PRINCETON N.J.
Students at Princeton University, often recognized as the top undergraduate university in the country, are not getting as many “A’s” as they used to.
And the university could not be more pleased.
Three years ago, the Ivy League school established measures to fight what’s known as grade inflation the gradual rise of grades, which some argue gives a top mark less meaning.
Forty-seven percent of the grades given were “A’s” from fall 2001 through spring 2004.
Starting in fall 2004, new policies protested by students but lauded by university officials sought to reduce the portion of those grades to 35 percent. Faculty members who give out too many high marks are not penalized, though.
The university says that during the first three years of the policy, 40.6 percent of grades were “A’s.”
