Panel Raps Stanford Grade Averages

STANFORD, Cal.--Stanford University undergraduates, who now have an average grade point average of about 3.38, are receiving too many A's, a faculty committee reported earlier this month.

Sixty per cent of all grades are either A's or B's, and students applying to law school maintain a 3.79 grade point average, the committee on academic appraisal and achievement said in its annual report.

Jack Friedenthal, chairman of law school admissions, said the averages both for all students and for applicants to law schools are the highest in the country for any major school.

Friedenthal said the average of students taking the law school admission tests should drop to 3.2, which is about the average at Harvard and Yale.

Friedenthal said the high grade averages hurt undergraduates because the school loses credibility and graduate schools become skeptical of good grades.

The report said, however, that grade inflation since 1968 has been very slight, Grades in the humanities rose and grades in engineering fell in that time, the committee said.

A factor contributing to the high grade averages, aside from the many A's awarded, is that Stanford has no failing grade.