Op-Ed on Grade Inflation: If Everyone Gets an A, No One Gets an A

Figure 1: Grade Inflation over time (Slate). The number of A’s received by students has steadily increased since 1960, while the number of C’s has been on a drastic decrease.

Written by Julian B. ‘25 and Colin M. ‘25

Grade inflation is ubiquitous in our nation today, highlighting whether high schools in the United States give out too many A’s. Simply put, letter grades do not hold the same weight that they did a few decades ago.

As Figure 1, which was sourced from a Slate article by Scott Jaschik, indicates, over 37 percent of students in America are receiving A’s, as opposed to a few decades ago, when A’s were less prevalent and around the 15-25% range. The proverbial ACT organization states, “The average high school GPA increased 0.19 grade points, from 3.17 in 2010 to 3.36 in 2021, with the greatest grade inflation occurring between 2018 and 2021” (ACT.org).

The post-pandemic academic landscape has been skewed towards grade inflation, languishing students' high-school transcripts. The phenomenon of grade inflation entails awarding higher grades than students deserve. Pinpointing the root cause is difficult, particularly in the reverberations of COVID-19. However, in response to the outbreak, many schools moved away from the traditional grading system—a scale—instead of opting for a more forgiving one. This surfaces the question: Are pandemic GPAs comparable to ones prior? 

The recent rise in grade inflation also poses a new challenge for colleges and universities. Grade inflation acts in congruence with real inflation. According to GradeInflation.com, the percentage of As given was nearly 30 percent in 2000. By 2024, the percentage of A’s given is 50 percent. 

GPAs, used in college admissions since its inception, are becoming a prerequisite instead of a boast. In turn, society has become infatuated with high GPAs. Teachers and professors have a hand to play in this. According to GradeInflation.com, nearly 15 percent of grades given at four-year colleges were A’s. GPAs have long been accurate barometers of academic performance. A high GPA unlocks opportunity, and a low GPA closes the door. However, that might not be the case any longer. Colleges have now noticed that higher GPAs do not correlate to strong academic performance and vice versa. Instead, colleges have turned to standardized tests as a barometer of academic performance.