Educational 'Therapy'

President Rudenstine has given his response to the recent controversy over grade inflation. To comfort his people, our wary President speaks only in conclusions. He does not set forth his own view; he does not descend to facts and figures. He does not say anything that might be divisive or insensitive--not even to me. There has been no grade inflation from white guilt: That is his judgment, and it is to be accepted. Also and by implication, there is no grade inflation about which we should be concerned. The facts that every fourth grade at Harvard is a straight A, and that every other grade is an A or A minus, give him no pause.

Now that President Rudenstine's term is drawing to close, we should be grateful to him for many things, and especially for the money he has raised and the sparkling condition of our buildings and grounds. But it also has to be said that his time has been marked by devotion to political correctness and by indifference to the decline in our standards of grading.

What's wrong with grade inflation? Grade inflation makes it hard for professors to discriminate levels of merit. It flatters students and leaves them less capable of handling bad news about themselves. It signifies that professors care less about their teaching, because anyone who cares a lot about something--for example, a baseball fan--is very critical in making judgments about it. In later life, students will forget the professors who gave them easy grades; they will remember the ones who posed a challenge.

Why do I call our present grading a scandal? The level of grading at Harvard now is beyond all proportion with the excuses made on its behalf. Perhaps our students are better these days (I don't find them so), but not this much better. But if they are in some measures better, the proper response is to raise our standards and demand more of our students. Cars are better made now than they used to be. So when buying a car would you be satisfied with one that was as good as they used to be?

Some have wondered why I raised the question of the cause of grade inflation. Why not be content with pointing to the fact and not enter into dispute over the cause? That course is indeed what I would recommend to the Administration. My reason for raising the question of cause is that I believe the present regime of grading at Harvard to be untenable. Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I think that we will change. The change will come from somewhere--from faculty, students, parents, alumni, the public, if not from our deans. When we do decide to act on the matter, there will be an opportunity for a moment of reflection. How did we let this happen to us? I want to contribute to that reflection.

To repeat my view: I think that grade inflation has resulted from the prevalence in American education of the notion of self-esteem. According to that therapeutic notion, the purpose of education is to make students feel capable and "empowered," and professors should hesitate to pass judgment on what students have learned. The idea of self-esteem is as rampant in higher education, and at Harvard, the supposed pinnacle of American education, as in primary and secondary education. Did not the Crimson editorial on my two-grade experiment worry that the real grade (as opposed to the transcript grade) would be "burned" into students' egos? In the universities, self-esteem often goes by the name of "multiculturalism" or of "sensitivity," meaning that, despite all the talk about diversity and liberty, you had better watch what you say.

Grade inflation got started in the late 60s and early 70s when professors raised the grades of students protesting the war in Vietnam. At that time, too, white professors, imbibing the spirit of the new policies of affirmative action, stopped giving low grades to black students, and to justify or conceal this, also stopped giving low grades to white students. I do not know how to quantify these views even if the figures were made available, and perhaps they are not quantifiable. Those who demand figures from me should be addressing President Rudenstine, who has the access to them that I lack. I do not claim to be an expert on grade inflation. What I can say is that I was here at the relevant time and consider myself an informed observer. When all are silent about this obvious scandal, to speak up seems to me the responsible thing to do.

A word to my critics. One big risk of a one-man enterprise like mine is becoming self-righteous. I want to thank you for helping me to address that problem. My wife doesn't want me to suffer from too much self-esteem.

Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 teaches Government 1061: "The History of Modern Political Philosophy" this semester.