Walter Russel Mead of The American Interest offers a nice summary: "43 percent of all grades given in American colleges are A's. Social science grades are hig

Walter Russel Mead of The American Interest offers a nice summary: "43 percent of all grades given in American colleges are A's. Social science grades are higher than grades in science and math. Humanities grades are higher still. Grades in private colleges are higher than grades at public universities. Northern schools give A's more freely than southern ones, and prestigious colleges have flabbier standards than their less fashionable rivals."