Every Ivy League university has been accused of grade inflation, the timeless art of giving students an A simply because they are special snowflakes, at one time or another, and today, it’s Brown’s turn.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, more than half of the grades issued last year (50.6%) were A’s. Since 1994, the number of A’s amongst Brown students has grown by a whopping 15.8 percent.

Naturally, anti-grade inflationists have been quick to sound the alarms, but members of the faculty are urging them not to prematurely jump to conclusions.

The Brown Daily Herald reports:

James Dreier, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee and professor of philosophy, said he did not want to jump to the conclusion that grade inflation caused the increase in A's. Instead, he said, the data could reflect better high school preparation and higher admission selectivity.

"I think people should not rule out the possibility that students are just doing better," he said. "We don't have to always look for nefarious or bad reasons."

Professor Emeritus of Engineering Barrett Hazeltine, who has taught at Brown since 1959, said that incoming students now have stronger academic backgrounds than they used to.

Right – Brown is simply chockfull of geniuses who are incapable of scoring anything less than perfection.

No, this is textbook grade inflation. The question we should be asking ourselves is: What must be done to curb it?

Valen Johnson, author of "Grade Inflation: A Crisis in College Education" and a professor at the University of Texas, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that a more talented student body shouldn't alter the grades students receive.

"Grades are a comparative measure of student performance among students at the same university," he wrote. "If a college admits particularly talented students, then a C must be defined relative to that university's student pool."

In other words, Johnson is advocating a university-wide grading curve, which we can all agree is an abysmally ill-conceived idea.

How about, instead of patting themselves on the back and dishing out copious amounts of A’s, professors simply hold students to higher standards?

Inconceivable, I know.

[Media Credit: Steve DeLucia]