This might sound impossibly old-fashioned, but I still like the idea that education is about learning: facts, skills, concepts, research, culture, analysis, inspiration. It’s supposed to enrich our lives and make us better citizens and independent thinkers.

But over the last decade and a half, the goal of learning has given way to proxies for learning: grades and degrees. The unfortunate result has been inflation of both. They rise ever higher; learning doesn’t.

I’ve written about degree inflation before — employers requiring a bachelor’s degree or more for work that really doesn’t need it. Fortunately, hiring managers have begun to learn that, and degree requirements have been dropping in many fields.

Grades vs. tests

But grade inflation marches on. A 2022 Times analysis showed that grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District had been rising while scores on standardized tests were falling — and that the two weren’t anywhere near each other.

Not to pick on L.A. schools or students: Grade inflation is omnipresent and more common in affluent areas. To avoid discouraging students, some school districts did away with D and F grades. Grade-point averages have consistently risen even though scores on nationwide standardized exams such as the SAT and National Assessment of Educational Progress have not.

It’s not that I think standardized tests are the final word in measuring excellence. They have their own weaknesses. But when the gaps between grades and test scores are this immense and consistent, parents and the public should not be fooled.

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That’s true not just of low-achieving students. A report by the National Center for Education Statistics found that although high school students were taking more credits and tougher courses and getting higher grades in math, their actual mastery of the material had declined. In a 2023 poll, educators said that close to half of students argue for higher grades than they earn, and 8 of 10 teachers give in. It’s hard to blame them: A third or more of students and parents harass them when they don’t.

Unearned grades are damaging in many ways. They warp the college admission process, for one thing. While colleges used to regard high school grade-point averages as the best predictor of higher education success, their predictive value has declined. Although many schools dropped consideration of the SAT and ACT as part of admissions, selective schools are bringing them back. They need measures they can trust to be objective.

Some students, armed with good grades, march off to college to find themselves in remedial classes because they haven’t learned enough to take college-level courses. Employers have complained for years that high school and even college grads lack basic skills needed in the workforce. College professors complain that the students coming to them aren’t even adept at reading books.

With reformers and the U.S. Education Department pressuring colleges to improve graduation rates, it should be no surprise that grade inflation has followed students into postsecondary school. Some professors hesitate to grade accurately because of student evaluations, which are often more negative for tough graders. Remember that about 70% of college instructors are adjunct professors who have few job protections.

Many Ivy League students have learned to cherry-pick easy-grading professors. Yet a Brown University study found that students who took courses from professors with more rigorous grading standards learned more.

We have to ask ourselves as a society: Do we want college to be a place of intellectual growth or a performative exercise in grade grubbing?

No wonder …

There is a possible benefit to college grade inflation: Lowered standards are associated with more students graduating. But I’m less interested in what certificate they have than what they have learned. The same is true of employers: One in six say they hesitate to hire recent college graduates because they tend to be underprepared and poor at communicating.

No wonder 65% of Americans think they are more intelligent than average. Parents are fooled into thinking their straight-A students are academic stars and stunned when they are rejected by selective universities. They don’t realize that these days, A is for Average.

Karin Klein writes for the Los Angeles Times. She also is the author of the 2024 book “Rethinking College: A Guide to Thriving Without a Degree”