A few quotes from a story in today’s Boston Globe.

“Harvard, other schools still fighting grade inflation” The Boston Globe By Marcella Bombardieri. December 05, 2013

“At Yale College, where 62 percent of grades are in the A range, proposals to curb grade inflation are in doubt following student protests and faculty concern.”

“After a Boston Globe analysis in 2001 found that an astonishing 91 percent of Harvard College students were graduating with honors, officials released data showing that 48.5 percent of grades were A’s and A-minuses, compared to 33.2 percent who received those marks in 1985.”

“In response to the uproar that followed, the [Harvard] faculty capped honors — summa, magna, and cum laude — at 60 percent.”

“In response to a professor’s question at Tuesday’s meeting of the [Harvard] Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Jay M. Harris, dean of undergraduate education, said that the median grade awarded to undergraduates is an A-minus, while the most frequently awarded grade is an A.”

“Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, found in a national survey that 41 percent of students had grade point averages of A-minus or higher in 2009, compared to just 7 percent in 1969.”

“A few universities emphasize strict grading, or what students unhappily call “grade deflation.” Boston University has been known for difficult grading for many years.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/05/with-its-most-common-grade-harvard-earns-disapproval-but-has-company/kCeheDYfuDjSRcM1sVljfK/story.html?s_campaign=email_BG_TodaysHeadline