The Marking System.

It is generally conceded that the evils of our marking system can only be remedied by supplanting percentages by a plan of ranking by classes, e.g. "excellent," "very good," "good," etc., as is the custom in German High schools. The great difficulty in this innovation lies in the matter of scholarships. If our professors have not sufficient insight to be able to judge of the merits of the students taking their courses, without having recourse to the percentage system, why let them keep it up for those men who are trying for scholarships. But against this it would be urged that it is wrong to make an isolated class of the scholarship men. Surely there can be no objection to having these men included in the general scale of classification as well.

Let the faculty and the conference committee put their heads together in wise deliberation for weeks and months to come, they will have to decide on this or some very similar plan at the end of all their labors.

There is one cheerful side in their delay in this matter, and that is that they may possibly wait with their decision till the time comes when Harvard will have approached so near to the ideal standard of the German University, that marks and examinations will be unknown.