Good for the USA? – Another Kind of Toxic Inflation!

Good for the USA? – Another Kind of Toxic Inflation!

Grades

It’s not as if colleges and universities are having a good time these days. Aside from skyrocketing tuition, triple the rate of inflation, the unraveling of DEI initiatives and mishandled student protests – for or against Israel/ Palestine – amplifying racism and other forms of intolerance, it seems that the once honorable “B” and the tolerable “C” have lost their cachet. They call it “grade inflation,” where the curve is gone and the proclivity to level academic performance metrics has taken its place. While that’s not the reason multiple university presidents have resigned (including notables like the now former heads of Ivies Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia), you have to wonder if all these elements are the result of a big pandemic reset.

On November 6th, Karin Klein, a member of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, looked at this DEI-alter-ego with more than a mere touch of disdain: “Grade inflation is spreading from high school to college… Research has shown that students’ marks are getting better even as measures of learning aren’t. [Starting with an analysis of high school trends, epitomized in Los Angeles public schools:] grade inflation marches on. A 2022 Times analysis showed that grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District had been rising while scores on standardized tests were falling — and that the two weren’t anywhere near each other.

“Not to pick on L.A. schools or students: Grade inflation is omnipresent and more common in affluent areas. To avoid discouraging students, some school districts did away with D and F grades. Grade-point averages have consistently risen even though scores on nationwide standardized exams such as the SAT and National Assessment of Educational Progress have not.” No wonder why selective colleges are looking to alternative indices of suitability for their admissions criteria.

For a while, there was a trend away from the above standardized college entrance exams, but as alternative metrics lost their credibility, the call to return to such testing rallied quickly. While DEI admissions criteria have been slammed by the US Supreme Court, the undertones – criteria like: which secondary school was noted (their pattern of grade inflation is often tracked), how well the non-AI-generated essay topic fared, how those additional activities (consistency admired) defined the applicant, interviews where possible, etc. – colleges and universities can still indirectly implement their DEI criteria… a tad more subtly perhaps.

At a college or university level, even in trade school, performance metrics often matter to prospective employers, graduate schools, major academic honors and program selection (Rhodes Scholars for example), prestigious appointments (like federal judicial clerkships), etc. Students may think they are getting a just reward, but those who used to rely on academic performance metrics often cast a jaundiced eye to the most flagrant examples of unmerited “exceptional grades.” That reminds me of the old query, what do you call the lowest performing graduate of the worst medical school in the country? “Doctor.” Karen Klein continues:

“A report by the National Center for Education Statistics found that although high school students were taking more credits and tougher courses and getting higher grades in math, their actual mastery of the material had declined. In a 2023 poll, educators said that close to half of students argue for higher grades than they earn, and 8 of 10 teachers give in. It’s hard to blame them: A third or more of students and parents harass them when they don’t.

“Unearned grades are damaging in many ways. They warp the college admission process, for one thing. While colleges used to regard high school grade-point averages as the best predictor of higher education success, their predictive value has declined. Although many schools dropped consideration of the SAT and ACT as part of admissions, selective schools are bringing them back. They need measures they can trust.

“Some students, armed with good grades, march off to college to find themselves in remedial classes because they haven’t learned enough to take college-level courses. Employers have complained for years that high school and even college grads lack basic skills needed in the workforce. College professors complain that the students coming to them aren’t even adept at reading books.

“With reformers and the U.S. Education Department pressuring colleges to improve graduation rates, it should be no surprise that grade inflation has followed students into postsecondary school. Some professors hesitate to grade accurately because of student evaluations, which are often more negative for tough graders. Remember that about 70% of college instructors are adjunct professors who have few job protection… No wonder 65% of Americans think they are more intelligent than average. Parents are fooled into thinking their straight-A students are stars and stunned when they are rejected by selective universities. They don’t realize that these days, A is for Average.”

Usually, the system adapts to such devalued information. When those adjustments are made, students often feel betrayed, because the grades they thought they “earned” were neither merited nor of value for that student’s “next.” But in a competitive universe, facing an even more formidable competitor in AI, it’s time to return to the real world and deal with “what is.” Perhaps in an era of science skeptics, disdain for educated “elites,” and conspiracy theories replacing hard facts, it is no surprise that that altered reality has invaded our schools and colleges. Unfortunately, continuing on this path makes the entire nation less competitive. And that’s not good any way you look at it.

I’m Peter Dekom, and earning good grades, earning a living, earning a better place in life… sometimes with a little help, well, I was always taught that hard work, earning what you receive, is the real definition of American opportunity.