Grading bubble has burst

The grade-inflation bubble may have burst. According to a study done by the University of California, Los Angeles, and the American Council on Education, the percentage of freshmen reporting average high school grades of B plus or better dropped from 43.4 to 39.0 between 1978 and 1979. At the same time, the percent of freshmen with grades of B minus or lower increased from 30.3 to 33.0 percent.

The number of students acknowledging that "grading in schools has become too easy" declined from 63.7 percent to 60.0 percent between 1978 and 1979.