The “Everyone Gets A Trophy” philosophy is destroying education in America. A new report by USA Today provides yet more evidence that our schools are failing to equip our students, presenting two statistics that highlight both the root and result of this failure.
In what one researcher described as a “stunning” finding, a recent analysis of the grades of America’s Class of 2016 found that nearly half of seniors graduated with “A” averages. A total of 47% of seniors’ grade averages were either an A, A-minus, or A-plus. That is a nearly 10% increase in about two decades. In 1998, 38.9% of graduating senior’s had A averages.
While nearly half of the Class of 2016 graduated with A averages, another 43.7% graduated with B’s (down from 47.9% in ’89). Thus, 91% of high school graduates in 2016 had either an A or B average. Only 8.9% graduated with a C average (down from 12.7% in ’98).
So does the higher percentage of A’s and B’s really mean that students are mastering the subject matter at a higher rate? No. As USA Today stresses, while A’s are on the rise, the average SAT score has fallen “from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale.”
The numbers come from a study by two researchers, the College Board’s Michael Hurwitz and University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education doctoral student Jason Lee. Hurwitz, who described the 47% result as “stunning,” said that A’s are now simply the “modal high school grade.”
Federal statistics also found that graduation rates are up to over 83%; however, college students continue to show signs of being ill-equipped, including delayed completion rates.
When in college, students are likewise enjoying grade inflation, as GradeInflation.com’s Stuart Rojstaczer explained to USA Today:
According to Rojstaczer, close to 50% of all college grades given are A’s, a far cry from even two decades ago, when the average GPA at a four-year college was 3.11.
He recently told USA TODAY that A’s are now three times more common than they were in 1960.
Rojstaczer tied college grade inflation to the Vietnam War, saying that in the 1960’s instructors began to be more generous with grades in order to protect students from conscription.