Q-Rant! College Grades: So Much For The Bell Curve….

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, we learn that having exotic Latin honors after your degree isn’t quite as rare as it used to be.  The problem isn’t the honors bestowed, it’s the GPAs handed out like party favors.  And what’s more, at the prestigious University of Chicago, they are no longer using SAT and ACT scores for admission requirements. [See article here.]  What is achievement in a world of equals?  This is grade inflation marching lockstep with tuition inflation. ~PCQ

You Graduated Cum Laude? So Did Everyone Else

With more students boasting flashy GPAs, academic honors lose their luster

By  Melissa Korn July 2, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET 465 COMMENTS

Nearly half of students who graduated from Lehigh University, Princeton University and the University of Southern California this year did so with cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude honors, or their equivalents. At Harvard and Johns Hopkins, more got the designations than didn’t.

Anyone with a grade-point average of at least 3.4 is granted Latin honors at Middlebury College; the number of students graduating with honors has been rising in recent years, the school says, and was north of 50% this spring.

“I’d say that it’s time to reconsider our eligibility criteria,” said Middlebury Interim Provost Jeff Cason.  [MORE: Go  to link here.]