Office Hours: What grade would you give Biden on his first year as president?

And as compared to Clinton, George W., Obama, and the former guy

I’m a fairly tough grader. I only give A’s to the top 5 percent or so who have done exemplary work. The next 20 percent or so get A-minuses for very good performance. The next half are in the mid-range, getting B’s and B-minuses for trying hard and doing reasonably well. The lowest quarter get Cs and Ds, and a few fail. The whole point of grades is to give students a sense of how they’re doing, so to the extent possible I and my teaching assistants explain to students why they receive the grades they do.

So for this week’s Office Hours question, let me ask you: what grade would you give Biden on his first year in office — and why? (We’re jumping the gun a bit, of course, because he wasn’t sworn in until January 20 — but let’s assume that not much gets done the first weeks of January.)

In justifying the grade you give him, feel free to compare his performance to the first years of Clinton, George W., Obama, and the former guy.

As usual, I’ll chime in at 10 am PT, 1 pm ET.

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