Once again the Chronicle of Higher Education covers the story everyone already knows–grade inflation has gone to college. Read When B’s are Better if you are the only person not familiar with this topic. The nostalgia for the days of higher standards and fewer A’s misses most of what is important about the relationship between grades and what students know and can do. It is, of course, entirely possible for everyone to get an A (which is not to say that is currently the case) but that requires a criterion based approach to assessment. Most arguments about grade inflation simply invoke the normal curve as the natural distribution of knowledge. Rather than asking professors to give fewer A’s it would be more interesting to ask professors to clarify what they think the A they are giving means. In other words, specify the meaning of the grade, not necessarily change it. And, all of this talk about grade inflation dodges the complexity of the higher education context where grades are fetishes for students and become the currency that allows faculty and students to get what they want within a system not necessarily friendly to either.
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