Word: grader
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...HARVARD examination system is designed, according to its promulgators, to test two specific things, knowledge of trends and knowledge of details. People approaching the examination question have three choices: 1) flunking out, 2) doing the work, or 3) working out some system of fooling the grader. The first choice of solution is too permanent, the second takes too long...
...seems pretty obvious that in any discussion of the various methods whereby the crafty student attempts to show the grader that he knows a lot more than he actually does, the vague generality is a key device. A generality is a vague statement that means nothing by itself, but when placed in an essay on a specific subject, might very well mean something to the grader. The true master of the generality is the student who can write a ten page essay that means nothing at all to the writer, and have it mean a great deal to anyone...
...generality writer banks on the knowledge possessed by the grader, hoping the marker will read things into the exam...
Just exactly what our equivocator's answer has to do with the original question is hard to say. The equivocator writes an essay about the point, but never on it. Consequently, the grader often mentally assumes the right answer is known by the equivocator and marks the essay as an extension of the point rather than a complete irrelevance. The artful equivocation must imply the writer knows the right answer, but it must never get definite enough to eliminate any possibilities...
Bate is best known among Harvard students for English 140b, his extremely popular course on the literature of the late 18th century. "Mr. Bate blends a real knowledge of the subject with an ability to express it well, which is quite rare," said Joel A. Bando, a grader for 140b...