Midterm Exam Grade Changes

In response to the discussion in class yesterday (Tuesday, October 27), I've decided to do as follows:

• Give additional credit for specific answers to multiple choice questions 5, 15 and 27. My reasons for doing so, and for not giving additional credit on other questions brought up in class on Tuesday, are stated below.
• Reevaluate the definitions of any student who wishes me to do so. If you cannot come to my office hours, please email or call me to arrange a time to meet.
• Take account of improvement by giving additional weight to tests later in the term-for those to whom this may apply. I will not penalize those who did well on this test by diminishing its contribution to their overall grade.

I would prefer to take account of improvement rather than giving anyone an alternate test. As to grading on a curve, I prefer to wait until the end of the term to decide how to relate numeric scores to letter grades.

Multiple choice questions. I reviewed the seven questions for which some of you believed alternate answers were correct. Here, briefly, are my decisions:

5: (The single most important factor leading to the Constitutional Convention). Half credit for answer "d", the economic interests of the delegates. Reason: The answer is in line with Beardian criticism of the Constitution as an economic document. However, neither Beard nor others claimed that the Constitution was designed merely to personally enrich its framers; rather, he argued that they acted as 'enlightened' members of their economic class in crafting a system of governance that their class could dominate.

10: (To counter the effects of faction, James Madison proposed). No credit for "d", direct election for members of the House. Direct election itself was not seen as a mechanism for dealing with the threat of tyrannous majorities (the form of faction Madison chiefly feared). He did see a large republic as a way to make it difficult to organize majorities. However this was not because of the size of the House (Madison and other Federalists favored a relatively small House; the Anti-Federalists wanted a "more numerous representation"). Rather, it was-at least in Madison's theory-because of the diversity of interests in society. In any case "direct election" is a separate matter from the size of the House.

15: (Popular democrats understand economic policies as): Full credit for "d", focusing on the expansion and not the distribution of the economic pie. If the question is read as asking what kind of economic arrangement popular democrats want, "b" is clearly the only possible answer. If, however, it is read as asking what popular democrats criticize in existing economic policies, then "d" is a plausible answer.

19: (Elite democrats praise the American market economy because it): No credit for "b", is completely self-regulating. See p78-79, where the text discusses the elite democratic view of the economy: "they acknowledge that the government should play an important, if limited, role in the economy".

22: (The privileged position of business is based on). No credit for any answer except "d". The text distinguishes between "Corporate power in politics"-the items in answers "a" through "c" and control of investment capital, referred to as the "privileged position" (p95). I addressed this concept in class by distinguishing between direct and structural influence (see the "Conflicting Views of the Relationship of Capitalism to Democracy" under "Corporate Power")

27: (The objection that a popular democrat might voice to polling is that polls). Full credit for "b", don't give accurate results. This is a reasonable interpretation of what popular democrats claim about polling, though the inaccuracy they criticize is not due to biased samples.

31: (An example of the revolving door occurs when). No credit for "c", a former employee of one administration is hired by the next administration. The text makes it clear that the term refers to the movement of individuals from journalism to government posts and vice-versa (p150). More broadly, "revolving door" has been used to describe movements back and forth between high positions in public and private life, especially where this confers special advantages on private institutions.