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Great history professors often teach guts. The modern European history course given by Yale's eminent Hajo Holborn, though currently in abeyance because he is on leave, customarily enrolls some 350 students, who rely on a couple of textbooks, call the course "Page a Day with Hajo Holborn," and don't bother much about lectures. Virtually promised grades of more than 85, they merely await questions that rarely change from year to year. Harvard's famed Crane Brinton freely admits that he "likes undergraduates and doesn't want to make them work too hard." A 30-page paper is required for "Brunch with Brinton," but the good professor advises that "one page of aphorisms will be perfectly acceptable."
The fact that such gems exist even at mighty Harvard is no evidence that college is as easy as ever. On the contrary, the toughness of other courses makes guts all the more precious. When pressed, some Harvard gut-seekers concede feelings of "intellectual dishonesty." But most agree with one student on the dean's list: "For getting into graduate school or making the dean's list, an A is an A no matter what course you get it in."