THE PUBLICATION OF MARKS

At the risk of incurring the charge of faithlessness to our avowed editorial policy, namely, to reflect as far as practicable the general aspect of undergraduate opinion, the CRIMSON wishes to assume as strong a position as possible in favor of the proposed publication of all students' marks after the mid-year examinations and at the end of each academic year.

Already, through personal and general discursion, it has become evident that the new plan does not recommend itself to a large number of men. To allow the daily papers or other parties apparently interested in the intellectual welfare of Harvard to boldly compile the inevitable statistics obtainable from hitherto very private sources, appears to some men little short of a betrayal of a sacred trust on the part of the College authorities. But such is not the case. The office is bound by no agreement relative to the publicity of a man's true academic standing. It is an accepted theory that a man comes here primarily to obtain as much benefit from his courses as possible. If, therefore, by any alteration of curriculum, the authorities can increase the present amount of that benefit, if follows that they are merely helping students toward what is acknowledged to be the main object in attending College.

That this innovation will tend directly to raise the standard of scholarship is theoretically apparent, for the one large class of men through whom this end can be accomplished, will be most affected by the publication of marks. That class comprises men who, although perfectly able to make an average of B's, are content, as it were, to skate along on the thinnest ice which the Office will allow. Were their marks made public, a sense of pride and the knowledge that many friends know them to be capable of much better work, would combine to make these men exert their best efforts. Such conditions apply to the average undergraduate, and hence there is little doubt that the institution of the projected idea would immediately manifest itself in a much higher average mark. That, then, is the great justification for the proposed move: it will tend to induce every man to do his best in scholarship, as most are at present doing in outside affairs to the detriment of deserved academic credit. This argument in favor of the publication of marks we consider to outweigh every thing which has so far been said in opposition.

In addition to the objections already mentioned, the defenders of the present "private matter" system argue that the new method would be obviously unfair, because nearly every man labors under different attendant circumstances, while the marks are all judged by one standard. Men who have been away part of the term, others working their way through college, Seniors taking additional courses where marks will not make material difference, and candidates for teams and papers, as well as captains and managers, all have reasons for not ranking as high as men who have confined themselves to study. It is argued that the former group would be placed before the public in a false light; that certain low grades, for which there would be perfectly valid excuses, could not be explained to the many friends who would see the marks. These statements are all perfectly true. There would undoubtedly be at first a great deal of unjust criticism on the part of outsiders who knew nothing of existing circumstances. But, on the other hand, there is strong reason to believe that there would be a decided stimulus to better College work. The whole question, then, resolves itself into this simple form; is not the sacrifice of enduring a certain amount of unjust criticism a cheap price to pay for a very considerable elevation of the academic standard? To our minds there can be but one answer.

And, in addition, the publication of marks would provide what we do not possess at present: a true record of our best effort in that business in which we are for four years supposedly most seriously engaged.