If you’re a college student, the odds are your professor will be a Democrat, and that’s good if you want to play it safe when it comes to grading.

 

A recent study found that Democratic professors are “more egalitarian” than Republican ones with grades. The upside with GOP faculty is they’re more likely to give out the really high grades. But be careful because they also are more disposed to dispensing the lowest grades as well.

 

Another key difference is that black students tend to fare better with Democrats than with Republicans.

 

After examining the grades of 17,100 students taught by 417 professors at an unnamed American university, researchers Talia Bar of Cornell and Asaf Zussman of Hebrew University of Jerusalem concluded that 6.2% of GOP marks were C- or lower, compared to only 4% of Democratic grades. Republicans also were more likely to give out A+ grades (8% of their grades, compared to only 3.5% from Democrats).

 

It should also be noted that researchers were working with a far larger pool of Democratic professors than Republicans. Of the professors involved in the study, 90% were Democrats.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Red Grader, Blue Grader (Inside Higher Ed)

Republican and Democratic Professors Grade Differently (by Christopher Shea, Wall Street Journal)

Partisan Grading (by Talia Bar and Asaf Zussman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) (pdf)