Elliot Washor's TGIF 05.22.2026

Are you with me now? A J Ryder

Professor Wagstaff: “Tomorrow we start tearing down the college.”

Professor; “But. Where will the students sleep?”

Professor Wagstaff: Where they always sleep in the classroom.” Horsefeathers

The Great Escape Clause

Here we are in the midst of the 2026 college graduation season, and the timing of Harvard faculty’s latest move on grade inflation could not be more telling. Harvard is now capping the number of A’s awarded in a course to 20%, with a small allowance beyond that. But wait — there’s more. The article says nothing about how many A- grades can be given. Duh.

This reminds me of other issues no one really wants to confront directly — like tanking for the NBA Draft lottery, something I wrote about in previous TGIFs. Instead of addressing the real problem, institutions come up with ways to gently kick the can down the road. The issue itself never really gets dealt with.

On closer look, this also has implications for the IBPLC. Are we sliding back into a ranking-and-sorting system driven by the Bell Curve? Did we ever really leave it, or did we simply create a “kinder, gentler” version of the same thing?

When Harvard caps As in the name of combating grade inflation, other colleges — and eventually K–12 schools — pay attention. This is nuts. How about really knowing your students well? Hmm?

Note: While attending the full-day California Secondary School Redesign meeting this week, much of the conversation around college admissions focused on GPAs and the stress and anxiety generated by the system. Yet, except for us, no one seemed to offer any meaningful alternative.

On the flip side, within a day of the Harvard article, another piece appeared about Deep Springs College. Deep Springs is both a college and a ranch — take your pick. Students, alongside adults, create their courses, govern the institution, and do all the labor necessary to sustain the community. Deep Springs is one of only ten working colleges in the United States.

There’s another one in Dallas: Paul Quinn College. I’m planning a personal Leaving to Learn visit to take a closer look. Not only is it a working college, it’s also an HBCU — and the only urban working college in the country.

As Matthew Crawford author of Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work states, manual labor can relieve a person “of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on. Boasting is what a boy does, who has no real effect in the world.”

’Nuff said.

Where did we go so wrong with our values?

The famous 85-year Harvard longitudinal study seems deeply at odds with this latest approach to grade inflation and offers a very different set of outcome/becomes.

Yes, the Harvard Study of Adult Development mentions grades, but its findings consistently show that grades are not the strongest predictor of long-term success or well-being.

The study tracked two groups of men — Harvard graduates and inner-city Boston youth — for more than 85 years. Researchers found several striking things:

• Grades vs. Chores: Academic achievement, elite schooling, and extracurriculars were not the strongest indicators of later success. Doing household chores as a child turned out to be a much stronger predictor of work ethic and professional stability.

• Intelligence vs. Relationships: IQ and academic ability mattered far less than relational health and emotional intelligence. Strong relationships proved to be the clearest predictor of lifelong happiness and health.

• Childhood Environment: Early academic success was closely tied to stable, nurturing environments — foundations that mattered far more over the long haul than straight A’s.

So Harvard students: do your chores and make your bed. Where’s that on the admissions application or as a course requirement? You’ve made your bed now lie in it.”

Our second excursion to the Gillespie Field Annex opened the door to internships and much more. Following Andrea’s Leaving to Learn visit a few weeks ago with San Diego Met staff, Anthonette and I also visited and met with Katrina Pascador, the Collections and Research Director.

There is so much there — from plane restoration projects to a half-dozen shipping containers filled with archives waiting to be explored. Our next steps involve connections with Beth White and our B-Unbound work in San Diego.

Be well.