A stimulus package

In any economy, a healthy amount of inflation is an indicator of steady growth and signals the vigor of the entire system. But too much of a good thing can be dangerous, and hyperinflation is a major economic woe.

Of course, so is deflation.

This semester, I’ve experienced both – and they’ll end up on my transcript.

The various people who give grades at IU will soon issue their final judgements, and as they do so, they should keep this in mind:

Grade inflation might be happening more quickly in the United States than anywhere else, but most of us will be applying for graduate school and jobs in this country and competing with our peers who graduated from similarly grade-inflated institutions.

Any grade “deflation” meant to combat the trend would result in a generation of IU graduates struggling to compete in the job market. Most would agree that economic decision-makers are doing a fine job keeping hiring prospects rare enough as it is.

On the other hand, an “A” probably shouldn’t be the default for satisfactory completion of bare minimum course assignments.

In one of my classes this semester, projects required a third-grade level of mental sophistication. A student received an “A+” for turning in a giant cardboard cut-out of a pizza.

Discussing inflation or deflation calls attention to the fact that grades at IU are hardly a homogeneous product. In that same department, the grading was such that an “A” not only denoted academic excellence but was actually unachievable.

Exchange rates further complicate the issue, as grades do not always transverse borders with the ease of currency. Many of my friends have studied abroad at institutions in Europe where the highest levels of grades are intended to be impossible to achieve.

Whether or not the more “difficult” system is actually preferable to the one generally accepted in the U.S. is a question that cannot be adequately addressed by a single institution.

To reduce the rate of grade inflation here would require a top-down agreement by some regulatory body – grades don’t yet have a central bank, so such a policy is unlikely to occur in our time.

Also, no single school has a real incentive to cut back the number of excellent grades it gives out faster than all other schools, as each institution can help its graduates in their pursuits by arming them with a high GPA.

However, as each school lowers its standards, high grades that once helped students secure bright futures will be devalued. If inflation gets to that point, the values of grades will have to be systematically re-evaluated. 

At this time of the semester, all we can hope for is fair grading that takes the system for what it is, recognizes a little bit of healthy inflation without going overboard, and maybe – just maybe – includes a little stimulus package this year.