Word: magna
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
AMHERST.Amherst professors mark on the scale of five and make four grades, which appear on the diploma and certify to the actual average work the student has accomplished. The lowest grade corresponds to two, on the scale of five. A mark of three gives one cum laude; four, magna cum laude, and five, summa cum laude. The aim of this marking system is to make the nominal mark correspond to the actual work done. The six or eight in the class who attain the highest average ranks appear on the commencement stage, thus general ability is encouraged rather than proficiency...
...greatest injustice lies in the assignment of the degrees at commencement. According to the regulations any person who receives honors in any subject is entitled to a degree magna cum laude, and one who receives highest honors gets a degree summa cum laude. This, at first sight, may appear fair enough, but if the subject is examined closely the great injustice is at once apparent. A man who has special ability in any one line, but who is decidedly inferior in general knowledge, outranks a man of good general ability, in whom no one taste is specially developed. For instance...
...college requires a man to devote more than six full courses to that study. Besides this he has to pass a special examination, which to a man that has done faithful work in his courses is but little difficulty. A man who gets honors in any subject, receives a magna cum laude degree practically for eighteen hours work. But for a man to get this degree in regular course he must attain a mark of eighty-five per cent. in his last three years, i. e., for 42 hours a week, a mark that would certainly give him honors...
...poorer degree than the four-years student with 65 per cent and an honorable mention. To draw the line still more sharply, in the case supposed (and such a case has actually occurred in the Senior class), the student if he gets 1/2 per cent more gets a "magna;" in other words, he either gets a magna or only a common degree; he is entirely ruled out from all chance for a "cum laude." This is a manifest injustice, and should be corrected at once...
Under this head the words "degree with distinction" are clearly defined. "Distinction in the degree shall be in three grades; indicated by the words cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude, respectively." Parts at Commencement are to be assigned to those who receive one of the above marks of distinction. Ninety per cent of the maximum mark on the general scale for the whole course takes a summa cum laude; eighty per cent, a magna cum laude; and seventy-five per cent, or Honorable Mention in any study, provided sixty-five per cent has been attained...