Grade inflation--A is the most popular grade in the US

[bio-nonymous]

"Participation trophy" culture no doubt goes some way toward explaining grade inflation at K-12 schools.  Plus pressures on schools to graduate students no matter what, and teachers' lack of status viz-a-viz parents. 

In higher ed, grade inflation probably owes more to a combination of declining selectivity on the part of most colleges trying to keep their enrollments up, and the idea that students who pay the equivalent of a home mortgage to attend college are paying customers who need to be kept happy.

The "business of higher ed" leads to this customer service orientation. When I was in high school I worked at a computer store and was give some great advice (and this quote) from my boss. He said, "Remember, the customer is always right, unless he is REALLY, REALLY wrong." Our customers want A's, sometimes just for effort.

On a recent exam a large number of doctoral level graduate students (future health professionals) did not know how to calculate the area of a circle, or that different units had to be converted before math operations, or that area units are squared and volume units are cubed. I was a little shocked, but I shouldn't have been. The participation trophies are given out at all levels these days, not just k-12.