The Green caldron - University Library

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The Green Caldron
give them away and see the delight and happiness of the receiver, he had,
no doubt, fulfilled his purpose in making them.
The next afternoon, as I had promised, I walked through the park. No
longer did we just gaze bewilderedly at each other. This time we smiled.
We smiled as if to say, "You know, I understand you now." No longer
was this just the old man with the canes. Now, he was the kind and lonely
old man with the beautifully hand-carved canes.
THE
Away with the A's
ToBYE Black
Rhetoric 101, Theme 2
PRESENT SYSTEM OF ISSUING STUDENTS GRADES TO
show what they have comprehended in a course is false. The grading
system is a screen for the person who wants a degree and a handicap
for the individual who wants to learn.
Most colleges and universities demand a good scholastic average as one
of the basic requirements for entrance. Many of the wiser schools consider
college board examinations more important than high school grades. Any
person of average intelligence can cram for a test and receive a B, but one
cannot cram for a college board examination which is a test of one's intelli-
gence, and how one puts the knowledge he has to work. Yet even though
the student wishes he could take the time to think theories out as required in
the entrance exam, he finds that he must devote the time instead to memoriza-
tion of terms that he will forget in the next month. At present I am taking a
pre-med zoology course in which I have memorized at least a thousand Latin
terms. I cannot explain the functions of any of the organs in detail, but be-
cause I know the names of the organs, I can get an A on the test ; I feel like
a parrot.
The grading system is a perfect blufif for the person who doesn't want an
education but merely a degree. He devotes twenty-five hours a week to swal-
lowing book terminology and spits it out on the test ; the actual meaning has
never been digested. At the end of four years, he receives his degree, and is
one of the millions of quacks who profess they are educated men.
I believe that the grading system should be completely abolished. A com-
prehensive examination at the end of each semester should be the determining
factor in whether the student passes or fails. If the instructor feels that the
student has understood the material and can use it in either a practical or orig-
inal manner, depending on the course, the teacher should issue a passing
grade. It is a tremendous achievement to be able to understand the basic ele-
ments of a subject; the student that does comprehend them is ready for the
next course.