"That's what I mean," he said, squirming nervously in his chair. "How can a girl like that know anything about business?"
"That," said Miss Larsen, "was not a grader, but one of the secretaries. You see, we only have 18 full time graders and four who grade part time."
"Are the girls all hand-picked from Holyoke, as many friends tell me?" asked Grouser. "No, we only have four from Holyoke," answered Miss Larsen, destroying another misconception. Twelve colleges are represented. Most of the girls majored in Economics or Math."
Recalling his accounting exam, Grouser asked if any of the girls had majored in that field. "No, but there are four additional graders who do nothing but accounting papers." That's their specialty and let's see--Why," she said in amazement--"two of them majored in French and one in Spanish." This all sounded quite logical to the Grouser. "You might be interested to know," she continued, "how the girls are selected." On perceiving Grouser's eager nod, she declared that, "some of them are sent us from the general employment office, and some come directly to us. Lately, we have written several colleges describing the type of girl we want, and the position we had to offer. The girls must have had a good B average, and come from an accredited college.
"We interview them, and send to the colleges for references, investigating them thoroughly before they are accepted." "I've always heard that they are pretty smart," said the Grouser, conceding that point. But he straightened himself, making ready for the master stroke. "how can they know anything about business?" He settled back triumphantly, content to let Miss Larsen wiggle out of that one as best she could.
"I believe that the best way to explain it all would be to tell you how we go about training graders. When the girls first come here they go through a three-month training course, attending all the classes and doing all the assigned reading.
As a matter of fact, they never stop going to classes, so that they can be proficient in more than one subject. Then they go through another period when they grade papers--but their work is checked through by the more experience girls.
"Since secretaries put the grades on the papers, all the handwriting may appear the same, but actually a girl seldom gets one man's paper more than twice in a term. For a double check, the professors themselves read through the distinction and unsatisfactory reports."
"What do you recommend for a good report?" queried Grouser, thinking of his own recent failures. "Common sense," replied Dr. Larsen unhesitatingly. "But I am just going over to Morris House now; why don't you come along, and meet the graders themselves?"
In three minutes they were on the second floor of Morris, in a room drifted high with B.P.A.'s and other reports. Girls were industriously eating apples and furrowing their brows over illegible handwriting. "Ladies," interrupted Miss Larsen, "I would like to have you meet the Grouser."
Discovering to his embarrassment that all the graders expected him to stay something, he ventured, "Where is the blind one?" To the surprised questions of the girls, he explained that "someone told me that one of you went blind and kept on grading exam papers for four hours."
Grouser Ploughs Ahead
This seemed to break the ice, and so he gained confidence. "I'm just here to clear up some rumors that have been floating around the B School. How much time do you spending grading a report?" An old-timer volunteered the information: "About one-half hour each, with a little more for the good ones. And incidentally, there is very little correlation between the grade and the time devoted to writing the report; of course there are some exceptions to that," she remarked, recalling a two and one-quarter page work she had once corrected.
Now the graders began to take up the offensive. "What get us peeved," they complained, "is the continual use of such foul expressions as 'denote, delimit, maximizing, deem, feel,' and above all the inevitable 'pros outweigh the cons, therefore such should be done.' Sometimes the boys get confused, and talk about Silton when they mean Babcock, or keep 'ringing up sales on the cashier,' for ten pages."
"By the way," asked Grouser, "do you date Business School men?" "Well" replied one of the few girls who were still in the office after the 5:00 o'clock bells had rung, "some of us do.--Six of the girls are married and several engaged.
Grouser stepped outside feeling like a new man. For the next ten days his spirits were high. Then came the time when report number six was being handed back. He hurried to Morgan 3, down the pleasant corridors, and the girls smiled broadly as she handed him number 3255. Back went the cover, and down sat the Grouser. Unsatisfactory, in that same bold feminine hand.
"Well, I'll be damned, " groaned Grouser. "Maybe it's me after all!"