am probably just a bit too jaded to believe that. In very rough outline and in an ideal world, yes, you are absolutely correct. In reality, even within the same department, an A can mean vastly different things, never mind dept to dept within a school or school to school or district to district.

While a C usually does mean you've passed by the teacher's grace, and a B often means you're in the bottom half of a class, by no means does an A mean mastery in many situations. Sad but true.