Grade Inflation. Good or Bad?

Matt Martz

Grade inflation has certainly become an issue for Universities throughout the world. According to national trends, students are averaging about .2 higher in their GPA's at all school categories over the past 15 years. So the simple argument would be either students are getting smarter every year or the material and teaching methods are getting easier.

However, with the current economy, having the best credentials is very important to students. If having a higher GPA is what will get you hired over the other candidates, students are going to work to get the better grades. With some of the highest unemployment rates for the U.S. being seen over the past 2 years, getting a job has become a big issue for college students. No one wants to be dropped from an employer’s mind simply because their GPA wasn’t over a 3.0.

Personally I feel the reason for such an increase in grades is because of the methods of teaching that so many professors use in high school and college. They make the entire class focus on preparing you for their final tests instead of actually teaching you the subject matter. Since the class is all based on the passing the final test, students know what to study and can fully prepare themselves to get an A on the test ( Whether they actually learned the material or not).

From previous experience in high school, the goal of AP classes was to prepare you for the AP tests so you could obtain college credit. As my first few weeks of college have come to an end, I see some of the same ideas in my core classes. Personally, I hope to focus more on learning in college rather than cramming for tests just to get my GPA “above average”.