<p>A lot has changed. I do not think students were ‘competitive’ back then. I think they’re more competitive now because the stakes are higher.</p>
<p>Grade inflation? maybe. But students are also smarter, and there are resources (good luck with Google or Sparknotes in '85, all we had was the infamous Malaysian Student Association Comp Sci assignment tapes or the Tau Kappa Something frat house test library) (Malaysians by a mile, btw. The things you learn dating a Malaysian girl :-))</p>
<p>Maybe students study more now because the tuition is more expensive. Back at Cajun State OOS tuition was a laughable $1200/year, all-you-can-eat. We’d register for 21 credits each semester and otherwise game the add/drop system… Now we have rankmyprofessor.com and the like.</p>
<p>All kinds of things.</p>