Professor clarifies comment on grading

In answer to William Beasley's plea to "Say it ain't so, professor" in a letter printed in the Nov. 12 edition of The Chronicle, I'm here to say it ain't so. That is, his translation of a comment of mine is not correct. When I remarked that cheating is not likely unless a professor imposes a "radically severe grading standard," I was not saying "They won't cheat if we give a B to an average or fair term paper." Let me illustrate what I did have in mind with an anecdote from my graduate school days at Brown University.

One day, the freshman English directory gave each of we 30 or so instructors a copy of a student's paper and asked us to grade it. The result was several F's, a majority of D's, a few C's and one B-, my grade, which would have been B+ if I had not been intimidated by my peers. The director then announced that two senior distinguished professors who had been grading papers for decades had awarded the paper a straight A, saying it was a superb piece of work. I can understand why a brilliant student caught in that meat grinder might be tempted to cheat. That is what I call a radically severe grading standard.

Despite Beasley's misreading of my comment, I applaud his strong interest in academic integrity on this campus. I hope many other Duke parents are following his example.

Victor Strandberg

Professor

Department of English