Mike Obstgarten’s “Academic fraud: Grade inflation is a scourge that must be eradicated” (Nov. 23 commentary) reminded me of a midterm grade I received my first semester in college. It was an easy course, and I was doing well, so the C-plus was a surprise. I even confronted the professor, who explained that his midterm grades were meant to be “motivational.”

At least I knew that C’s were fairly common at the time (the 1960s). Eighteen years later, I became a professor and found myself giving well-deserved C’s every semester. Late in my career, a colleague handed over one of the courses required of our majors. He gave me several suggestions, adding “… as you give them their A.” I continued my usual grading policies and, sure enough, one of my student evaluations contained this statement: “

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