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Davidson traditions include some time-honored terminology. A term gets used and continues on, even as newer terms come into play. Two examples are reviews and recitations.
Recitations was the original name for classes based on the teaching practice of having student recite memorized lessons daily. Although the styles of teaching changed –to the point that the 1888-89 catalog included a new section on Methods of Instruction that explained:
Class-room drill in the use of the most approved text-books is supplemented by written exercises by the student in all departments, and further by careful oral instruction, either on the Socratic method or by the formal lecture in which exhaustive discussion of a given topic is presented in one view. The free use of the blackboard in all departments and of maps, cabinets, apparatus, charts, etc. wherever needed, adds largely to the interests of the classes.–
the college continued the use of the term recitations into the 1930s. One place this term showed up was in the student handbooks. They included a Schedule of Recitations which was a chart of classes. The illustration is from the 1922-23 handbook. The chart covered Monday through Saturday, since classes then were held 6 days a week.
The other term– reviews — continues to be used in a special Davidson definition today. The first known use of the term in relation to the college comes in the 1871 report of the faculty to the Trustees:
We are happy to report that there has been a growing diligence in study on the part of our Students. This, we think, is to be attributed in large measure to the general adoption of the system of written examinations two years ago– greatly stimulated this year, by the introduction on the part of most of the Professors, of frequent written reviews during the Term. These frequent written exercises have induced greater accuracy and thoroughness in study, and have also given our young men greater facility in the use of the pen.
What the expression “written reviews” translated into for the students was tests, often the dreaded pop test. For the faculty a distinction arose between reviews and examinations. The first explanation of this division appears in the 1930-31 student handbook with the explanation, “Written reviews are given in each course every month, and examinations at the end of each semester.” The definitions were further refined by the late 1950s. The 1958-59 handbook notes, “Written reviews (tests taken during an entire class period) are given in each course approximately once a month. Examinations, taken during three-hour periods, are held at the end of each semester. Daily writs are given from time to time at the discretion of the professors.”
For members of the class of 2014, the handbook was more direct, “Review = Test. Do not be fooled when you hear this from a professor. It’s a test. Every time.”
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