I believe a lot of this grade inflation can be attributed to the social engineering goal of getting more women in college/university (but not the women per se).

I believe a lot of this grade inflation can be attributed to the social engineering goal of getting more women in college/university (but not the women per se). As one example, my school was extremely rigorous and a difficult grader, most students in STEM or business programs. In the late 80s/early 90s a big push was made to even out a biased m/f ratio. They did this by greatly expanding the arts/humanities programs. They now have 55/45 overall m/f with over 60% female in the arts college. Unfortunately, humanities are well known for grading biased towards A/B and now this university has one of the largest amounts of grade inflation of any private school since 2000. Above may be anecdotal, but I believe much of the grade inflation is due to similar changes in focus away from rigorous subjects with right/wrong type answers (ie STEM) to those where interpretations are open and grades are more for participation and completion of assignments. That women seem to be more attracted to those subjects has allowed instutions to expand enrollment, balance overall populations and make a lot more money.