Catherine Rampell’s column this week reminded me of an issue that has long interested me as an economist and as a president of Harvard.
I remember many years ago listening to some monetarist quote Milton Friedman one too many times with “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” I responded “what about grade inflation?”
I could never quite decide whether this was just a wisecrack or it captured something important. The idea that it might well reflect is that inflation has much to do with different actors seeking to leapfrog each other and in the process setting off a spiral.
In any event, I think that the pervasiveness of top grades in American higher education is shameful. How can a society that inflates the grades of its students and assigns the top standard to average performance be surprised when its corporate leaders inflate their earnings, its generals inflate their body counts, or its political leaders inflate their achievements?
More than ethics classes this is a matter of moral education. And America’s universities are failing when “A” is the most commonly-awarded grade. If we really valued excellence, we would single it out.
I did succeed in a small way as Harvard president in reducing the fraction of students graduating with honors from a ludicrous 90 percent to an excessive 55 percent. I wish I had been able to do more. Even more I wish that today’s academic leaders would take up this issue.