A student who is earning a high "B" in my physics class asked me if she should withdraw today. Actually, she asked me if I thought she would be able to pass the course. Perplexed, I asked why she would consider withdrawing when she was doing so well. She looked at me like I was an exotic bug and made it clear to me that anything less than an "A" was not passing/ And here I'd been so happy that the average on the exams in that class was around 70%. You know, average?

And one of the things that irritates me the most is when students blame me or my fellow instructors for the loss of their 4.0. A student stopped attending my astronomy lab a few weeks ago, and I investigated today. He had withdrawn from my astronomy lab and Carl's astronomy lecture using the code "dissatisfied with instruction." Carl mentioned that this student had been upset about his 83% score on the first lecture exam and commented about needing to keep his 4.0. Gone, and it's our fault. From his performance in lab, I would never have guessed that he was the perfect student. He certainly wasn't earning perfect scores, or even A's, on all of the labs. Guess I was doing something wrong.

So, a plea to teachers at all levels of education. Give your students the grades they earn. You do not just punish your fellow educators, but also punish the students who have not learned to work or to accept that everyone cannot earn A's. Remember, the "A" only has meaning when not all students receive them.