Deflating Grades

Demon grade inflation has now plagued for some decades our institutions of allegedly higher learning —but especially these past few years, when enrollments have been static or declining. At some colleges, it has become almost impossible for any student to fail—even if he almost never turns up in the classroom. At most universities and colleges, the grade A signifies what a C would have signified a quarter of a century ago. There are “honors” graduates who cannot write an ordinary letter without making hideous blunders.

Earlier this year, a survey of grade inflation was made by consulting 33 university and college registrars in Texas. Grades in those institutions, it was shown, began rising rapidly about 1967 to 1969. Some 85 per cent of the responses blamed particularly “faculty permissiveness” for the inflation, which has produced a disproportionate number of “honors” degrees at graduations. Many professors, it appeared from this survey, have attached a diminished importance to grades, have failed to resist student pressures, and have ceased to expect decent performance.

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Russell Kirk

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Demon grade inflation has now plagued for some decades our institutions of allegedly higher learning —but especially these past few years, when enrollments have been static or declining. At some colleges, it has become almost impossible for any student to fail—even if he almost never turns up in the classroom. At most universities and colleges, the grade A signifies what a C would have signified a quarter of a century ago. There are “honors” graduates who cannot write an ordinary letter without making hideous blunders.

Earlier this year, a survey of grade inflation was made by consulting 33 university and college registrars in Texas. Grades in those institutions, it was shown, began rising rapidly about 1967 to 1969. Some 85 per cent of the responses blamed particularly “faculty permissiveness” for the inflation, which has produced a disproportionate number of “honors” degrees at graduations. Many professors, it appeared from this survey, have attached a diminished importance to grades, have failed to resist student pressures, and have ceased to expect decent performance.