Here was a little group of teachers engaged in a noble task that often
taxed their patience and their courage. Poorly paid, they lived
frugally, yet gave their students evidence that thrift was a
virtue. Often they must have appeared to be tyrants for discipline,
but when viewed from a mature vantage point, this discipline appeared
to graduates as one of their major educational gains. Certain it is
that majority opinion rates these teachers as men of high ability,
earnest purpose, and abundant kindliness.
Each student was considered an individual, discussed and rated as
such. Early in 1873 a basis of faculty rating was adopted, in which
the element of personal judgment of the instructor was to become a
part of the marking system. This personal mark, which was later to
receive scathing condemnation from students, was to be averaged with
the practice mark, the result to constitute one-half the tetra
mark. The other half was the result of the written
examination. Unexcused absences were denounced by the faculty, and the
student who amassed too many of them was suspended. In 1872 the dead
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