Some of California’s largest school districts are dropping D and F grades for high school students. While the hope is to help students reengage in school after distance learning and to boost their chances of acceptance into the state’s public colleges. School districts in San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento are among several eliminating grades below a C beginning this school year. The districts see dropping Ds and Fs as a way to help students who had been most impacted by the pandemic, especially black, Latino, and low-income students. But California’s K–12 schools already show some of the lowest performance in the nation. According to U.S. News and WalletHub, California schools rank at best 40th. Some educators thus find lowering the bar both offensive and detrimental.