188. Why Do Kids Today Get So Many A’s?

Is grade inflation on the rise? How much does your G.P.A. matter in the long run? And when did M.I.T., of all places, become “the cool university”?

• SOURCES:
  • Scott Hugo, housing justice attorney at Oakland City Attorney’s Office.
  • Bob Ladouceur, former head football coach at De La Salle High School.
  • Jon Marcus, writer at The Hechinger Report.
  • Amelia Nierenberg, Connecticut correspondent for The New York Times. 
  • James Pennebaker, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • Stuart Rojstaczer, writer and former professor of geophysics at Duke University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses," by Kristin Butcher, Patrick J. McEwan, and Akila Weerapana (Education Finance and Policy, 2023).
  • "To Help New Students Adapt, Some Colleges Are Eliminating Grades," by Jon Marcus (NPR from Hechinger Report, 2023).
  • "Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past Decade," by Edgar I. Sanchez and Raeal Moore (ACT Research, 2022).
  • "Why Good Teaching Evaluations May Reward Bad Teaching: On Grade Inflation and Other Unintended Consequences of Student Evaluations," by Wolfgang Stroebe (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2016).
  • "Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities," by Stuart Rojstaczer (GradeInflation.com, 2016).
  • Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way, by Bob Ladouceur and Neil Hayes (2015).
  • "Daily Online Testing in Large Classes: Boosting College Performance while Reducing Achievement Gaps," by James W. Pennebaker, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jason D. Ferrell (PLOS One, 2013).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
  • "Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).