Letters - Winter 2013

Jock Harty memories evoked

Re: Parting Shot, p. 40, Summer 2012 issue

As clear as if it were yesterday, I can remember the dread when, ten minutes into a calculus exam at Jock Harty Arena, my calculator died. The roving proctor was unsympathetic to my situation. For a brief moment, I was captivated by the idea of standing up and throwing my now-useless calculator at the wall— I was close enough—but the unavoidable nature of my dilemma got the better of me, and I settled down. And I think I even passed.

David Thomson, BCom’83
Vancouver, BC

I remember my second-year macroeconomics course. We had a young professor, recently arrived from the Bank of Canada. He would set his exams based on an arbitrary total number of marks (e.g. 212) and would then write a quadratic equation to shift the marks to more resemble a bell curve. I quickly figured out that the best exam-writing strategy was to just answer as much as I knew about as many questions as possible. This worked for the first three exams.

But when it came time for the final exam in Jock Harty, I guess I had taken my strategy for granted and perhaps did not prepare as much as I should have. It only took 30 minutes to exhaust my knowledge of macroeconomics, and I spent the last two and a half hours trying desperately to come up with anything else. It was the longest two and a half hours of my life. I later figured out that I earned 35/100 on that exam. Fortunately, I still passed the course.

Philip Coppard, BCom’87
Calgary, AB

‘Old guard’ weighs in on QSB then and now

The issue just received (Summer 2012) is a high-quality publication and a credit to our School. For oldsters, news of the happenings and changes are of much interest and are covered well. QSB has certainly grown, in stature and facilities, overshadowing the old days of “the Commerce Department.” (Note: The Commerce Department, or School of Commerce, fell under the Faculty of Arts prior to the establishment of Queen’s School of Business as a separate faculty in 1963. —Editor)

How interesting it would be to attend some classes, talk to some of the students and just mingle. Yes, it’s a whole new world out there. The principles have to be the same, but the tools, procedures and personnel involved make for a completely different ball game. No wonder QSB is so popular! Amazing the number of applicants! The old guard—my department—are fast dwindling away, but our days at Queen’s were special and will always be part of what made us into what we became. Keep up the good work, and many thanks for sending the magazine.

Herb Thiele, BCom’48, Arts’49
Tallahassee, FL, USA