To the Editor:

I would like to thank editor Melissa Hale-Spencer for her revealing article on the Voorheesville School Board in the Feb. 16 issue of The Enterprise. She quotes a concerned and perceptive parent, Rachel Gilker, regarding the issue of runaway grade inflation whereby the average grade for Voorheesville sixth-graders is an A or A-, yet only 20 to 30 percent of those students scored in the top category of state standardized tests.

This is a startling contradiction that should alarm educators, parents, lawmakers, and citizens alike. Grade inflation is a societal problem that has spread through all levels of education, from elementary to university, in recent decades.

As a university educator for over 40 years, I know from personal experience that grade inflation is a taboo topic that most people in the profession are loath to discuss. When the majority of students are receiving As, grades lose their meaning as a way of assessing performance and ability.

I recall that, in my high school graduating class in 1964, only a minority of the seniors went on to college. They were among the roughly 20 percent who had achieved A and B averages. Even so, those students faced stiff competition to get into college. And once accepted, they often struggled to earn Cs in their courses. Some failed out as freshmen

Fast forward to 2017. Today, there are plenty of consumer-friendly colleges eager to attract students, and most high school graduates expect to attend. This seems admirable. An educated and enlightened public is key to a vibrant democracy.

But how enlightened are we? Somehow we have become a society that cannot or will not distinguish the truly exceptional from the very good, or the very good from the average, or the average from the poor, at least not in the classroom.

While college students invest considerably less time on homework and reading assignments than 50 years ago, grades and grade-point averages have been steadily climbing. To award everyone with an A might feel good, but it cheapens and trivializes education.

Moreover, this is poor preparation for the real world of employment where hiring, advancement, and promotion are based on work ethic and actual job performance. What kind of work ethic are we creating in an educational system top-heavy with As and Bs? Probably not a good one.

Consider the fact that, as grade inflation continues, our student performance on standardized tests continues to plummet. The United States now ranks 38th in the world in math ability, and 24th in science, among 15-year-olds.

Something has gone awry. Fingers of blame can be pointed in many directions. In order to keep everyone — students, parents, faculty, administrators, state government officials — happy, it seems high grades have become the palliative of choice.

But grade inflation is a fraud upon students and ourselves. There is a price to pay for misleading people into thinking that they are more competent than they are. Moreover, why are taxpayers expected to shoulder ever-expanding school budgets while the deception of grade inflation remains unaddressed? Do we have the courage to tackle this issue openly and honestly?

Robert Jarvenpa

East Berne