Page Two

PROMINENT.

among fhe

MOURNERS

by Ed Laing
I'm proud that Grinnell is
maintained as a tight little so-
cial island apart from the out-
side world (where people occa-
sionally eat bacon and eggs at
the same meal and prefer jelly
on their biscuit now and again).
But we must guard against in»
truders: Attempts are being
made to manipulate finances so
as 110 bring in 3 NAME BAND,
called Saluter~Finnegazm for a
concert- or course this is all
against tradition; we mustn't
destroy what Santayana called
the happy provincialism of the
blameless Malay.

A heartening raot, however, is
that no let-up in preppingseems
imminent As the regulations
state, prepping teaches “the
rights and duties ot a Griinnel-
Iisn." We upperelassinen are re-
lieved of such distressing re—
quirements as watching indoae
murals, carrying mamhes, and
dining with the housemother.
We are privileged to letter on
the library steps, walk on the
grass of central campus, and
smoke. otihand, 1 can’t think of
any duties, except for the preps,
of course Last night's near-riot
on south campus exemplifies
the construetiveness of the
prepping program. As far as
women's prepping is concerned.
I won't go along with the guy
who told me that this business
of having the womenputpaper
saclu over their heads should
he continued permanently.

at:

Red-FacerDepartmentz the col-
lege's own student union breaks
Iowa law by selling cigarettes
to minors. And the ”alcohol
con-te " of college rule books
make it plain that Iowa Ilaw is
second only to the Law of
Moses.

 

SCARLET AND BLACK

That Grading System

There has been some griping about the new grading
system this year. Some students don’t like the new sys—
tem any better than the old, some don’t like it as much
as last year‘s, and some just don’t like grades at all.

Many of the criticisms are well founded. Two in par-
ticular should be heeded.

The first is the manner in which the change from
number to letter grades was effected. It seems inconsistent
with the professed philosophy of the faculty and adminis-
tration for a change in one of the basic elements of
academic life to be announced as completed without prior
discussion of the change by the student body or student
government.

Students are as much affected by the grading system
change (and by the change to three hour courses, which
came about the same way) as the administration or the
faculty, if not more so.

The change to letter grades was announced to the stu-
dent body during Commencement week last year, after
many upperclassmen had paid their fifty dollar faith de-
posit and had registered for this semester. If any student
had desired not to return because of the change he would
have forfeited his fifty dollars for the privilege of not
returning.

The second criticism that should be heeded concerns
the correlation of number and letter grades. Officially, the
administration, is not recognizing any parallels between
the two systems, but privately it thinks in terms of 60’s
being D‘s, 70‘s being C’s, 80‘s being B’s, and 90‘s being
A’s. This would be fine and dandy if the faculty all recog-
nized it and would go along with the general idea.

' But not everyone on the faculty is in accord with
the informal policy, and as a consequence someone is going
to get hurt. Those most vulnerable to the confusion which
will arise from the lack of a grading pattern are the
scholarship students, some of whom must keep averages
above .9315.

As an example of the- confusion already existing, the
average grade at Grinnell last year was 80. This was so
universally recognized that curves were drawn in large
classes to conform to an average of 80. Now, officially
“average" is a C, unofficially it is anywhere from 70 to 80,
and in one department it has been announced as being from

Scarlet and Black

GRINNELL COLLEGE
Gﬂnnell. [own

a weekly nanny-Der unburned mil prlday at Illa taller- m It! can Grin.
mil student Publmlllll 0).. Hubert L. Pnknt‘. pnlldml .1 5» board. Kenn-l
nl' Angel-ted Count-t. yrs-a. lunnunkd [or lI-ﬂorlﬂ ndvmiﬂnl by Nut-mu
Martial" Service. lne Cullen Pnhll Bournemnlw. m mun-l Av...
le York, N. r. Entered a. Aeeond-Lll me. .t th- pint ome- at Gdnndl.
luv). Under an it Much a. rats. ant-primor- me: u ”r uhool yuan

Six-led (nick-And .dllarl-l. do not nmuu‘lly ream n.- oplnlan. or pollute
of thll llnwlvnvu’ In of Grhlllell (allele. Unlined edlmrhll all“: ll.-
aplnlon. or the editor.
Editor ..

Business mmager

 

arney Gissellaas
..... Carl Collve

 

October 9. I953

’79 to 85.

This ought to be cleared up officially, and cleared
up before the first six weeks period is up, so that every—
one knows where he stands.

When he is admitted to Grinnell, a student is accepted
as being intelligent and capable of thinking seriously on
important problems, whether he is or not.

There is no thought that the wishes of the student
body should be supreme in all fields at Grinnell, for we
just aren’t as experienced in running a college as the fac-
ulty and administration. But we certainly can’t be so
stupid and uncomprehending that we can‘t be trusted not
to riot because a change in our social, academic, or ath-
letic program is contemplated.

As a matter of plain fact, a lot of students like Grin-
nell (they choose to go to school here), and many are will-
ing to learn the game of life by trying it out on themselves
at college, where they are still in a relatively protected sit-
uation. We are told of the jobs that lie ahead of us, and
the decisions we will be called upon to make. Are we be—
ing prepared for those jobs and those decisions by being
neglected or deliberately avoided every time Grinnell col-
lege has an important decision to make?

GOOD FOOD!

MONROE HOTEL
AND CAFE

Now is the time to
make application for
Student Accident and

Health Insurance at . . .

RAMSEY INSURANCE
AGENCY

APPLY FOR COVERAGE IN -
TREASURER’S OFFICE 0R
AT THE AGENCY.
COVERAGE WILL BE THE.
SAME AS LAST YEAR.

 

HOW THE STARS
GOT STARTED a: «ti a
“an

 

Patrice Mutual says: ”Whenl
was a kid, I wanted to be a
lady football player. Then I

dreamed of another career—
whistling! Somebody discovered

I had a voice, so I took singing
lessons. I Worked hard at it

— then I won the Metropolitan
Opera auditions when I was 17.”

smoking
Ca me Is
Imam: mom/a amt: ,
Emu/:5 A f/Q/EA/o o; MIA/E yo u rse If.
ASKED ME 70 my ﬂ/EM. A/o WAIER
CIGARETTE EVER GAVE ME SUCH
MEAN/RE. CAMELS‘ MUE $0 6000

—AND maybe so Mun /

Smoke only Camels

tor so days and ﬁnd
out why Camels are
Alncrica's most popular
cigarette See how mild
and ﬂavolful a

cigarette can be!

AMELS AGREE wrrtl MOREXPEOPLE .

'I'HAN ANY OTHER CIGARETTE l

[or Mid/less
new/av”

 

