THE PASS SYSTEM.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9946, 27 January 1898, Page 3

THE PASS SYSTEM.

MEMORANDUM BY THE INSPECTORS

The following report was read at yesterday's meeting of the North Canterbury Board of Education :— With reference to the difficulty which, according to memo, of 14th ulfc., the Board occasionally meets with in reconciling the inspectors' estimate of the work of a school with the " face " value of the pass schedule, I beg to submit the following remarks, trusting that they will help to throw some light on the subject. A report which professed to estimate the efficiency of a school by considering solely the .performance of the pupils as recorded in the pass-schedule would be based on very iinperfected information. In the first place the pass-subjects form only a part of the course of instruction prescribed for public schools, a very important part no doubt, and yet our scheme of education would be but a sorry affair indeed if it were restricted within limits so narrow. How much higher our aims are may be learned from a brief study of the syllabus, where are set forth in detail the many other requirements of which the pass-schedule takes no cognizance whatever. And, in the second place, ( the pass-schedule furnishes nothing more than a rough-and-ready record of the attainments of the pupils in the subjects of the pass group, and the incompleteness of this record is such that taken by itself may readily suggest wrong conclusions on the relative merits ot the performances of (a) pupils, (b) classes, and (c) teachers. As thii is the very point on which the Board seems to have been misled I propose to deal at length with one or two cases which will serve to illustrate the force of my statement. It is, of course, not to be supposed that these cases are typical of a numerous class, but as likely as not when they do occur they supply the contributing cause in the few instances in which the inspector's comments are at variance with the results in the pass schedule. (A) Pupils—l have said that the passschedule may convey a wrong impression of the relative attainments of the pupils. To show how this may 'be I take the case of three boys in a fourth standard class. A and B are passes, Cis a fail. Now so far as the entries in the schedule give us any information A and B are exactly equal in attainment, C is quite inferior to either of the two because of the stigma attaching to his failure, and yet in reality he may have done very nearly as well as, say, B. His performance in reading, writing, drawing, composition, and geography may be quite as good as B's ; they have both got " pass" marks for these subjects entered opposite their name. In spelling and arithmetic, however,, C is marked a failure, and, as a consequence, he fails for his standard, while B, who obtains a "pass " in these two subjects, secures his promotion. Note, now, how little the difference which may have brought about.this result. C has , made four mistakes in his spelling test, while B has made three, and C has been able to get only two of his five sums right, while his more fortunate fellow has got three right! One mistake more in spelling and one more sum less in arithmetic has done it all. A, on the other hand, may have done his spelling test without a single error, he may have got all his sum 3 right, and, in the rest of the subjects his performance may be in like measure superior to both B's and Cβ. And yet in the schedule A and B take equal rank, whereas it is A who stands on a high summit by himself and B and C are far below him on two planes close together. (B) Classes.—Again, let us compare the performances of separate classes. Two classes may have the same number of "passes" and "fails" entered against them in, say, the reading column, and yet their performances in their subjects may present a striking contrast. In both the reading may be sufficiently fluent and accurate to secure a large proportion of passes ; but when intelligence is tested by questions on the subject matter of the lessons there may be almost no response from the members of one class, while from quarters of the other comee a variety of well-put intelligent answers. The pass and fail record may be identical, the comments in the body of the report will in this case certainly differ.

(C) Teachers —And lastly, to take a case iv which the different ideas of the teacher largely enter. Two teachers have each ten fourth standard pupils to prepare. The classes are very similar in point of capabilities. They each contain three children ot much promise, four of good sound parts, -two mentally dull and one physically weak. The first teacher we deal with is a really able man ; he seeks at all times to develop the powers of his pupils on well-considered lines, and when examination day arrives the three brightest members of his class sake 3ii excellent appearance, not only in pass subjects, but in other important matters of which the pass schedule takes no account, and the, four children of somewhat lesser ability are not far behind in point of solid attainments. The three weak members of the class fail; they have not been neglected by any means, but the teacher has recognised before long that their welfare wonld be best studied by allowing them to take two years instead of jme to master the work prescribed at this" stage. The performance, taken all round, could not well be bettered, and yet only 70 per cent, of passes is recorded. And now for the second teacher. He is a man of inferior mould. His sole aim in educating the children committed to his charge is to secure a high percentage of passes ; he is a pass grinder. By hook or by crook (whip and spur I am afraid would be more "likely to suggest the means employed) he gets the three unfortunates of his class to toe the pass line, along with their better endowed fellows, and the loftiest height of his ambition has been attained ; he has secured 100 per cent, of passes. No matter that they are all of comparatively poor quality, the level, say, of B "mentioned above, they all manage to scrape through. The outside public, of course, do not know this, and when it appears in the newspaper that 100 per cent has been obtained what more can one desire? Men of this stamp were by no means uncommon some years ago, and the splendid record of their percentages formed the' frequent topic of newspaper paragraphs. Against all such offenders we have resolutely hardened our hearts from the first, and of late years they have almost entirely disappeared from the district, or they have at least seen fit to acquire a better understanding of the hi eh responsibilities of their calling. Even yet, however, notwithstanding all that has been done to condemn the practice, a benighted teacher or school committeeman may occasionally be found who chooses to ignore the fact that by trumpeting forth some phenomenal achievement in the way of passes he may be earning for his school but a shoddy reputation at best. For the Inspectors, (Signed) L? B. Wood.