First conceived in the pre-k years by "nurturing" teachers who doled out "Fantastic Job!" and "Genius Work!" stickers to chicken-scratch drawings, reinforced in high school through easy A's on sloppily constructed papers, and manifest at the collegiate level in the form of undeserved summa cum lauds, grade inflation pervades American...

In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, President Barack Obama rejected enduring comparisons to Star Trek character Spock, asserting that the biggest misconception about himself was "Me being detached, or Spock-like, or very analytical." Chatter correlating the president to the Vulcan Starfleet officer dates back to...

Susan can run four laps on a track (one mile) in four minutes and 30 seconds. What is her average velocity?

"Six meters per second!" Wrong.

The correct response? Zero.

Our teacher explains, with a gleefully sardonic smile, the vector nature of velocity. "Susan could have run the mile in...