Nice Week

My workload is a little less this week. That, to me, is quite a shock. I was anticipating a rough week before Thanksgiving break, but I suppose don rags have the tutors busy enough that they don’t want to add papers to their workload.
For those who don’t know exactly what a “don rag” is, the Wikipedia article for St. John’s College is an excellent resource for all questions concerning this most eccentric school. This is the excerpt describing don rags:

While the school does not release grades to students (except upon direct request), there is an evaluation system. At the end of every semester at St. John's, a student comes together with his tutors to hear what they think of his academic performance.
Don Rags begin with each tutor discussing the student's performance in the third person to his colleagues. The discussion takes place as if the student were not there. After this, the student is asked if he has anything he'd like to add. Once the discussion is over the tutors decide whether or not the student should continue at the college.
Beginning the first semester of their junior year, students are permitted to choose to have a conference (instead of a Don Rag), in which the students first report on their progress and then hear responses from their tutors.
The regular Don Rag format continues for the student's last Don Rag, which is at the end of junior year.
The term “Don Rag” comes from England, where professors (“Dons”) would rag on their students.

On the note of don rags, mine is this Saturday. Freshman have their don rags a bit before winter break to give them ample time to make adjustments and corrections if anything is not considered satisfactory for the first semester. I’m not nervous at all. There’s no reason to be nervous. There’s absolutely nothing I can do to influence what transpires, unlike an oral exam. They’re not testing me in any way, they’re simply reporting on my aptitude. I’m going in with the confidence that this is the school to which God has called me. Doing my work and finding joy in it are all I would expect from myself for any school. And even if that’s not satisfactory for them, my conscience is clear. I will be going in with a listening ear, though, because I expect some decent criticism of my performance (from a few tutors particularly) that will help me to grow both as a student and as a servant.

Today I have work for an hour, Freshman Chorus, and work again until five o’clock. In the evening I have seminar on the first half of Plato’s Phaedo, which describes the death of Socrates and the conversations preceding. It should be a fairly relaxed weekend and vacation. We have seminar on Monday and the remainder of next week off to read Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War and one of the gospels (Matthew?). I’ll enjoy this break, I’m sure, as much as I’ve enjoyed my work. After that it will be about three short weeks to close out my first semester at college. Isn’t that exciting? I think it is.

Remember to Praise God today for all His blessings and instruction. I will. I’m off to shop for soap, erasers, and marshmallows. I’ll be talking with Jaipaul today too about India this summer. Be blessed. Be at peace. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Toodles.