Why the Easiest Grades Often Come From the Worst Teachers

Editor's note: this page previously carried a full reprint of a copyrighted news-site essay. It has been replaced with an original piece on the same subject.

Here is an uncomfortable truth about report cards: a lot of the time, it's the weakest teachers who give the easiest grades — because they know that good grades make everyone leave them alone. Parents brag, "My child has a great teacher! All A's this year!" But the best teachers are usually the ones giving the lower grades, because they are the ones raising expectations.

This is the quiet engine of grade inflation. A teacher who hands out A's buys peace: no angry parent emails, no principal meetings, no lawyers accompanying families to conferences — a phenomenon administrators say is genuinely on the rise. A teacher who gives the honest 79 has to defend it. Over time, the system selects for the path of least resistance, and parents cheering the A's are cheering the very dynamic that hollows out their children's education.

The deeper problem is the adversarial turn in the parent-teacher relationship. Teachers consistently report the same frustrations: parents who treat them as suspects rather than partners — "Is that true?" asked of the child in front of the teacher, as if the professional's word counts for nothing. Parents who negotiate grades like contracts, demanding extra credit to nudge a 79 to an 80. Parents who make excuses for unfinished work, teaching their children that accountability is always someone else's problem.

None of this comes from malice. It comes from love, misdirected. But love misdirected still does damage: children learn that effort is optional, that authority is negotiable, and that someone will always swoop in — the helicopter parent's signature move — before consequences land.

What teachers actually ask of parents is simpler than it sounds. Trust the professional the way you'd trust a doctor's diagnosis: if a teacher flags a behavior problem early, take it seriously rather than defensively. Let children earn their grades, including the low ones — a 79 that is earned teaches more than an 80 that is negotiated. Handle concerns privately and professionally: raise them with the teacher first, acknowledge there are two sides, and never trash a teacher in front of your child. If the child learns you don't respect the teacher, neither will they.

The partnership works when both sides remember they are on the same team. Teachers chose a profession that pays modestly and demands enormously because they care about children. Having their backs — trusting them, supporting them, letting them teach — is the least a parent can offer, and the most a child can benefit from.