When I attended my daughter's middle school graduation last year, I was proud to see that she had an asterix by her name indicating that she had attained the honor roll (GPA of 3.5 or more) for each of the nine trimesters of her middle school career. Until I looked over the entire program and saw that 55% of the class had the same asterix! Talk about blatant grade inflation.
If you want blatant grade inflation, look at the ivy leagues or most private schools. of course people who go there will say otherwise, but its sadly true. A friend of mine attended an ivy league and then when he came back for the summer attended the local UC for summer school. He was shocked that the average grade in the class was a C. He said thered be holy hell if the average grade in one of his classes wasnt a B or an A.