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Wow, what an interesting question! I am now out of time, but will come back and comment some more as it is a question I wonder as well.
 

It is an interesting question, but I think it's the wrong one. I think we'll discuss this a whole lot more two sessions from now when we talk about assessment. I'll have an interesting article to share (if I can find it again) about "grade inflation" and how the author thinks that these folks are asking the wrong question. Very briefly, it gets into a lot of interesting discussion of grades in general, and then also discusses the philosophy of "grade inflation" - which goes back to "norming" and that a certain percentage of students are supposed to do poorly. Why would we want that? If the students are successfully completing our curriculum and meeting our goals, why wouldn't they be getting good grades?
 

Found the article I referenced in my last comment - it's rather long, but I think very worth reading. http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/gi.htm
 

This is something I wonder about as well. I think what has made me more irritated as of late are the kids who choose to take the easier teacher because they want the easy grade thus to create a higher grade point average rather than challenging themselves to really learn something. My sophomores seem to be complaining more this year as to the amount of work assigned not really caring that they are bettering themselves with their writing and analysis. It is frustrating because I don't feel as though I am doing my job without teaching them how to multi-task but not wanting them to be so pushed over the edge that they want to just get the easy grade. I want them to want to learn rather than look for the grade. It seems to be such a fine line!
 

The statistics that you mentioned are troubling, especially as related to college. However, I always keep two things in mind. Considering the rigor of the curriculum at AHS (at least in the classes I know much about), and considering how hard many of the students (although not all of them!) work, I do think that we get quite a bit out of our kids at a rather high level. (I think, for example, of the senior-year government class at AHS versus the senior-year government class at the school where I student-taught. HUGE difference in expectation and content levels!) Also, I keep in mind that the students' overall GPAs from AHS include all of the classes such as art, PE, music, etc., in which effort and participation play a huge role in grades. After entering senior schedules into the computer two weeks ago, I can tell you that by senior year, many of them had better be earning at least 3.5 GPAs during their senior year, or else they are simply not attending! (As a sidenote, I am not trying to say anything bad about art, PE, etc. I am just saying that it is much harder to earn a B in Economics (a 2-credit class) than it is to earn a B in Yoga / Pilates (either a 2 or 3 credit class - I am not sure.) Considering that they must have 12 PE credits and 12 arts credits to graduate, that is 24 out of 188 credits at least!