EXAMINATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 18589, 21 March 1924, Page 2

EXAMINATIONS

EFFECT ON EDUCATION. [By M. P. Hansen, in the Melbourne ‘ Argus.’J The examination season is drawing to its dose, though the supplementary examinations, or "supps.,” as they are known among tho elect, will provide a. slight extension of tho ritual which in Victoria alone has its votaries numbering tens of thousands annually. The months of November and December are specially devoted to the observance of this ritual. Examinations loom so largely in tho educational work in schools that one is forced to conclude that they have a great value, real or imaginary, in the minds of parents and teachers. In spite of the drudgery entailed in correcting papers, and in spite of the complaints of tho evils of examinations, teachers have a rather affectionate regard for them. Indeed, tho teacher might well reflect: ‘‘After all, tho examination system produced me and most of the other prominent men and women of the present generation.” What defence, then, is necessary? Pupils appear unanimously to be opposed to them, ' but in reality their views are divided. At school it is not regarded as good form to express liking for what it is conventional to decry. The real attitude of pupils towards examinations is a fair indication of their ability m this i-udcu-lar game. Those who do well at examinations have generally a sneaking regard for them, though they would not openly defy public opinion by expressing such a feclnm. Those who fail do not hesitate to express their abhorrence of examinations. Both alike, however, accept them as a matter of course, along with other distasteful but unavoidable experiences incidental to youth, and imposed by the superior pow’ers. By the time Dm student leaves school or university ho should certainly have had sufficient practice to have become quite reconciled to therm The public view is determined largely by school experience. From soon after the beginning of school life, two or three term examinations, aud possibly an inspector’s examination as well, have to be faced annually. When tho pupil outers grade VI. the first external examination looms ahead. Thereafter the external examination system holds him in its grip. To many pupils the school examination at the end" of each term is a pill, the bitterness of which is mitigated only by the prospective joys of the vacation that follows. The system of progress reports each term commonly adopted in secondary schools, in many oases, however, seriously diminishes the earlier pleasures of the vacation. Wonderful indeed are the resilience and mental adaptability of youth! Unpleasant memories of interviews with parents and teachers are usually pushed aside till at the close of the next term the experience is repeated. But the examination pressure yearly increases. The great objective is a scholarship, the intermediate, or some other examination. For tlie.se, in turn, the pupil is specially trained, until often it must seem to him that the be-all and end-all of serious school work is the passing of examinations. They .seem to determine his fate, and so, when, after leaving school, he in turn becomes a parent, he wishes his children to succeed at examinations, whether or not. he himself was successful at school. Thus public opinion favors examinations. EXTERNAL EXAM I NATIONS. For many years written examinations, and especially examinations imposed by an authority external to the school, have been tho suVject of .adverse criticism. Much may 'he said in favor of, and move, still against, external examinations. The pure-lj external examination is losing ground everywhere, and in a number of school systems it has been abolished altogether. In Victoria it has been considerably modified, and it is now possible for a good secondary school to bo free almost entirely from it. Upholders of external examinations urge that they are valuable tests of school work, and contend (bat, their abolition would lead to deterioration of standards. They maintain that the quality of the present output of the schools is duo chiefly to the influence of these examinations. Others claim that tho restrictions imposed by tho requirements of these examinations unduly hamper the teacher in the development of his subjects, and in his teaching methods. While external examinations are set to measure the attainments of pupils, it is generally agreed that they are so defective, inaccurate, and uncertain that they have a. much lower value than is commonly supposed. Since Spencer pointed out in 1861 the harmful effects of examinations upon scholarship, numerous investigations have been made and much written, both for and against examinations. Much, of this has a pedagogical interest only. The director of tho Bureau of Educational Research (Dr Walter S. Monroe) at tho University of Illinois, recently (1922) issued a bulletin dealing with written examinations and their improvement, in which some rather interesting facts arc given regarding one of tho several causes of the inaccuracy of examinations as instruments for measuring achievements. Various investigations have shown that the marking of papers is subjective—that is, different examiners, working independently, assign widely varying marks to the same paper. For example, it would appear impossible for one experienced examiner to value a paper at less than 10 per cent., while another values it at over 60 per cent. I have known such a case. Drs Starch and Elliott quote an investigation in which a final examination in geometry written by a pupil in one of the largest high schools in Wisconsin was selected. Tho pupil's answers were exactly reproduced, and copies sent to 180 high schools for examination and marking by the principal teacher of mathematics in each. Of tho replies received 116 were accepted as having been marked with great care and attention. Of thuso ( two were marked above ninety (out of 100), and one was below thirty. Twenty were valued at eighty or above and twenty others were below sixty. Examinations in the various branches of mathematics are nob commonly regarded as endangered by subjective variation in examiners, though not long ago very considerable variation occurred in Melbourne between four examiners in a paper on algebra. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Investigations have shown that the degree of subjectivity varies with different subjects, being greatest in English and history, and least in algebra and arithmetic. An illustration regarding the lastmentioned subject may be given. In Ohio tho law provided that for teachers’ examinations uniform questions should be set throughout the State. In one year the papers wore set m tho office of the State superintendent of public instruction, and distributed to eighty-eight county boards of examiners. For the purposes of an investigation Dr Robert L. .Morton selected an arithmetic paper from the files of one board of examiners, had it mimeographed, reproducing as nearly as possible the original, and sent copies to each of tho county superintendents to ho marked by the special examiner for arithmetic. Of fiftyfive replies received, the lowest mark was sixty and the highest ninety. The answer to one question on the paper was valued by five examiners at nought, and by twenty-one examiners at ten (full marks), while tho remaining twenty-nine assigned values between one and ten. When such variations occur in mathematical subjects the possibilities m English, history, languages, and science may be imagined. A striking and rather amusing illustration of subjective variation is given by Dr Ben. D. Wood, of Columbia University. One of a group of expert readers for marking examination papers in history at a college examination, after marking a few papers, wrote out what ho considered to lie model answers to all the questions. By accident these model answers went to another expert reader, who marked it as a paper written by a student in tho college. As lie assigned to it a value below the pass mark it was sent to other expert -readers in accordance with the practice there. The marks assigned to the paper by these readers varied from forty to ninety. In Great Britain

and Canada the diflicuities arising out of subjective variation on the part, of examiners are fully recognised. There, as here, they are minimised by holding conferences between examiners, where t!io questions are fully discussed, and methods of marking arranged. The evils of the external examination are to a great extent avoided when the judgment of the teacher is taken. This system, to bo successful, requires a high standard of professional skill on the part of the teacher. In the States the use of standard scales of attainment, and of intelligence tests, is prevalent, either as substitutes for, or as supplementary to, examination tesla. Examinations have a value, if they arc kept in their proper value of subordination in the educational process. They should not bo the dominant influence. The dead hand of external examinations has undoubtedly impeded the progress of schools for many years.