by Steve Maxon

Harvey C. Mansfield is on a mission, a one-man quest to defend American higher education.

The Harvard government professor, whose reputation for difficult grading earned him the nickname “Harvey C-Minus,” is giving undergraduates in his “History of Modern Political Philosophy” class two grades – one for their transcripts, and another to reflect “what they deserve.”  As 51 percent of Harvard grades last year were A or A-, Mansfield will dole out the same percentage officially, using the second grade to accurately appraise a student’s performance without hurting their GPA.

“In the past, Professor Mansfield has been giving tougher grades, and that punished students who took his class,” said senior Roman Martinez.  “This will affect us in that we will get the inflated grades on our transcripts.”

This odd line of reasoning – referring to tougher grades as a ‘punishment,’ while acknowledging that higher grades were ‘inflated’ – illustrates the very attitude Mansfield deplores.  This concept of “grade inflation” which he so vocally attacks, is a singular and interesting phenomenon – those receiving the benefit of a diploma will, to keep up appearances, work to decrease its value.  Tougher grades punish, and inflated grades reward, students primarily concerned with GPA.  Can a good education still be its own reward?

Jurist Robert Bork blames America’s “egalitarian passion” for lowering standards and decreasing competency, all in the name of equality.  The education of all is a noble and admirable goal, but it does not necessarily imply that all should be educated exactly the same.  Perhaps the dearth of true opportunities for our brightest students to reach their potential, combined with an overemphasis on entertainment, has created today’s system where colleges must offer remedial courses to ensure basic writing skills and undergraduates often lack rudimentary historical or mathematical knowledge.

	"In the end, we must decide whether quantitative results matter more to us than actual learning – for it seems that grades are becoming an unreliable measurement of what we really know."

A school withholds a diploma, a professor gives grades based on merit, a college rejects unqualified applicants – all these things are done to uphold the standards of education, and protect the interests of society.  Clearly, those who would benefit from a person’s education deserve to know the truth about it.  Credentials convey information – value is accorded to the bachelor’s degree.  When it becomes easier to achieve, when one can no longer assume a certain level of competence from those who hold it, that value plummets.  And in a terrible irony, those who stand to benefit most from that value are pounding away at its foundation: students whose livelihood depends on it, and colleges whose legitimacy is derived from it.

As a senior in college, I fully recognize what a stance like Mansfield’s might mean to students.  If every teacher had graded me according to what I actually deserved, my GPA might be a full point lower.  Or perhaps this increased pressure would have forced me to truly dedicate myself to study.  In the end, we must decide whether quantitative results matter more to us than actual learning – for it seems that grades are becoming an unreliable measurement of what we really know.

Mansfield’s plan may not be the right way to control the problem of grade inflation.  It is certainly not the sole solution to the ills of America’s educational system.  But attracting attention is vital in sparking a discussion about the worth of higher education.  If the current slide continues, the bachelor’s degree might become nothing but an expensive high school diploma, no longer worth the opportunity-cost of missed income, let alone the exorbitant tuition.  Mansfield is asking Harvard students to defend their status – and it’s for their own good.

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