Everyone wants an A. But now, students expect and even receive A’s for the bare minimum. Even a B is disappointing, and the supposedly average C is now viewed as practically failing. Whether we acknowledge it or not, grade inflation plagues our school and nation. Grades have become everything, yet are themselves a blurring standard.
We’ve all had that one teacher who almost never gives out A’s and have felt personally wronged. I’ve heard many complaints along the lines of ‘I deserved an A’ across a variety of subjects. This mindset of entitlement is fueled by laxer standards and the commonality that an A has become.
At the University of California San Diego, the number of students who needed remedial math classes despite having an A in high school calculus increased from 32 to one thousand from 2020-2025. More shockingly, these students were averaging 3.7 grade point averages (GPA) in math, and a quarter had a 4.0 in high school. Behind these students are teachers with incentives to pass them despite not truly understanding the material. Because a student’s future has become intertwined with their grades, some teachers don’t hold students accountable or the students prioritize GPA over learning. Misled by their high grades, students don’t realize how much they can be lacking. Other drivers of grade inflation include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT. Because of their accessibility, cheating—and as a result, better grades—are easier than ever before.
Despite increases in overall GPA, literacy rates and math scores continue to decline. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the average reading score for grade 12 was 3 points lower than in 2019 and 10 points lower than in 1992. In addition, the average mathematics score in 2024 was 3 points lower than in 2019 and 2005. Clearly, good grades are not equivalent to learning. Because grades no longer reflect a student’s actual capabilities, we confuse a number for our actual abilities and learning. This mindset only ignores the glaring underlying issue—unhealthy competition artificially drives everyone’s grades up.
The inflation issue lies in our current academic atmosphere: student performance reflects the school’s, and to remain competitive, students must perform well. This is because a school’s reputation and student performance directly affect each other; when students are high-achievers, the interest and prestige of a school is raised significantly. The current academic pipeline also reflects this. The colleges students attend can raise a school’s prestige, but more prestigious colleges require good grades. The result of these factors is unhealthy pressure on everyone for students to get high grades, causing grade inflation on a nationwide scale.
Recently, Harvard University announced a grading system reform because too many students are getting A’s. A recent report by Harvard’s Office of Undergraduate Education revealed that Harvard undergraduate grades were 60 percent A’s, whereas two decades ago, only 25 percent were A’s. Not only is this dramatic increase alarming, but it also shows how even prestigious universities such as Harvard are negatively impacted by grade inflation. The meaning behind an A is dying.
Then, since some establishments are attempting reform, should this issue that plagues our school be formally addressed? Ideally, yes, but the increasing pressure of society for high performers makes it impossible to compete otherwise. In a world where college admissions are so ferocious, you need to have a good GPA, among many other components. If Algonquin is the sole adopter of a stricter grading system and productive learning, we perform worse by comparison, thus deterring reform. Meaningful reform requires large-scale action from more than one school.
As learning is devalued and categorical scoring becomes standard, the actual point of education is forgotten in favor of a statistic. However, in order to combat grade inflation, it is critical to remember the essence of education. Learning is the point and should remain the focus of schools. Be objective and critical when analyzing your work and really consider what an A means to you. More standardized test scores as a baseline and standardization across course levels can also help. But a subtle shift anyone can attempt is adjusting our mentality; be okay with failing or average, but not complacent.
