As for inflation, while unfortunate in some ways, one can argue that H students deserve the inflation in certain courses/areas at least compared to some places that aspire to compete with H (as not the places that already do). Also, from my skulking around on their “i-sites” when more were available, it appears many courses, even your traditional STEM weed-outs are less dependent on exams as the only grading method and use more graded assignments and problem sets. No doubt that in comparison to many/most elites, exams in those courses are brutal, so having other means to assess students doesn’t hurt. I am fairly comfortable if it results in higher grades because at least they will know which skills indicate a high level of competence in the field. Another form of grade inflation or higher grades even in STEM at certain Ivies is the course tiering. Like often the very high level freshman and sophomore courses designated for those with high prior exposure and high ambition in the field, assign a much more generous distribution of grades perhaps to incentivize students taking the courses. Usually courses like Physics 16 and Math 55 (and now LSci 50 I guess) at H for example demand a lot more time than even the course right under so to get any enrollment, you can’t be too stringent in grading or else folks aren’t gonna enroll. “Bait”(okay, reassurance) is kind of needed.