But learning cannot be painless, he said.
"Professors don't want to be cruel, but this is the major leagues," he said. "There should be a different standard than in high school."
Elevating grade point averages impedes education but also decreases the value of grades altogether, Mansfield said.
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"In no other walk of life would you say that nearly one quarter of practitioners are worthy of A's," Mansfield said. "Nobody who knows anything about grades gives anything as generous as that which the Harvard Faculty gives."
--Staff writer Sarah A. Dolgonos can be reached at dolgonos@fas.harvard.edu.