The number of German students achieving top scores in the Abitur, the country’s most prestigious school-leaving exam, has been steadily rising. This development has brought warnings from the teachers' association and conservative politicians. They fear that “grade inflation” will erode the value of the Abitur; if too many students graduate with excellent marks, the distinction loses its meaning and may disadvantage those truly excelling. Stefan Düll, the president of the Teachers’ Association, emphasizes the importance of maintaining high standards, while CDU parliamentarian Christoph Ploß demands an end to grade inflation, arguing that it neither rewards true effort nor helps struggling students. On the other hand, the SPD’s Oliver Kaczmarek sees the trend as evidence of a more accessible education system, urging respect for the hard work of students and noting that Germany is still behind internationally when it comes to educational accessibility. The pandemic, with its accompanying grading concessions, has only exacerbated the trend and the debate.

Let us not mince words: the dangers of this grade inflation go far beyond mere shifts in averages or the feelings of a handful of parents. When the currency of excellence is debased, the entire structure of society’s knowledge, of its capital of trained minds, is shaken! The market for knowledge—if it is to function, if it is to match abilities with positions, permits with responsibilities—requires reliable signals. When every student is labeled as “excellent,” then none can be recognized as such. What we have here is not just the inflation of grades, but the inflation of expectations, and, ultimately, the inflation of mediocrity.

What is at stake is that peculiar arrogance, all too common in centrally directed systems, of believing that outcomes can be made universally excellent simply by lowering the bar. It is a seduction familiar from other sectors: if there are inequalities of achievement, simply smooth the scale, adjust the metrics, and everyone will seem equal. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, especially in education! The labor market adjusts; universities adjust; the very trust that a society places in its educational institutions is degraded.

The desire for accessibility, for leveling the playing field, is not without merit in itself. But when accessibility is bought at the price of clarity, of honesty about differences in achievement, society is left with only illusions. True justice is not sameness; it is the opportunity for all to strive, and for excellence to be—impartially, publicly—recognized. Anything else is not progress but a regression into a managed mediocrity from which only the privileged can privately exempt themselves by other means.

To my dear compatriots: do not let the noble ambition of lifting all up become the folly of pulling all down. If Germany wishes to remain a society where talent and effort can still find reward, we must resist the sweet poison of grade inflation and defend, passionately, the integrity of our educational standards.