PROFICIENCY TEST

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 142, 12 December 1935, Page 7

PROFICIENCY TEST

"BARRIER TO EDUCATION"

HEADMASTER'S CRITICISM

The belief that the proficiency examination is a very real barrier to real education was expressed by the headmaster, the Rev. G. McKenzie, in the course of his annual report, which was read at the annual prize-giving of the Cathedral Grammar School, Christchurch, on Tuesday, states the "Press." The headmaster said that the proficiency was a test restricted'in the choice of subjects to little more than English and arithmetic, and even they were tested along lines of little.real value. His school had abandoned the examination, although any boys who desired to sit for it could do so. Dealing with education in its broad sense, Mr. McKenzie said that the world was living in a so-called age of reason, which was,- however, the most unreasonable of ages. It was an age of science, yet it abounded-with super-, stitions. "We have discovered so many facts' that no one man can assimilate even a hundredth part of them," continued the speaker. "Yet we still demand of our schools that they produce boys who can produce facts at will. The factual conception of education is still the popular one. Mere rote-learning or the blind use of formulas or other rules of thumb produce immediate examination successes, but they tend to stultify the mind." "What use to a boy are a hoard of facts?" asked the speaker. "Facts are often liars. The time spent in amassing them is a .waste of time. As Ruskin said: 'You dp ribt- educate a man by telling him what he knows not, but' by making him what he was not.' The value of education, is not measured by the amount of information retained "by the memory and produced at will, but rather in the degree-of moral and intellectual capacity one has with which to meet the demands of life. SPIRITUAL,'NOT MATERIAL. "The interpretation of facts is of infinitely greater value than the mere possession of them. In order to love knowledge and to seek it we must employ moral and spiritual methods. The aim of education is spiritual, not material; it is preparation for life, not for a living. If a boy could.be taught what is true and beautiful and good, he would realise himself in service to the community • through the activities of his life. The right attitude is that education consists not in the acquisition of information, but in the quest for the :eternal and abiding values of truth, beauty, - and goodness. With that attitude, adventure and romance will come into their rightful place inthe life- of the school because even the drudgery of necessary instruction will be illuminated by the . spirit of the quest.!' ■Referring, to the matriculation examination, Mr. McKenzie said .he was hopeful of a good result this year, although he always regarded this examination as something of a gamble. "I hope that in as many cases as possible, parents will not require their boys to sit for matriculation at the end of three years," he said. "The course should take four years, and success in three years can come only at the expense of the boy's education. To take three, years is rather like the preparation of the Christmas duck— a case of unnatural cramming. To secure matriculation passes in three years is; no credit to.-ja school, as it means a deliberate lowering of educational Tdeals." ;.|;