Many University students have felt that at some point during their college careers they received a grade that was better than what they might have deserved.
"I got a D-minus in a seminar I needed for my major, but I may have deserved an F. The teacher may have been too nice to fail me," said fourth-year College student Kevin Leth.
Matthew Thomas, a 2000 graduate from the College, also believes that he might have gotten an inflated grade in an economics class.
"I hardly did any work, and I still managed to get a B," Thomas said. "I think, for some reason, the professor wanted a high average on the final."
This artificial rise in academic marks has been an ongoing national trend since at least the 1960s and has provoked different explanations and reactions from administrators, faculty and students.
Many schools, including Dartmouth College, Princeton University and the University of Illinois, have commissioned studies in the past year that show that students at colleges across the country have been getting more A's and B's in recent years.
Larry J. Sabato, government and foreign affairs professor, said high grades do not mean as much as they used to at the University. When he was a University student in the 1970s, an A signified "tremendous, truly excellent work," and now it means "good work," Sabato said.
History Prof. Joseph F. Kett, who has taught at the University since 1966, agreed that students today expect higher grades.
"Thirty years ago, a B-plus was a good grade, and now it's [considered] fourth tier," Kett said. "A big change is that there are a lot more students now competing for grades."
College admissions now are more competitive than ever before. Many students come to the University having excelled their whole lives, expecting to do the same in college.
"At U.Va., we have an amazing group of talented students, and they come in with high expectations and high grades in high school," Spanish Prof. David T. Gies said.
Academically and otherwise, "U.Va is nationally above average, but within our own community, how do we judge people's best work when everyone expects great grades?" Gies asked.
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Grade inflation makes it more difficult for professors to distinguish between outstanding and good students. So it might hurt truly excellent students.
Why the As are easy
Richard Handler, associate College dean of academic programs and an anthropology professor, said many students expect a B or better and view anything lower as failure.
Students feel pressure to get good grades, especially if they are considering applying to professional schools after they finish their undergraduate studies, Kett said.
"Now there are more meritocratic standards in professional schools" such as law and medical schools, so students feel pressure to get the grades that would help them get into those schools, he said.
Graduate school admissions officers know about grade inflation, so they consider other factors if all of their applicants' grades are high, Classics Prof. Jon D. Mikalson said.
"LSATs and MCATs are more important as [applicants'] grades become closer," Mikalson said.
Admissions officers usually look at grade distributions at an applicant's school.
"We can't make a true assessment only from grades, even within our own school," Faye Shealy, associate dean for admissions at the William & Mary Law School said.
Many professors do try to demand excellence and resist pressures to inflate grades. But, according to Handler, American egalitarianism and some professors' desire to show empathy for their students might lead to grade inflation.
A possible reason some professors became lenient graders during the '60s is that they "were reluctant to give low grades that would flunk students out of school and send them to the [Vietnam] War," Mikalson said.
A 1998 story in the Chronicle for Higher Education by Princeton English Prof. Lee Mitchell states that some students feel pressure to maintain a certain grade point average to keep a financial scholarship, and some professors feel bad contributing to someone losing his or her financial aid.
But Philosophy Prof. James Cargile, who has taught at the University for 40 years, believes that grade inflation reflects poorly on professors.
"Grades go up when teachers have less time for students. The higher the grades, the fewer the complaints," Cargile said.
He also said the teacher-student ratio at the University is too high, which contributes to professors having less time for their students.
A few of these big classes with high class averages get the reputation of being a "gut."
Some professors hate for their classes to be known as "guts," but others do not care because some students still feel enriched from the course.
"The perception and reality of a course are different sometimes," Handler said. "Also, the [gut] label isn't necessarily bad - for some it can still be an intellectually stimulating experience."
Consumer pressures also may make educators feel that they owe students high marks.
"Students feel they're buying an education, and so they deserve good grades," Handler said.
Parents also put pressure on their children to get good grades. Sabato said sometimes his students' parents call him and complain about their sons' or daughters' grades.
Another reason grade inflation exists is to compete with other schools. A challenging school, Mikalson said, may want to make it easier to get As so students' GPA's are comparable with students who go to easier schools.
Are students working harder?
But grades may be rising simply because students are working harder than in the 1960s.
"If 60 percent of the class is actively trying to get a B or better as opposed to 20 percent," then more people might deserve higher grades, Kett said.
Sabato agrees that more students are working harder now.
"U.Va students are probably better qualified than at any other time in U.Va's history," he said.
From about the 1870s through the 1950s, "gentlemen" did not work hard in college. As long as they showed up to class and did the minimum amount of work they would receive the "Gentleman's C," Kett said.
"It was undignified to get higher than a C. It means you were trying," which some people considered to be beneath a gentleman, he said.
With the full acceptance of women at the University in 1970, the applicant pool increased and grade averages went up.
Curbing grade inflation
Professors have different ideas about how to curb grade inflation or whether it is even a problem.
Kett's proposed solution is to inform students of the number of classmates who got that same grade or higher in the class as they did. For example, if a student receives a B in a class and 17 out of 60 students also got Bs or higher, the professor could put a 17 next to the B so the student knows how he or she is doing in the class relative to other students.
An article in the Feb. 7 Education News section from CNNfyi.com quoted Harvard Political Philosophy Prof. Harvey C. Mansfield as doing something similar in one of his classes.
Mansfield gives his students two grades: an official one that will go on their transcripts and a separate grade he thinks they really deserve.
Gies said the ideal solution is to raise the academic bar.
"Students would benefit from rigor in grading processes. If everyone has a 3.8 or a 3.5, it's meaningless," he said.
There is no "easy formula" to get rid of grade inflation, but making the topic public is a good way to make people think about it, Handler said.
Laura Stoker, professor of political science at the University of California-Berkeley, said she does not allow grade inflation and makes sure her students know what her expectations are.
"I believe strongly in making in gloriously clear language what you expect out of them and how you grade," Stoker said. "Students really don't want uncertainty."
Administrators cannot force professors to assign more work because that would be a restriction on pedagogical freedom, Handler said.
"What does matter is that if courses aren't as intellectually challenging as they used to be, there will be very serious harm," he said.
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