Blacks’ Progress

* Re William Raspberry’s column, “Naysayers Aside, Blacks Are Making Progress,” Aug. 7:

I wish I could join Raspberry in celebrating the 3% increase in African American college students during 1985-95. Sadly, my 1969-98 experience on the faculties of UCLA, USC and three Cal State campuses is consistent with authoritative nationwide observations that much of today’s college instruction has been reduced to the level of yesterday’s high schools and further devalued by grade inflation. Moreover, many professors have been yielding to administrative pressures to con under-represented minority students by inflating their grades in particular, rather than helping them overcome their prior academic victimization in inner-city schools.

MARK DAVIDSON

Pasadena