Harvard's grading system is replete with these types of inconsistencies and imperfections. A final course grade, particularly in classes with a single final exam or paper, is by no means a perfect depiction of knowledge or learning. On the other hand, grades aren't a completely inaccurate picture, either.
The point of all this is not to disparage students with high academic records, or even to suggest that traditional course grading schemes should be abandoned. Rather, it is a plea to be honest with ourselves about what grades actually mean. If Mansfield wants to give his students two grades, so be it. But there is nothing about Mansfield's non-inflated grades that make them any more accurate as gauges of learning or knowledge. Saying otherwise is simply misleading.
Faculty and students alike should be more willing to acknowledge the extent to which grades are tangential to course material. This would do much to dispel Harvard's grade obsessive culture and shift emphasis toward the pursuit of learning for its own sake.
Richard S. Lee '01 is a social studies concentrator in Pforzheimer House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.