Encouraged participation by all students: 4

Was available to answer question outside class: 4

Used the blackboards, visual aids, handouts well: 4

Was an effective leader overall: 2

Comment: "Graded and formatted our midterm too harshly." (This from a student who received a B in a course where the average grade was an A-.)

This same thing happens at the other end of the spectrum, too: A certain number of that elite crew of TF's who regularly win the coveted Teaching Certificate, the high-flying Blue Angels of the Harvard instructional community, do so by shamelessly handing out A's to whoever wants them. (The Bok Center, it should be noted, gives out no awards for fighting the good fight against grade inflation.)

This aspect of the evaluation process could perhaps stand to be reformed. If students were required to include their ID numbers along with their evaluations, it would be possible to match their comments to the grades they received, thus indicating what proportion of the popular courses, professors and TFs are also the easiest ones.

So, with that said, let the games begin. Take out your No. 2 pencils and grade the graders--on their looks, their jokes, their susceptibility to bullshit, their purple underwear, whatever. Do what you have to. It's your day, after all. Just remember that beneath the impassive marble exterior of your T.F., there is a fragile and delicate little creature who wants to be loved, and who has a desperate craving for that plain croissant. We hope, each and every one of us, to bump into you at the Kendall Square Au Bon Pain. And if not, remember: We know who you are.

Dmitri Tymoczko is a teaching fellow in the Arts Department.