Episode
Is Grade Inflation Deflating Trust in Schools?
- Published
- Jan 20, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2540
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.futureupodcast.com
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/future-u-podcast-the-pulse-of-higher-ed-1134204/episodes/is-grade-inflation-deflating-trust-in-schools/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/future-u-podcast-the-pulse-of-higher-ed-1134204/is-grade-inflation-deflating-trust-in-schools.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
To kick off 2026, Jeff and Michael weigh in on some key higher ed issues making headlines these days, starting with a deep dive into grade inflation at the nation’s colleges. A range of sources show that more students are getting A’s even as they are spending less time on schoolwork and deep reading. Meanwhile, AI is raising questions about the validity of college assessments when students can offload their work to chatbots. How can colleges respond? Other issues discussed include whether colleges should change what they teach as employers embrace AI, what types of colleges employers recruit from these days, and recent data on where online learning is most prevalent. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.