[jszymborski]

I mean, it could have just as easily discouraged the student and lead them to think that there's nothing there.

I hardly doubt being given an A+ and being encouraged and told that he had quite an idea there would have led him to abandon the enterprise.

Too often exceptional students perform despite poor teaching practices, and then we look to the poor teaching practices as the root of the success.

[renonce]

What constitutes the root of success is up to the reader and I don't think the article mentioned that. The student happened to put his paper into action, sent letters to legislators and got responses and caught one of the chances to change the history. I think that's just life.

[jszymborski]

I mean, the whole article is framed to indicate that the poor grade is what resulted in this mans pursuit to amend the constitution.

The headline is literally "The Bad Grade That Changed The U.S. Constitution"

The teacher goes on to say of herself "You have, just by making this fellow a grade he didn't like, affected the U.S. Constitution more than any of your fellow professors ever thought about it, and how ironic is that?"

The article also insinuates that Watson only began lobbying to change the grade. "Most people would have just taken the grade and left it at that. Gregory Watson is not most people."