A whole lot of vals and sals have graduated at our high school since my kids did. While many of these top grade-winners have likely excelled in college and beyond, kids with special talents beyond the classroom are the ones who’ve made a name for themselves.
I don’t think higher grades are confusing colleges because the high schools provide them with a mean and std. deviation for grades at their school. That lets them get a close estimate of class rank even if you do not provide it.
An additional reason more students are getting A’s is that there are so many levels of a class offered now. However some A’s are treated differently for gpa purposes than others are.
As the article I posted on #28 shows, the hardest programs grade the hardest. Seeing grades as “an element of an intra-university economy” is interesting, but that fails to explain this phenomenon:
It makes more sense to look at school as a handicap horse race…