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If by “upward trend” you mean merely “rising popularity among high school students”, which is indeed what you wrote and so is reasonable to conclude is your intended meaning, comrade, it is only possible to keep such popularity rising by sacrificing the quality and rigor of Chicago’s academics [If a University insists on genuine learning, the spread of this information will quickly dampen the enthusiasm of the high school mob. As a quick glance at all the "Surely Chicago can’t expect me to care THAT much about my studies? " posts here on CC will assure you].</p>
<p>It will be a tragedy if Chicago keeps up this “upward trend”
What are you even saying? “Their popularity is rising now, so to keep it rising, they’re going to have to start telling professors to teach more poorly!”</p>