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Princeton University pleased students are making fewer ‘A’s’

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.”

The university has sent letters to graduate schools and prospective employers to let them know that their students are capable even if they don’t score as many “A’s” as they used to thanks to the new policy.

Some students still think they’re being punished.

But not all of them.

Kara McKee, who just started her first year at Princeton said the school’s toughness is one reason she wanted to go there.

“We all know that Harvard has grade inflation and it’s real easy to get an ‘A’ there,” McKee told The Times of Trenton for Wednesday’s newspapers.

Information from: The Times, https://www.nj.com/times/

– Associated Press



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