PULLING FOR HIGHER MARKS.

Every year after the examination period there are some men who feel moved to grade their own work. Not satisfied that the instructor can or does mark correctly, they besiege him to reconsider and revise, and see if there is not a blunder somewhere. Fortunately, or otherwise, they are all of one genus: no one was ever heard who pleaded for a lower mark. One and all clamor for a "raise."

There are two things these pests of the post-examination period overlook. First every mark near the honor of the danger line passes a strict censorship. No man is given D or E haphazardly. The instructor who tosses a coin to decide his mark is rare if not quite mythical.

And second, these men do what they would not tolerate for an instant in their "outside" activities. They assume their grade is merely a provisional one which can be raised by a little personal persuasion. Tacitly, they accuse the marker of discrimination against them, in the very breath in which they ask for a personal favor. And yet these men would be the last to admit or desire "pull" in their other work. Mark-pulling is a little more inexcusable than any other kind.