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Page 2 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.