Dow Mathis
Premium Member
And, after the graded degree is over, the CoW member proceeds to critique the degree in the presence of the Brother who otherwise was suppose to have just experienced one of the high points of his life. A degree is supposed to be about the candidate. Graded degrees take that focus away from him and communicate the idea that his experience was of secondary importance to the lodge getting a certificate.
I don't know about that... I was raised at a graded degree. I found the whole explanation of the grading to be very interesting, and the fact that someone was watching to make sure that the brothers got it right was kind of neat as well.
Like most things in life, what you take away from the experience tends to track pretty well with the amount of effort put into it. In my case, the degree team was really focused on putting on a good degree. I think that I benefited from that focus in a way that I may not have had the degree not been graded. Additionally, even though I knew that it would be graded before hand, I had no concept of what the grading would consist of, just like I had no concept of what the degree would consist of. Did the grading color or change the degree experience at all? How should I know... Like growing up, you only do it once, so the question of what would have happened if you could go back and do it another way is purely academic.
In my opinion, the practice of grading degrees helps insure that all lodges do it the same way, or at least as close as is possible to the same way. It can also encourage the degree team to give it their best effort and do a better job of learning and performing the work. I don't think this is a bad thing at all. Of course, this, like all opinions, is worth exactly what you've paid for it. :biggrin: