Free Republic

A new study shows that the most common grade at four-year U.S. colleges and universities is an A, which accounts for 43 percent of all grades, and the second most common grade is a B, which accounts for 34 percent of all grades. The study points to the idea that grade inflation at U.S. colleges is, yes, really rampant. But it also points out that those who manage to show up for class tend to be fine, and that professors are finally acknowledging just how challenging that can be. When you're wasted and everything, at least. Ah, college. WE MISS...

"The bursting of our collective bubble comes quickly. A few weeks into the semester, the students must start actually writing papers, and I must start grading them. Despite my enthusiasm, despite their thoughtful nods of agreement and what I have interpreted as moments of clarity, it turns out that in many cases it has all come to naught. Remarkably few of my students can do well in these classes. Students routinely fail; some fail multiple times, and some will never pass, because they cannot write a coherent sentence. In each of my courses, we discuss thesis statements and topic sentences,...