Grade inflation at colleges: good thing? or bad?

Disagree. Med schools do care about individual coursework that comprises the GPA. Law schools don’t care if you get an A in basketweaving, even if taken at a Junior college, as long as it’s an A. In contrast, med schools want to see a rigorous curriculum in addition to a bunch of A’s. And they’ll look down on a transcript with an A and a bunch of P’s. For example, that A in Organic Chem will look rather suspect if its surrounded by 4 P’s that term.