SENIOR FINALS Letters to the Editor

[Editor's Note: The following letter to the Editor refers to the news article "Committee votes 4-3 for senior final exams" in the October 1, 1999, issue of the Technique.]

After I read the lead story in this week's Technique, I got pretty annoyed. I, like most Tech students, never thought they would change the tradition of exempting seniors from final exams during their graduating term. I don't believe they should keep the tradition for tradition's sake. There is so much more to it.

I agree with the reasons cited in the article about 15 weeks being sufficient time for professors to evaluate seniors and that the week off from exams is usually used by those students for moving out and job hunting.

There are other reasons to add to the list. The college graduation ceremony, for the most part, is a once in a lifetime event. It signifies the culmination of all the hard work put forth by the students.

If the proposal takes effect and graduating seniors must take final exams, the prospect of receiving a blank degree at the ceremony is horrifying. On that special day, the students should know they are graduating because for some of them graduation may hinge on a grade in a particular class that wouldn't be known yet.

Students should also know what awards they are graduating with, be it cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. Those awards can also vary based upon the grade in one class.

I've only attended one college graduation before. The programs listed all graduates along with any and all awards. The students even wore different medallions over their gowns that signified their awards. Such a procedure made the entire ceremony more meaningful solely because of the knowledge that those students there had, without a doubt, achieved the very successes that they were being commemorated for.

I envisioned my graduation to be in much the same fashion. To be able to leave Tech on my graduation day with degree and any awards in hand is such a great dream. Unfortunately, that dream may simply go the way of all dreams and fade away as we are awakened to a new rule and a new "tradition".

I hope the administration reads this letter and I hope they get more letters from everyone here showing that they do care how their school is run before the November 30 vote. I'm certain that I'm not alone in my feelings.

Jon Samon

gt9596a@prism.gatech.edu