The depressing 2010 study 'Grading in American Colleges and Universities', by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, and published in the prestigious Teachers College Record was enough to make any educator shake his or her head in despondent resignation. Their finding: About three-fourths of all grades awarded at university level are “A”s or “B”s.
Of course, this makes those As and Bs next to useless precisely because of their very commonality. An 'A' used to stand for academic excellence, but it can't if so many are getting them! It also renders the achievements of truly exceptional students ho-hum. How in the world can they truly stand out if middling or loser students get the same grades they do? It's preposterous!
There is NO way in a real universe, there can be such a preponderance of high grades! Go back now to the 1960s, before the emergence of the surreptitious blackmail device known as "teacher evaluations". What did one find, say at Loyola University, or the University of South Florida? Well, the As were at about 10 percent, with Bs at 20 percent, and 'gentleman's Cs' right at around 40 percent where they ought to be - if conforming to the standard Gaussian distribution or normal curve. Similarly, at the other end of the curve Ds would make up 20 percent and Fs 10 percent. But what do we find today? Nearly three-fourths A's the rest B's.
The corrosive effects of college grade inflation were particularly
highlighted in The Wall Street Journal's 2025 coverage, is driven by
the transformation of students into "revenue-producing customers" and
the adoption of student evaluations, which incentivize instructors to boost
grades for better reviews. This trend reflects a market-driven approach to
education, prioritizing student satisfaction and retention over rigorous
academic standards. But the mission can backfire badly with many
questioning the worth of the 4-year degree in the end. Bear with me.
Joseph Epstein (somewhat) humorously noted in a Dec. 18, WSJ
piece (‘The Economic Roots of Grade Inflation’, p. A13) the extent to which
student evaluations became economic judgments of professors and then gradually
the “economic roots of grade inflation” itself.
Epstein who noted how
the initial incursion of student evaluation (the key element in the grade
inflation disease) led to “many young professors ceasing to present themselves
as authority figures but rather contemporaries of their students.” Epstein observed it got so ludicrous that
many began showing up in sneakers and jeans.
But the yucks ceased when it was realized that: “The real effect of
student evaluations was to make many professors change how they issued grades.” And “Soon A’s were flying about the place and
became less a sign of intellectual superiority than a common grade.”
So, for the few curmudgeons who continued to demand standards
as opposed to giving out A and B freebies, it was game over. For those profs
who insisted that their students EARN their A’s instead of expecting them gratis
- for just showing up - well, it was
'hasta la vista'. The college administration had to inform the uncooperative
fool that this was the end of the line. The student had now become a “customer”
and y9ou had damned well treat him/her with absolute deference – meaning giving
A’s when demanded. Or else get sent packing into the unemployment line.
The problem, as the President of Dartmouth College (Sian Leah Beilock) noted in a recent WSJ op-ed (‘Is a Four Year Degree Worth It?, Jan. 26, p. A7) is that an end result of an A being the default is that equal outcomes get substituted for equal opportunity. Employers notice and savvy students do too.
The tragic effect – when employers notice this misalignment – is that top jobs become difficult to come by. Then the 4-year college experience itself comes into question and whether it’s worth it. Minus quality, decent paying jobs the students who participated in the evaluations binge are now the ones to suffer.. With massive years of debt piling up and nothing but loan delinquencies in their sad futures.
Student debt is now so bad that many could see their wages garnished in the coming months, i.e.
Student Loan Borrowers in Default Could See Wages Garnished in Early 2026
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