In the spotlight
Published: 2022-10-21
Online education led to lower grades for attractive females, but not for attractive males
How are grades affected by student beauty? The paper described in this column shows that when education is in-person, attractive females and males both receive higher grades, at least in courses where there is plenty of teacher-student interaction. However, when education moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the beauty premium for females disappeared, while persistent for males. These findings suggest that the beauty premium is likely to be due to a productive trait for males, and the result of discrimination for females.