Brower Cites Problems of Test Grading

There should be more graders in large upper level lecture courses, according to Reuben A. Brower, professor of English. The need does not only arise from problems in evaluating papers and exams, Brower feels: course assistants should be able to devote as much time to students throughout the term as Gen Ed section men.

This means that more money will have to be available for graders, he added, "and so far no one has found this problem particularly exciting."

At present, graduate students acting as course assistants receive five dollars per semester for each student whose work they grade--for 150 students a man gets $750, for 50 students he receives $250. They are expected to attend all lectures, complete the course reading, and evaluate all papers and exams.

During exam period, "course assistants may feel pressure from the University" which allows them only seven days to grade finals, according to Robert G. McCloskey, Chairman of the Government Department. However, he does not feel that the amount paid to individual graders is too low.

Two Exams An Hour

Although McCloskey deplores cases where course assistants have as many as 200 blue books to read, he believes that this sort of overloading is exceptional. In a course of 150 to 200 students, there are usually two or three graders, and most men should be able to complete two blue books in an hour, he said.

It has been McCloskey's experience, however, that commenting on exams is usually unnecessary. There is no mechanism for returning exams from a one-semester course, and "most undergraduates don't seem to be interested once their grade is established."

Like the Government Department, the History Department, has rarely discussed the problem of course assistants, according to Robert L. Wolff '36, the Department's chairman.