IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 8

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE,

A DOUBLE-PURPOSE EXAMINATION,

(To tlxe Editor.)

The chief difficulty with the matriculation examination seems to be that it is used by many students as a kind of general examine tion, the passing of which is held to be ( guarantee that the student has attained ft certain standard of proficiency in a variety of subjects. If it were purely an entrance examination for the university it might be more specialised; 'if it were merely a higher form of proficiency examination it might be of a more general character. Iri trying to be both it fails to some extent to satisfy either requirement. It has now become the/cuatom for many business houses to require a matriculation pass from candidates for employment, and this tends to make the examination somewhat superficial from the purely university point of view. Yet it cannot be contended that the standard is not fairly high as far as it goes. It is more satisfactory from the general point of view than from the purely scholastic side. It has been contended that the standard set has not always been uniform and that the papers have in some years been easier than in others. If so, this should bo remedied, as a uniform standard is very necessary in an examination so widely used and accepted. STUDENT, 1