They were only 16 percent of all grades given in 1999, down from 28 percent in 1967. A's and B's now account for almost 80 percent of the University's grades. They made up only 63 percent of grades in 1967. The numbers nearly mirror reports around the nation that show pervasive grade inflation from the Ivy League's Princeton and Dartmouth universities to state institutions like the University of Washington and Eastern Kentucky University. While students would undoubtedly like to believe their intelligence has made B's closer to average than C's, standardized-test scores like the SAT and GRE show that they are not getting smarter.
Test scores remain steady, even as grade point averages rise.
According to numbers released this year by the standardized testing group The College Board, the average high school GPA is 3.26, up from 3.09 a decade ago. The University reports its incoming high school student average GPA at around a 3.50. Professors speculate that students who arrive with inflated grades expect those same high grades in college. And some of them would rather give out inflated marks than listen to students' complaints. They might not want to have to deal with complaints from students, and they certainly don't want their senior colleagues to hear complaints about them.