ARITHMETIC SCRIPTS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 187, 4 May 1940, Page 10

ARITHMETIC SCRIPTS

Reply To Allegation By Dr. Bullen SENATE COMMITTEE ' A reply to the statement made by the senior lecturer in mathematics at Auckland University College. Dr. K. E. Bullen, in which he alleged that the University Senate executive committee’s criticism of examiners of arithmetic papers was unjust, was issued by the committee last night. It was as follows:— “In regard to the recent trouble concerning the marking of scripts of entrance arithmetic, the executive committee of the Senate does not intend to enter into a newspaper discussion with the university examiners. “However, in view of the statement which was given to the Press by Dr. Bullen, and which might lead to misapprehension of the true position, it is necessary to let'the public know that the resolution adopted by the executive committee was due, not to . differences of opinion on questions of standards or schemes of examining, but to grave errors of omission and commission made by examiners in applying their own standards and in carrying out their own scheme.

“In order to give the examiners an opportunity for explanation, typical instances of these errors were submitted to each examiner, and all replies were fully considered by the committee. It was to protect the interests of candidates unfairly treated by the examiners that the university undertook the expensive task of re-examination and the unpleasant duty of reprimanding the examiners.”