University of Maryland math professor Ronald Lipsman has written a revealing essay on the reactions he often receives from students when they get the low grades they have earned. Even in a math course, they’re apt to whine, make excuses, and claim that they deserve a better grade simply because they supposedly tried hard. Lipsman observes that this kind of behavior would have been unthinkable back in the 1960s, but now that the entitlement mentality has spread so widely, it’s common for students to try these gambits when they have done poorly in a course.