Grade Inflation

Over at Crooked Timber, Harry Brighouse argues that there's no such thing as grade inflation and that it wouldn't even matter if there were. He's probably right that the evidence for grade inflation is mostly anecdotal, but I tend to think it's real nonetheless, and furthermore I tend to think it's absolutely a problem insofar as it accelerates a student-as-consumer understanding of a university degree as a service purchased and not a distinction earned.