Episode Details

Is grade inflation on the rise? How much does your G.P.A. matter in the long run? And when did M.I.T., of all places, become “the cool university”?

• SOURCES:
  • Scott Hugo, housing justice attorney at Oakland City Attorney’s Office.
  • Bob Ladouceur, former head football coach at De La Salle High School.
  • Jon Marcus, writer at The Hechinger Report.
  • Amelia Nierenberg, Connecticut correspondent for The New York Times. 
  • James Pennebaker, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • Stuart Rojstaczer, writer and former professor of geophysics at Duke University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses," by Kristin Butcher, Patrick J. McEwan, and Akila Weerapana (Education Finance and Policy, 2023).
  • "To Help New Students Adapt, Some Colleges Are Eliminating Grades," by Jon Marcus (NPR from Hechinger Report, 2023).
  • "Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past Decade," by Edgar I. Sanchez and Raeal Moore (ACT Research, 2022).
  • "Why Good Teaching Evaluations May Reward Bad Teaching: On Grade Inflation and Other Unintended Consequences of Student Evaluations," by Wolfgang Stroebe (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2016).
  • "Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities," by Stuart Rojstaczer (GradeInflation.com, 2016).
  • Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way, by Bob Ladouceur and Neil Hayes (2015).
  • "Daily Online Testing in Large Classes: Boosting College Performance while Reducing Achievement Gaps," by James W. Pennebaker, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jason D. Ferrell (PLOS One, 2013).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
  • "Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

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