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For instructors, the implications could be significant. In addition to receiving fewer favorable evaluations, a tough grader may also attract fewer students. Because most departments are hesitant to devote resources to classes with low enrollments, specialized courses in a tough-grading professor's area of interest may be dropped. And, of course, to the extent that personnel decisions are based on an institution's perception of teaching effectiveness, they may be less likely to be rewarded with tenure, promotions or salary increases.

For higher education in general, the implications could be even more significant. Different grading philosophies among disciplines can potentially create shifts in enrollments -- specifically, from natural sciences and mathematics to the humanities.

The Duke study confirmed the common belief that natural science and math classes are graded the hardest and humanities the easiest. After all, an essay is far more subjective to assess than multiple-choice answers, especially for the postmodernist professor -- but low grades are also harder to justify to angry students and parents.

The difference between the most leniently graded department in the study (music, with a mean grade of 3.69) and the most stringently graded (math, with a mean of 2.91) was almost an entire letter grade. Moreover, departments that graded easiest, including literature, Spanish and cultural anthropology, tended to have the least able students as measured by SAT scores and college and high school G.P.A.

For elective courses, the mean grade awarded in humanities was 3.54; in social sciences 3.40; and in natural sciences and math 3.05. Coupled with the effects grades have on student course selections, these differences portend a 50 percent reduction in the number of elective courses taken in natural sciences and math. This figure is consistent with studies conducted at Williams College in 1991 by Richard H. Sabot and John Wakemann-Linn, who estimated the probabilities that students would take a second course in a discipline based on their grade in the first.

Among the potential fallout is a disproportionate allocation of resources to humanities departments at the expense of science departments. And students who might have chosen a math or science course as an elective might turn elsewhere because of the specter of earning a C, possibly diminishing science competence in the general population.

Opponents of change, often high-grading faculty, continue to argue that the system isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. But grade inflation and, perhaps more important, differences in grading philosophies, distort student and faculty assessments. Students tend to select courses with teachers who grade leniently, often learning less along the way. Uneven grading practices allow students to manipulate their grade point averages and honors status by selecting certain courses, and discourage them from taking courses that would benefit them. By rewarding mediocrity, excellence is discouraged.

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