Sweet Spring

English, like other Departments, offers special hour exams to graduating seniors in honors, ostensibly to reward them for four years of hard work with a final exam-free last Spring in Cambridge.

Professors and lecturers in English courses, as if embarrassed that their Department is so unabashedly considerate to undergraduates, seem reluctant to talk about Honors Hour Exams. In order to make the tests comprehensive they hold the exams as close as possible to the April 29 Department deadline. They also frequently delay announcing the date and pointing out that the assigned paper must be handed in before the test, by Department rule.

As a consequence, it has been a hard week's fight for many English concentrators. One honors candidate, for example, had a test and a paper due on April 22, a test on April 24, a test on April 26, and a paper due on April 27. In one course, he was informed of the test date less than two weeks beforehand. With each hour test weighing as much as a three-hour final examination, this senior decided to take the final in one course, judging the barrage of April requirements too much to withstand. Luckily, a friend told him just in time that his decision to forego the honors test meant he was opting for a C grade in the course. For the Department needs an early grade to calculate final standings, and when one is lacking, it arbitrarily gives a C. The final exam grade influences the permanent record, but not the degree designation. Our senior couldn't believe it, but it was true. He took all his "optional" tests and handed in his papers.

"O reason not the need ..."