by A. Botein-Furrevig, Ph.D.

In Garrison Keillor’s mythical town of Lake Wobegon, the men are strong, the women are beautiful, and the children are above average. Judging by college transcripts nowadays, it seems that our children are indeed Wobegonians. Our finest universities admit that an overwhelming percentage of their students are earning…make that “receiving”… A’s. The argument that Ivy League students are above the norm — and hence the abundance of A’s — does not ring true. When an overwhelming majority of students in any classroom achieves the highest grade, one must question whether the work and evaluative criteria are demanding enough. By definition, an A means that the student has demonstrated consistently superior performance and subject mastery; the question thus becomes this: Are most students today brighter than those of past generations? Most academics and parents will attest to the shift in subject matter that has given birth to an impoverished generation of students who are not exposed to the great literary, philosophical, and artistic minds of our civilization. Many traditional Liberal Arts programs have been debased and reinvented by liberal thinking and politicized curricula. While we can debate the subjectivity and meaning of “smart,” it is a tangential argument—perhaps today it is just easier to be “smart.”

Critics blame less challenging courses and relaxed grading policies on faculty hoping for favorable student and administrative evaluations—full-time faculty on the tenure-track, and the ever-increasing shadowy brigade of adjunct faculty seeking reemployment. Inarguably, grade inflation and issues of job security are linked. Simply said, there needs to be more accountability.

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