I posted this in the thread but everyone else seems to think the big jump in A& #39;s was like a precipitous cultural decline.
Actually, it was the escalation of the Vietnam War combined with a conscription policy in which lower-graded students would lose their draft deferments. https://twitter.com/annakhachiyan/status/1265030204227026944">https://twitter.com/annakhach...
Actually, it was the escalation of the Vietnam War combined with a conscription policy in which lower-graded students would lose their draft deferments. https://twitter.com/annakhachiyan/status/1265030204227026944">https://twitter.com/annakhach...
Professors didn& #39;t want to be the reason their students went to Vietnam, so they started giving out a lot more good grades.
The war went on long enough to permanently change the meanings of the grades, it seems.
The war went on long enough to permanently change the meanings of the grades, it seems.
Obviously the merits of this kind of protest are debatable. I learned about it from an infamous old college debate case ( @alanontheright); we argued the professors were doing wrong by favoring their students in this way.
And over time there have presumably been other influences on grade inflation.
But I believe the big spike in the chart comes from professors acting against the Vietnam draft.
But I believe the big spike in the chart comes from professors acting against the Vietnam draft.