THE MARKING SYSTEM.

EDITORS DAILY CRIMSON. - Perhaps the writer is mistaken in the object of the desired change of the present marking system, but it seems to him that the object is to alleviate the burden of examinations.

Many suggestions have already been made, the most prevalent of which is a class system based upon general divisions as "fair," "good," "excellent," etc., in contra distinction to a percentage scale of numerical values.

If the advocates of the so called class system would stop to think a moment, they must see that their theory is nothing but a percentage scale, graced with new titles, in which the discriminations are large units instead of small ones. Why do they stop with three or four divisions? Why not go a step further and make one division, viz: "passed"; or even still further and make no division at all? The fallacy of their argument lies in the fact that they simply change the robe of the evil instead of the evil itself. The burden of the examination still remains. They might as well ask the instructor to mark the books with a red pencil instead of a blue one. It would lighten the weight of the examination just as much.

What is wanted is some system that will do away with the long, hard "grinds." Of course this can be done either by lowering the minimum mark or by abolishing examinations altogether, neither of which things at present seems advisable.

There is also complaint about the inequality of the courses. This is largely a matter of opinion. What makes one course harder than another? It is simply a man's inadaptibility to that course. What is hard for one man is easy for another and conversely. If a man wishes to win honors and fails to keep pace with his competitors, instead of complaining about the course, he should seek more fruitful fields for his labor.

Therefore, if, instead of modifying the marking, the examinations themselves were modified, a relief would be felt at once. If, instead of two long examinations a year, several short ones were given and their results averaged, I think a step would be taken in the right direction, for then the ground gone over would be less, and the labor of preparation decreased, which is the point at which we are aiming.

FLEUR-DE-LIS.