose. As the authors of “Where A is Ordinary” point out:

It is likely that at many selective and highly selective schools, undergraduate GPAs are now so saturated at the high end that they have little use as a motivator of students and as an evaluation tool for graduate and professional schools and employers.

If it’s any consolation, Southern schools grade more harshly than those in other regions. (Hopefully, that applies to Virginia colleges and universities as well.) Also, science and engineering-focused schools grade more stringently than liberal arts colleges. If there was ever any doubt that the humanities are fast losing their relevance and should be regarded more as an experiential consumer item than a path to a rigorous education, this is further proof.

— JAB