* * *
The chief marketing man at our firm was always looking for good things about us to push out in front to impress potential customers. No surprise there, I guess. And he was very good at his job, rarely missing an opportunity to find a good feature relevant to the flow of the moment or of the conversation to mention at just the right time.
Yes, he was good with people and just fun to talk with too, by the way.
So it must have been at some down moment - relaxing between meetings or at the end of a long day, I suppose - when we were talking about our college experiences and, when he asked, I told him what my lowest grade in an academic course had been. At the end of the first semester of my freshman year, I received a B+ in College Physics. The second semester, I don't see how, but I got an A-. I worked harder on those Physics courses than on any of my other courses that year, and I still remember clearly walking straight out of the second semester final exam across the street to the College bookstore and selling my textbook. Whew!
*
It might have been a year later, or even two, when Bob had the opportunity to introduce me to a big luncheon of strangers we'd invited to visit us for half a day - many of whom were with school groups or represented other schools from all over the region. He'd let me know that this was an important opportunity for us to make a good impression on a group who could be influential in helping a particular initiative of ours to succeed, so I'd whipped up one of my better presentations - I thought - and I was looking forward to the occasion.
"Byron Derrick is one of our best speakers. I know you're going to enjoy his talk," Bob said to the crowd after lunch, a good start, I thought. "And one thing you may be interested to learn about him," he added, "is that the lowest grade he ever made as a student in college... is a B Plus ...that he got in his first term ...as a freshman." The audience wriggled pleasantly just a bit, following Bob's jovial tone: "...Still a source of some embarrassment ...today..." His voice rising as many were chuckling, "...even though that was many years ago!"
And as they laughed pleasantly, I took the podium.
My university did not actually give Plus or Minus on a grade; it was just A or B or C. But it was a convention among the faculty that the student was told by the prof when it was a Plus or (I suppose) a Minus. So I know it actually was a B+ that first semester.
And it was the only academic grade I got in college less than an A. By the way, you may not be surprised that I don't actually remember getting some grades of A Minus. Probably did? Yes, probably.
You may wonder what a non-academic course might have been. Well, there were several: Physical Education, and so-called "Military Science," which is what they called the ROTC courses that were required of all freshmen men at my university back then.
I got an A in the main ROTC class, where we learned some military history and maybe some other stuff. I got my A in that part. I think the Captain who was our teacher may even have wondered if I was going to enroll in ROTC. Ha! fooled him!
The most interesting thing in that course was the final exam, taken at the same time by all freshmen men in a 500-seat auditorium. Except on the court, I never saw a nationally known basketball star who was in that freshman class, until he showed up in the front row at that final. Then he moved to a desk on the stage, where he got some attention from several of the junior officers who were proctoring the exam.
It was pretty blatant, but no one was concerned. Freshman were not allowed to play on varsity teams way back then, and by the next fall Connie had joined the NBA.
The other part of ROTC, for a separate grade and for one semester hour's credit by itself, was called "laboratory." We learned how to fire rifles in lab, even once the famed M-1; but mostly we showed up in our best uniforms, brass all polished and shoes shiny, and we marched back and forth to recordings of John Philip Sousa music. Boy, I loved that part! There was no one any better than I was at the marching part of ROTC.
On the other hand, however, I could never really get the hang of polishing my brass or making my shoes shine bright enough. I may even have gotten a C in ROTC Lab.
The freshman Phys Ed classes lasted a half a semester, and most of us had to take two in each of the freshman semesters. There were choices, but some classes filled up pretty fast.
Anyway, my first semester I took Tennis from a nice young fellow. I enjoyed it, learned some good things, and did all right. I got an A, not even an A-. They meant it that you didn't have to beat other classmates, but just work hard and apply yourself. Great.
The second half of the semester I chose Volleyball, in part because the same young guy was teaching it. I thought I did apply myself about the same amount, but I wasn't very good - clumsy, even - and I didn't enjoy myself quite as much. Maybe I should have taken badminton?
Anyway, the report on the teacher's door at the end of the semester said in Volleyball, I had made a B+. Fair enough, I thought.
When I got my semester's transcript at the beginning of the second semester, though, my grade in Phys Ed was a B. Does that seem right? Average a straight A and a B+, and you get a flat B?
I looked up the young guy in the white shorts who had been my teacher. Here's what he said: "The University doesn't recognize Pluses or Minuses."
"So, I know," I replied: "but averaging an A and a B doesn't give you one or the other. In my case, you actually have evidence to break the tie. My average fell in the A range."
He said many students, maybe even most of them, had two different grades like this. So what they did as a department is they got together and flipped a coin. That semester all of us got the lower grade of the two we had received.
Bob didn't mention my PE grade as a first-semester freshman. He couldn't have since I hadn't told him.
But, as he might have said, it's "still a source of resentment today" ... "even though it was many, many, many years ago.!"
* * *
"Byron Derrick is one of our best speakers. I know you're going to enjoy his talk," Bob said to the crowd after lunch, a good start, I thought. "And one thing you may be interested to learn about him," he added, "is that the lowest grade he ever made as a student in college... is a B Plus ...that he got in his first term ...as a freshman." The audience wriggled pleasantly just a bit, following Bob's jovial tone: "...Still a source of some embarrassment ...today..." His voice rising as many were chuckling, "...even though that was many years ago!"
And as they laughed pleasantly, I took the podium.
*
My university did not actually give Plus or Minus on a grade; it was just A or B or C. But it was a convention among the faculty that the student was told by the prof when it was a Plus or (I suppose) a Minus. So I know it actually was a B+ that first semester.
And it was the only academic grade I got in college less than an A. By the way, you may not be surprised that I don't actually remember getting some grades of A Minus. Probably did? Yes, probably.
You may wonder what a non-academic course might have been. Well, there were several: Physical Education, and so-called "Military Science," which is what they called the ROTC courses that were required of all freshmen men at my university back then.
*
I got an A in the main ROTC class, where we learned some military history and maybe some other stuff. I got my A in that part. I think the Captain who was our teacher may even have wondered if I was going to enroll in ROTC. Ha! fooled him!
The most interesting thing in that course was the final exam, taken at the same time by all freshmen men in a 500-seat auditorium. Except on the court, I never saw a nationally known basketball star who was in that freshman class, until he showed up in the front row at that final. Then he moved to a desk on the stage, where he got some attention from several of the junior officers who were proctoring the exam.
It was pretty blatant, but no one was concerned. Freshman were not allowed to play on varsity teams way back then, and by the next fall Connie had joined the NBA.
*
The other part of ROTC, for a separate grade and for one semester hour's credit by itself, was called "laboratory." We learned how to fire rifles in lab, even once the famed M-1; but mostly we showed up in our best uniforms, brass all polished and shoes shiny, and we marched back and forth to recordings of John Philip Sousa music. Boy, I loved that part! There was no one any better than I was at the marching part of ROTC.
On the other hand, however, I could never really get the hang of polishing my brass or making my shoes shine bright enough. I may even have gotten a C in ROTC Lab.
*
The freshman Phys Ed classes lasted a half a semester, and most of us had to take two in each of the freshman semesters. There were choices, but some classes filled up pretty fast.
Anyway, my first semester I took Tennis from a nice young fellow. I enjoyed it, learned some good things, and did all right. I got an A, not even an A-. They meant it that you didn't have to beat other classmates, but just work hard and apply yourself. Great.
The second half of the semester I chose Volleyball, in part because the same young guy was teaching it. I thought I did apply myself about the same amount, but I wasn't very good - clumsy, even - and I didn't enjoy myself quite as much. Maybe I should have taken badminton?
Anyway, the report on the teacher's door at the end of the semester said in Volleyball, I had made a B+. Fair enough, I thought.
*
When I got my semester's transcript at the beginning of the second semester, though, my grade in Phys Ed was a B. Does that seem right? Average a straight A and a B+, and you get a flat B?
I looked up the young guy in the white shorts who had been my teacher. Here's what he said: "The University doesn't recognize Pluses or Minuses."
"So, I know," I replied: "but averaging an A and a B doesn't give you one or the other. In my case, you actually have evidence to break the tie. My average fell in the A range."
He said many students, maybe even most of them, had two different grades like this. So what they did as a department is they got together and flipped a coin. That semester all of us got the lower grade of the two we had received.
*
Bob didn't mention my PE grade as a first-semester freshman. He couldn't have since I hadn't told him.
But, as he might have said, it's "still a source of resentment today" ... "even though it was many, many, many years ago.!"
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment