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Grade Inflation in the Ivy League

June 7, 2005, 9:11 am

The Boston Globe has an article on John Kerry's recently released Yale grades.  Humorously, after all the sturm and drang of him supposedly being an intellectual titan to George Bush's dim-wittedness, his GPA was actually a notch lower than George's at Yale.  Personally, I could care less - grades are important for getting into grad school or that first job out of college.  I can't even imagine GPA coming up much in assessing one's suitability for a job in his forties or fifties.

Anyway, the point I take from this is more about grade inflation that suitability for the presidency.  Both Kerry and Bush got a selection of D's, C's, and B's, and no A's.  And while these may have not been standout grades, they certainly didn't seem to be out of the norm for the time.  My question:  Does any student today who can fog a mirror in the Ivy League today get grades this low?  My guess is no.

Postscript: By the way, Kerry released his military records (which were the source of the Yale grades) and there does not appear to be any ticking time bombs in it.  In fact, there are several pieces of information that would have helped him in the campaign, including commendations from several of his swift boat vet critics.  Why in the hell did he drag his feet on this and give the Republicans a free campaign issue?

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Category: Education
  • Scott

    Why in the hell did he drag his feet on this and give the Republicans a free campaign issue?

    You answered your own question: Kerry released his military records (which were the source of the Yale grades). He needed to exactly maintain his image as intellectually superior to Bush during the campaign. Perhaps he overestimated the extent to which the media, or GOP, would give him gruff about his academic record.

  • http://www.AlinaAdams.com Alina

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    Well, I hear he's not too bright... (did you SEE his GPA?)

    But seriously, folks, as a resident of New York City, where many, many people believe that a score given on an intelligence test taken at the age of four is a map of every point on the child's future, I have even less faith in grades, IQ scores, anything other than actual achievements. That's all anyone should be judged on.

  • Scott

    Hear hear, Alina.