Grades, Eyeball-to-Eyeball

The sophomore crossed the creaky college classroom and took a seat in front of a table. The battered black door closed behind him, and he looked into the eyes of the six faculty members who had been waiting for him. "Are you satisfied with yourself?" began the chairman of the seeming inquisition. "Yes, I am," was the spunky answer. Obviously some of the other inquisitors were not. One criticized the student for flippancy, another called him "a debunker," a third wondered why he was at the college.

It sounded a bit like the nightmare of a student who had read too much Dostoevski or Koestler, but it actually happened last week at St. John's College in Annapolis, Md. The confrontation was the twice-a-year "don rag," which is the closest St. John's comes to a report card. It is also the logical extension of the school's Socratic teaching method, which stresses 100 "great books" and depends almost exclusively on small tutorial discussion groups and oral exams.

Oxbridge Words. The "don" in don rag comes from the Oxbridge term for tutor, and the "rag" is an Anglicism, meaning to scold. Scolding is not its only function. The catalogue calls the don-rag "diagnosis and prescription," and students in difficulty are given extra don-rag periods, throughout the term. Dean John S. Kieffer believes that those having the hardest time should receive the tenderest treatment. The sophomore who was charged with flippancy and debunking was considered a bright but complacent boy who could take the harsh words.

The sessions generally begin with two-minute accountings from each of the undergraduate's half a dozen tutors, and go on to five minutes of rebuttal by the student and other colloquy on his problems. Several years ago, during what was perhaps the longest-playing ragtime on record, the chairman, after 90-odd minutes, suggested that perhaps the undergraduate was beyond salvation. "A student reflects his tutors," the boy replied, leaving the room--and the college.

Crying Coeds. Coeds, who make up more than one-third of the school's 318 students, have been known to exit sobbing. But clearly the don-rag institution is approved by St. Johnnies. After each session a summation is written up (and sent to the parents of freshmen), and traditional letter grades reflecting the summation are assigned as a convenience for undergraduates transferring or applying to graduate school. Though students are entitled to see these letter marks, most of them make it a point of pride never to look them up, accepting instead the verbose verdict of the eyeball-to-eyeball rag.

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