Faceoff - Does Grade Inflation Benefit Students?
Yes
Christopher Ulinfun, section editior
Recent changes in both the College Board and the in-school grading system has now made it easier for students struggling in classes to pass. While some people believe that this new change may be a bad thing, it overall helps kids who are struggling in classes while leaving kids who are doing well unaffected.
The entire purpose of grade inflation is to keep students from failing a class or dropping out and to reduce pressure within the school. This is extremely beneficial for students taking classes that have nothing to do with their future major. Information from the Ebsco Research Center indicates how “schools in districts with academically weak students face budgetary restraints if students don't pass from year to year. This may encourage teachers to inflate grades for students who may otherwise drop out.” and “ the 2001 legislation of No Child Left Behind places a monetary value on student pass rates, so grade inflation makes sense in economically struggling districts.”
Better grades would undoubtedly make entering college easier and give kids access to more scholarships that they need. With higher GPAs, students are ensured that their college applications don’t get discarded by the automatic grade cutoff processes used by most public universities while also protecting low SAT/ACT scores for applicants who excel in other areas.
“I believe students are going to enjoy school a lot more than as of now since they don’t have to overwork themselves just for them to fail, which leads them to a spiral of depression and that can really take a toll on them,” says junior at Johns Creek High School (JCHS) Timothy Tran.
Tran believes that by removing the pressure of grades in school, students will feel less anxious and he is right. According to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center, 70 percent of teenagers ranging from 13 to 17-year-olds surveyed believed depression and anxiety were problems inside the classroom and identified trying to achieve good grades as the leading factor to these issues.
This isn’t an issue foreign to our school either, countless of students put so much value into high grades it's as if their life as a whole depends on it, and when they don’t get the perfect grade they want, it destroys them.
In most cases, the grade doesn't matter all that much. Take the AP program, for example: Information from Applerouth Tutoring suggests that although the final grade provides some information on the student’s academic work, the score on the exam shows the students total mastery on the subject in ways a simple A on a report card might not. If it is possible to pass AP U.S History with an 80 and achieve a four on the exam, then the grade doesn’t matter as much.
“Grades will again most likely stay the same. School is less about learning and more about memorizing. Schools making it easier to pass just makes it so the people who don’t want to be there don’t have a hard time,” says senior at JCHS Colby Thomas.
The main reasons against grade inflation are how it makes school too easy and doesnt help students in college, but what it really does is keep kids in school while minimizing workload for unimportant subjects.
No
Addison Pendegraft, online editor
Whoever said “A for effort” was a good idea clearly didn’t know what they were talking about. Receiving an “A” indicates excellent performance, not an average, half-baked effort. Grade inflation is detrimental to the education system and success of the students and should be totally dealt with.
According to an assessment by Education Next, students earning a five on AP tests rose 61 percent on average across nine central subjects from 2021 to 2025. There was an increase by 63 percent of students at least a four, which many colleges require to receive credit for the course. For example, U.S. Government and Politics saw increases of scores of four and five, being 23.6 percent in 2021, then 48.5 percent in 2025. Similarly, U.S. History saw 26 percent of takers earn top marks in 2021 compared to 50.4 percent in 2025.
However nice or appealing this boost in scores may appear to students, the contradictory increase present despite national standardized test scores dropping for years. The 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a nationally representative measure of trends in academic achievement of U.S. elementary and secondary students, report results of a record-low 35 percent of 12th graders were proficient at reading, while only a concerningly low 22 percent could handle basic math.
This “grade inflation” or “grade leniency” is the general awarding of higher grades for the same quality of work overtime, in other words, a devaluing of grades. It’s something that’s been in practice for several decades now, spurred by a variety of pressures. For starters, financial aid and honors programs frequently demand a minimum GPA, forcing institutions to keep baseline grades high, so students won’t lose their funding. Teachers and professors alike also often face pressure to give high marks to secure positive student feedback, satisfy the parents and avoid any conflicts. It’s also common reasoning for schools to encourage inflated grades to boost their graduation and retention rates.
When students pass due to inflated grades, it helps their self-esteem, lowers absence rates and reduces chances of dropping out. These benefits won’t help them in the long-term of their personal growth for schooling or life.
“Widening the window for “passing” the AP exam makes the scores look awesome, but it does not provide students with a true representation of their understanding,” said Ms. Myers, Johns Creek’s math teacher.
This practice can be extremely harmful to the students even if its short-term impacts seem beneficial. According to FutureEd, students taught by lenient graders, AKA teachers who give higher grades than expected based on standardized test scores and prior student performance, did worse later on in high school. These students were also reportedly less likely to attend college or be employed and overall earned less. “[Grade inflation] does not provide a solid foundation for the future, which in turn, will make it highly difficult to be successful in successive courses,” said Ms. Myers.
“You end up in a bad equilibrium of low effort, high grades, and that’s ultimately bad for students, because they’re going to learn less, particularly in classes where repeated hard work is necessary to consolidate the skills,” said Dr. Michael Lubin, former Emory University School of Medicine Professor and a critic of grade inflation for over a decade.
Overall, grade inflation is an extremely detrimental practice to the future of these students. Its presence makes students less adequately prepared for any future endeavors without having their hand held through it, leading to inevitable failure and struggle. Thus, grade inflation should be completely rescinded from the school system and AP exams.