Successful managers establish and maintain high expectations for all their employees. As Lou Holtz said, we need to set a higher standard. While students are doing less work than in previous years, grades continue to go up, a trend called grade inflation. At one time, most colleges used a set grade point average (GPA) to determine honors. But today, because of grade inflation, most colleges use a system of ranking GPAs.

1. Why are professors giving higher grades today than were given 5, 10, or 20 years ago?

2. Are students who are putting in less time and getting higher grades being well prepared for a career with high standards after graduation?

3. Is it ethical and socially responsible for professors to drop standards and for colleges to award higher grades today than they did 5, 10, or 20 years ago?

4. Should colleges take action to raise standards? If so, what should they do?

5. An important part of a professor’s job is to evaluate student learning through grading. Do you believe your learning is evaluated effectively? How could it improve?

6. Do you find consistency among your professors’ standards in terms of the work required in their courses and the grades given, or do some professors require a lot more work and some give lots of As and others lots of lower grades? Should colleges take action to improve consistency among professors’ standards? If so, what should they do?