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THE MAROON TIGER
Random Observations
(Editor’s Note: The author of the article which appears below is personally \nown to the Editor. While the con
tents are a bit caustic, they are very timely and thought provoking. It is the desire of the staff that others will be
as fran\ in expression as is Mr. “I. Wal\er Round.”)
By I. Walker Round
Frankly, I don’t give a darn if you don’t like this.
For a long time I have held my peace—suffered in silence
—and at last the spirit moves me to speak. I have never
amounted to much and neither have my articles, so don’t
feel bad over what will follow.
As a semester has become history it would not be im
proper to indulge in a bit of reminiscence. I don’t recall
if 1 have ever heard so many growls about examinations
and grades. It seems to be the unanimous opinion of
the students that the instructors with few excetpions were
insane when they drew up their questions. As far as I
was able to investigate, I found only a few examinations
that might be subject to any considerable criticism. It
seems that one English professor from a well-known New
England University gave the sophomores a quiz that
would have done credit to a board of university exam
iners. I read it with fear and trembling. How glad I am
that my sophomore days are over. Oh, well, I have al
ways felt that for a professor of English to be good, it
was necessary that he be a bit nutty in one or more re
spects.
Then there is one professor of ethics and sociology
who is in one way a big joke and in another respect a
perfect nuisance. It is amusing to see him walk into class
and take from his brief case a book of what might be
mistaken for documents concerning the voyages of Colum
bus, if one would judge by appearances, but which are
really his lecture notes. The note book is battered and
torn, the edges are as smooth as the sweeping end of
your feather duster, a few feeble strings are the only
evidence of the relationship of one back to the other. The
notes themselves are even worse—torn, battered, worn,
rusty and discolored from the infirmities of old age. No
fresh pages of new material are to be seen. Surely, this
man is a scholar!
As far as his examinations are concerned he is an
anathema. His questions are aimed solely to determine
what the student doesn’t know rather than what one does
know. His greatest virtue, it seems to me, is asking ques
tions that are unimportant, insignificant, and not worth
remembering. He is essentially a bag of tricks in this
respect. No wonder is it that grades in his classes are
low. No wonder is it that out of a class of some twenty-
odd men for the first semester only two continued the
course. A little investigation has convinced me that those
two went back because it could not be avoided. As far as
his class procedure is concerned I have yet to find the
student who professes to enjoy it. It is bitter irony that
such a “professor” should become a permanent fixture
around here.
I am told that there is a “professor” of one of the social
sciences whose illustrative diagrams on the blackboard
would make an ideal study for a student of abnormal
psychology. He is reputed to have used words that he
could not even pronounce to say nothing of spelling
Whenever he tells a joke, the students laugh at him in
stead.
The system of grading around here has always ap
peared to be insane to me. We students get Harvard
“D’s” and “C’s,” Oberlin “B’s,” Morehouse “A’s,” and
so on—all of which will be finally thought of in terms
of Morehouse grades. To be specific, we have some
Harvard graduates whose C grades are really good marks
and whose B grades may be considered something to write
home about. On the other hand we have some More
house graduates whose C grades don’t mean much and
whose B grades are far from flattery. This means that
for a certain grade of work one will be given a Harvard
“C,” if done under a Harvard graduate, and will be given
an “A,” if done under a Morehouse graduate. Now I
am not complaining of either system of grading, but it
does seem to this person of blighted intelligence that the
use of one system only can be fair to all concerned. As
the situation stands now, the size of one’s quality point
average will depend, not so much upon the quality of his
work, but upon the care with which he selects his teachers.
I enjoyed the Negro history programs immensely. One
thing marred it all—the piano accompaniment for the
song program which took place on the final day. Why
doesn’t someone whisper into the ear of the professor of
music that he doesn’t know how to play the piano? Of
course, the piano accompaniment was just rotten—as
usual. How much did I sympathize with that brave and
courageous lady (I don’t remember names) who gallantly
struggled through that beautiful song with such miserable
cooperation at the piano. I know just enough about music
to know that when she frowned and squirmed it was not
because she had not overcome stage fright or because her
throat hurt. Gallant lady! She is a Joan of Arc. Oh, it
didn’t just start that day; it’s been going on for a long
time. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!
Another thing—who originated the idea of opening
one side of the double doors in the library and admin
istration building while keeping the other side closed?
I’m tired of flattening my nose against those doors. The
wear and tear on hinges is more than offset by the con
tinued strain on the locks which is the result of trying
to open a door that is locked. Mighty poor economy, I
call it.
By no means have I exhausted my pent-up store of
ballyhoo, but for fear I impose upon your patience I shall
call it a day and, your editor permitting, shall say more
next time.
N. S. F. A.
The McGill Dailly, student publication of McGill Uni
versity in Montreal, comments that 1,500,000 graduates
were turned out by American colleges and universities in
193.5, only 15 per cent of which have so far succeeded
in finding jobs, and goes on to show how Canada puts
out college graduates in the ratio of one in one thousand,
while its neighbor to the south graduates twenty. The
Canadian editor is slightly skeptical concerning extreme
liberality of American education, and suggests that the
more conservative view on education on his side of the
Hne is perhaps the safer course.—Oklahoma O’Collegian.