engineering students it is a source of
benefit, which cannot be gotten in any
other way. The success which the first
issue has attained, heralds the future life
of the Journal without doubt, encour
aging the members of the society to
lift it to the top-most rank among col
lege journals.
BY a new arrangement which went
into effect last commencement,
the manner of granting class honors at
this college has been changed. No
mention of valedictorian is now made
by the faculty ; but a valedictorian may
be elected by the class, if it chooses.
Fifteen per cent, of the class may re
ceive first honors, providing that many
have averages of eighty-three, or above
fifteen per cent have second honors,
if they average seventy-eight, or above.
This arrangement eradicates a diffi
culty . which in the past has at times
seemed to be almost an evil. In case
two students have averages which differ
by only a small fraction of one per cent,
it seems unjust to discriminate between
them as to honors, especially where
they have pursued different courses of
study, and have been graded by differ
ent professors. It is known also that
too often students look at honors in the
wrong light; and as a result we have
book worms. A student who works
mechanically for honors, is selfish, con
ceited, and in most cases does not arrive
at the clear understanding of his course,
THE FREE LANCE.
which he should. In recitation it is one
thing to give the author’s statement,
and it is quite another thing to give the
same line of thought in your own lan
guage. Many students disdain to fol
low the language or order of the text ;
but prefer to give their own reasoning
to arrive at the same principles as the
author’s; although they may sometimes
fail partially, yet their recitations are
worth far more than those of a book
worm.
In view of the fact that many students
lose themselves in their headlong efforts
to reach the one coveted goal, it seems
just to remove that goal, and replace it
by the present arrangement, which offers
less inducement to working for mere
grades, and removes to a greater dis
tance the possibility of doing an injus
tice by a compulsory discrimination.
AS we have now become somewhat
settled, the question naturally
arises, what is the outlook of the coming
year? I think none will say that it is not
far ahead of that of any previous year
which this institution has seem
Never before have we had such an in
flux of new students on the college side.
The Preparatory Department has; we
think, its usual number of students.
The Senior class, though not as large as
the class of ’9O, is larger than many Se
nior classes previous to 1890. Our old
buildings have been transformed into
new ones, and the new ones are con
stantly being better fitted for our use/