A grade point average of 1.0 in the Abitur, i.e. the best possible rating in all examination subjects, used to be almost unattainable.

In the meantime, this goal is no longer so far away for many students.

In Hesse, almost every twentieth student achieved the perfect grade this year: 841 out of 19,471 students got a 1.0.

Five years ago, only every fiftieth and 15 years ago even only every hundredth high school graduate made it.

The average intelligence of the Hessian schoolchildren seems to have multiplied in a short time.

But can that really be?

The significance of the Abitur grades has long been doubted.

But the grade point average has never been as good as this year since the state high school diploma was introduced 15 years ago – it is 2.23.

And never before have there been so many one zeros as in 2022. The credibility of the Abitur is shaken with inflationary top marks.

When correcting, teachers should ask themselves whether they are doing a service to the highest degree.

And the Minister of Education should try to curb this flood of top marks again.

The Abitur class went through the upper school under pandemic conditions.

Face-to-face classes were restricted for months.

A lot of material has fallen out.

The students can't do anything about that.

The state ministers of education had therefore decided that the pandemic should not be to the detriment of high school graduates.

The federal states therefore granted various simplifications in the Abitur.

In Hesse, the students were given more time to solve the tasks.

And the teachers were allowed to choose from a larger number of tasks in order to be able to rule out that the Abitur exam would ask for material that could not be taught sufficiently due to the pandemic.

But obviously the education ministers meant too well, or the teachers were too merciful in correcting things.

The Corona bonus dilutes the results and makes them less comparable.

It doesn't do the students any favors either.

Because the class is now threatened with the reputation that good grades have been thrown after them, so to speak.

The Corona Abi becomes a “Abi light”.

This raises the question of justice.

Access to many courses is reinforced with a numerus clausus.

If students with a Corona Abi can exceed it more easily, other years and possibly students from other federal states with stricter rules will be disadvantaged.

That distorts competition.