In today’s Martin Center article, economics professor Clark Ross of Davidson rains on that parade with a host of observations about how his students have changed over the decades.

He writes, “This past spring, with 31 student grades administered, I had a GPA of 2.4, essentially a flat ‘C.’ My course is a 14-week, one-semester class that covers both introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. Of my 31 students this spring semester, I had about 12 who showed strong interest in economic theory and performed well. Others appeared baffled by the theory, in both microeconomics and macroeconomics; nine students received a grade of ‘D’ or ‘F.’ This performance was perhaps the worst by a group that I have had in 50 years of teaching introductory economics, going back to my first such offering in 1972.”