"Once everyone starts handing out A's like Pez candies, others feel pressured to do the same: if they don't, they are giving grades that no longer communicate —neither to students, nor to prize committees, nor to graduate schools— what those grades were meant to signify. Personally, I can regard an A as a compliment, but if the culture interprets it as a mild rebuke, am I obstinately choosing to speak an extinct language at the expense of my students?"