EXEMPTION

From certain Seniors struggling with Divisionals comes a cry against the injustice caused by differences in the Departmental rules regulating exemption from final examinations of courses in their field of concentration. These rules are as varied as the tongues of the Tower of Babel, for each Division makes them as it sees fit. In the Division of Modern Languages only those who pass the Divisional Examination "with credit" are exempt. Biology grants freedom from examination to all Seniors who have, at April Hours, an honor record in the courses in question. The Division of History, Government, and Economics relieves candidates in good standing from final examinations in history, government, and economics. The Fine Arts Department follows no hard and fast rule, but judges each case on its own merits.

The situation is unfair. It allows certain men to have a maximum of time to prepare for the general examinations, and forces others to devote a large part of their time and efforts to relatively unimportant courses. The concentrator is unnecessarily hampered by being complied to study the detailed matter of specific courses, when he is covering the same ground and learning the significant facts of the subject, though in less detail, for divisionals.

The ill-adjusted requirements of the Divisions plainly place men in different departments on an unequal footing in the matter of grades and the quantity of work necessary for a degree. For this reason a man in a field granting exemption may easily get honors with no more work than his fellow who does not succeed since he is in a field which requires final examinations. In the interest of fairness the various departments should codify and correlate their regulations.