According to a lead article from The Economist:
“... Much of this cash has
been wasted on things that have nothing to do with education—plush dormitories,
gleaming stadiums and armies of administrators. In 1976 there were only half as
many college bureaucrats as academic staff; now the ratio is one to one.
By the universities’
own measures, this has produced splendid results. Students are more than twice
as likely to receive “A” grades now than in 1960. When outsiders do the grading,
however, they are less impressed: one study found that 36% of students “did not
demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” over four years of
college.”
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE:
It is worth noting that the excellent rankings achieved by US universities internationally have almost nothing to do with trends and
developments involving undergraduate education. These global rankings are all
about research quality and output (they reflect the world-class faculty and
graduate students at American research institutes – both faculty and grad students at top US universities are often
chosen from the global talent pool). In fact, the best global rankings - Times Higher Education Global University Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Rankings don't give much weight to undergraduate education.
See previous posts on grade inflation:
US Higher Education – Self-Inflicted Wounds
Very Funny - Satirical Takedown of Grade Inflation at Harvard