188. Why Do Kids Today Get So Many A’s?
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Is grade inflation on the rise? How much does your G.P.A. matter in the long run? And when did M.I.T., of all places, become “the cool university”?

• SOURCES:

• Scott Hugo), housing justice attorney at Oakland City Attorney’s Office.

• Bob Ladouceur), former head football coach at De La Salle High School.

• Jon Marcus), writer at The Hechinger Report.

• Amelia Nierenberg), Connecticut correspondent for *The New York Times. *

• James Pennebaker), professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

• Stuart Rojstaczer), writer and former professor of geophysics at Duke University.

• RESOURCES:

• "Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses)," by Kristin Butcher, Patrick J. McEwan, and Akila Weerapana (*Education Finance and Policy, *2023).

• "To Help New Students Adapt, Some Colleges Are Eliminating Grades)," by Jon Marcus (NPR from *Hechinger Report, *2023).

• "Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past Decade)," by Edgar I. Sanchez and Raeal Moore (ACT Research, 2022).

• "Why Good Teaching Evaluations May Reward Bad Teaching: On Grade Inflation and Other Unintended Consequences of Student Evaluations)," by Wolfgang Stroebe (*Perspectives on Psychological Science, *2016).

• "Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities)," by Stuart Rojstaczer (GradeInflation.com, 2016).

• Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way)*, *by Bob Ladouceur and Neil Hayes (2015).

• "Daily Online Testing in Large Classes: Boosting College Performance while Reducing Achievement Gaps)," by James W. Pennebaker, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jason D. Ferrell (*PLOS One, *2013).

• EXTRAS:

• "Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?)" by *People I (Mostly) Admire *(2023).

• "Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School)," series by *Freakonomics Radio *(2022).