Benefits of the C-minus

Education Next, Summer, 2004 by Harvey C. Mansfield

It was a pleasure to read "The Gentleman's A" (David N. Figlio and Maurice E. Lucas, Research, Spring 2004), in part because it accords with common sense. The teacher you remember from your youth is not the easy grader who let you get away with a weak performance; it is the tough one who gave you a challenge and was not easy to please. I know that researchers usually prefer "counterintuitive" results, but in matters like these it is often the case that science is better judged by common sense than common sense by science.

It would be interesting to learn the authors' view of the importance of sustaining students' self-esteem. Is it better for less able students to receive high or low grades? Do high grades encourage them to do better than they otherwise would do, or do such students do worse because they live in a fool's paradise, ignorant of their true capacities?

It would also be nice to know the characteristics of tough graders. Are their IQs higher or lower than those of easy graders? Are they more likely to be liberal or conservative? And what about sex, religion, and union affiliation? What do they think they are accomplishing with tough grades?

A fine study is one that raises more questions than it answers.

HARVEY C. MANSFIELD

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts