On the AdjunctNation.com Web site, we asked users to tell us whether they had ever inflated grades to get more positive student evaluations. Almost 20 percent of the 400+ faculty who responded admitted that they had, in fact, inflated grades. This comes as no shock, of course, considering how much has been written about grade inflation during the past few years. From the Boston Globe to the New York Times, college faculty have been flogged in print for doling out As like John D. Rockefeller flipping Mercury head dimes to kids during the Great Depression.

Theories about grade inflation range from those who posit that American culture has become overly concerned with the needs of the “consumer,” to psycho-theories that point to a culture more concerned with instilling a strong sense of self-worth in today’s college-aged adults rather than a strong work ethic. Added to this mix, of course, is research that examines correlations between the increased use of temporary faculty and the rise of the Big Easy A. People whose jobs depend on strong student evals., researchers hypothesize, routinely trade As and Bs for high marks on end-of-semester evaluations.

We went online and checked out what students, faculty and administrators had to say about the subject in their Weblogs (blogs). Want to read more? Better yet, if you want to comment on a blog or respond to the writer, follow the links given and visit the individual blogs.

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