Should academic standards relax over time

I passed through some fairly rigorous academic testing in my days as a graduate and postgraduate student in professional STEM studies.

I've now grown into a role which requires that I periodically test the proficiency of youngsters in my profession. I'm just back from conducting such a proficiency test earlier today. Unfortunately, I could only pass about 60% of the attendees of today's proficiency test.

I agree that times have changed and things have become more relaxed, but I can't bring myself to accept that I have to relax the academic standards that folks went through in my times. I have colleagues who are more lenient and are willing to "let through" youngsters with less rigorous testing. I had an argument with one of my colleagues today about how strict I was in grading some of the students who we tested today.

Despite how I argued with him, I realised belatedly that my colleague is a much more lenient examiner than me. A group of four examiners, including me, were tasked with assessing a dozen students today. At the end of a tiring day of fairly rigourous academic testing, I realise that the colleague who I argued with had more than a fair chance of being right.

Given how the day went, I realise there would have been more failures among the students who attended the examination today if I had been as strict as I had originally intended to be. I was consciously less rigorous in my grading thanks to the earlier conversation with my colleague,

I wouldn't say I'm happy wth the outcome, though. I'm not sure if there's any benefit in having a few happier youngsters who have managed to pass a notoriously tough examination.

I'd prefer to be known as the examiner who doesn't pass folks.