Grade inflation. That’s when a college or university awards higher grades than the student has earned and deserves. The fact that it exists is bad enough. But the fact that it’s now standard practice as part of a university’s strategy to stay competitive? That’s reprehensible.
Next month, Loyola Law School in Los Angeles will raise every grade by .333. Every single grade recorded in the past several years will be raised. Just like that. They say it’s necessary so their students will look more promising to the law firms who are looking to hire candidates. They say it’s making their students more competitive in a tough job market. I say it’s BS.

Make that widespread BS. It’s everywhere. Law schools like NYU, Georgetown and Tulane do it also. And law firms may or may not know about it or keep track of it so, in essence, they’re being sold a false bill of goods. I’ve written before about how coddling students is annoying, but this goes far beyond that. This is flat-out, unabashed misrepresentation of the truth.

What happened to the days where you worked hard and were rewarded for it? Where’s the backlash? I want to read about law firms keeping tabs on which schools do this. I want to read about those law firms sending a clear message to the schools – keep the representation of your student’s abilities honest or else we’re not interviewing your graduates. That’s the only way grade inflation is going to stop.