Brent Staples Why Colleges Shower Their Students

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“Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, an essay by Brent Staples, argues that in the past few years colleges have been very lenient when it comes to grades, and they have basically been giving students A’s that they don’t deserve. The reasoning behind this is that colleges are “faced with demanding consumers and stiff competition” (Staples 935). Some departments are trying to save themselves from administrators canceling their course because students don’t want to take their class, making them lose their job. The way students and parents see it, is that they are getting their money’s worth. Staples builds common ground by offering a solution to the problem of grade inflation, he thinks that higher standards should be set for the more

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