THE OVER-STUIfY QUESTION.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12507, 21 May 1906, Page 4

THE OVER-STUIfY QUESTION.

VIEWS OF DUNEDIN PROFESSORS ~ SHOULD EXAMINATIONS BE ABOLISHED? (SFECIAI. TO "tH« PRESS.") • DUXEDIN, May 19. Profetsor Park, Director of the Ota# University .School of Mines, made passing reference to our system of examina tions in his annual report on the worl v of that school. On being approached -t< e:e if ho would care to elaborate on that comment, Professor Park readily agreed "I have seen," he began, '"what Dr Truby King and others have said about the evil of our present syeteoi of competitive examinations. Yes, there car bo no doubt that the stress due to'oui educational fyetem is responsible foi ! some mental strain, but how much ] J cannot fay. The evil begins in, the ■ upper ftandards in the primary schools, I and is probabuy well developed before ■■ the pupil reaches the university. Onh j two. cases of mental strain have conic ! under my own otservation. Such casce ! would naturally be eliminated before I thfy reached the mining faculty, u'hieh 0 i deals chiefly with applied eoience. No, j I have no fault to find with the preI s?nt system of teaching. What 1 1 object to is the eternal grind to meet ! the demand of written examinations. : Written examinations, so far as out I engineering work is concerned, merely - ! tend to fester a system of .cram, which jin professional work could only resuit iin inefficiency." v_ "In.youi annual report of the Milling ' School, you refer to the German system lof examination. Would you mind deI tailing the general scope of this sysI'tomP' ' ! "In tW mining academies and colleges of applied science in Germany written examinations have been replaced by a system of oral examination and j written thesis. Students attend the j collego ketures as with us. At the j end of each year of > their academic course each .student is subjected to an oral examination, and is required to write n thesis on the subject of instruction. The writing of the thesis or dissertation forms the most important part of the examination. Reasonable timo is allowed, amd every facility in the way of reference is placed at the disposal of the candidate in the preparation of his thesis. At the end of hie academic course the student is required to prepare a final thesis of a more comprehensive character on some subject selected by the Examination Board _ of the faculty. By this time the student has made up hie mind to specialise in some particular direction, and the _ final thesis is selected with the of I. furthering this object. Three months are allowed far the preparation of the final thesis. On the merit of thas _ work the candidate- is awarded Kie di- —' ploma. The manifest advantage attending the preparation of a thesis Iβ that a man soon ddßoorare his deficiencies and limitations when, he begins to write, and it is the research and readinc required to fill up these gaps that brings into play hie reasoning faculties and gives scope for intelligent generalisation and the application of fijst principles. Thore is no attempt to trade upon, the memorising of a pile of facts; in fact, the sole aim and intention of the German ejßtero of education is to appeal, to the general understanding, end not to memory work, which is never re=n liable." . .. ■ t ill Dr. Benham, lecturer in hiology at 1 Otago "University, made it clear that I he thinks there are too many examinaJJj tions, but he realises the difficulty of rooting out preconceived ideas, and ho T- \ sees that the present system finds favour in the eves of men who have been fc. pioneers in educational work in New "fa Zealand, and whose opinions eboald be ffl respected for that reason. Dr. Benham HI said that it was almost impossible in the I University at any rate to do away with a written examinations, end that for a 3 very obvious reason. Under our system I the examiners are all English (resident a at Home that is) and consequently the I merits of candidates must be adjudged I on -written papers. In come of the Ausi traliah colleges the examining is done 3 locally, but the standard is nofc nearly [S as high as that of Hew Zealand, which U is art argument in favour of our system. 53 "I do not know," said Dr. Benham, H "whether yon could do away with the !| written examinations in private schools, Eg but I do not see how we could avoid 0 the present system at the University. Kj In my own work I can form a very jn ehrewd idea at the end of session as f| to what each man is worth, but I d» Bβ not know how far this would be the H case in regard to other subjects. I, Rj personally, oould get rid of most of the H written examinations but Ido not know H that one could abolish them altogether. B Id any case you see it would take a M long time to cross question a whole S class supposing you had a class of fifty §j or sixty students. It would take a long H time to give each one a fair viva vooe H examination. ,, H "Do you think that the competitive m spirit in the matters is an unnatural H spur ?" jw "Well, it may be, but it is the same nj right through nature. It is always the JH survival of tho fittest. There is always (9 competition. that very spirit thafc W hits brought every civilised nation into H its place in the world. There can be b| no doubt that free competition is an H excellent thing for the race. Yes, I h think competition is right enough, but si whether the examination is the right H I form in which to present the compeuU I tion is another matter. Undoubtedly H tho German system of judging .over a H| period of work is the most rational H method, but you muet remember that 9 even in these continental schools they H. have what w knowß' as a passing out B examination at the end of the course." D "Another point that has struck mc ■ ever since I nay» been here, is this with 3 all our vaunted system of education the. B men t'Jxat come to the University from 9 the schools in New Zealand are not 1 so well developed mentally as the oori responding cla.-.s in England are. »Tiiey do not seem to be able to - use riwir minds so well. I had a gtocd deal to land, and though they oame from all land, .4nd though they come from all sorts of schools they seemed to be better able to grasp new subjects than our fellows."