WORK REPORTS

Northern Advocate, 26 July 1935, Page 5

WORK REPORTS

new scheme for students. VALUE OF TESTIMONIALS. [Special to “Northern Advocate”! AUCKLAND, This Day. Comment on the new scheme for reporting dn the work of students promulgated by the headmaster of the Cathedral Grammar School, Christchurch, is made by two Auckland businessmen and one headmaster. The opinion of the two businessmen is favourable; that of the headmaster is cautious. “I am impressed with the proposal,” said Mr G. W. Hutchison. In particular he stressed his pppmval of the intention expressed to apply the intelligence test. “We are far behind other countries in this regard,” he said. “The measurement of intelligence is a definite science, and should .be applied.” Further, he said, it gave the employer something more to base judgment on than a testimonial from the headmaster. He said that testimonials were apt : to bear the stamp of sameness, and therefore perhaps to lose their value in becoming stereotyped. The reports as si'ggested from Christchurch would be more detailed, more individualised, and probably more reliable.

Employers, he said, were inclined to pay not a great deal of attention to testimonials. They were apt to rely on a judgment formed after personal interview. As far as an actual educational standard was concerned, matriculation was sought for a professional career. That was definite. The other requisites, personality, character, perseverance, were a matter of personal judgment on the part of the employer. But if a testimonial in regard to those qualities was worth something on the face of it, then the, employer would rely on it.

Given that the classifications were reasonably accurate, the. employer, he said, would take a boy graded “A” in preference*to one marked “B” or “C.” And yet the “A” boy might not be the most suitable. He might be in the top flight when he left school, but his subsequent early manhood development might not be proportionate. On the other hand, the development of the boy marked “B” or “C” might be greater after leaving school. The pre-requisites for a business career often did develop after school years. It was hard to tell how a lad would develop in the different atmosphere of business. The “A” mark was only a guide, but in the measure that it was based on more careful observation over a longer period it was the more valuable to the employer. The dissentient voice came from the headmaster, Mr H. J. D. Mahon, principal of the Auckland Grammar School. Mr Mahon’s main points were that such a scheme would be impracticable in a school of the size of the Auckland Grammar, and that the same result was attained by different means. “It would be rather cumbersome in a big school,” said Mr Mahon. The use of the intelligence test, he said, took up a lot of time, and he was doubtful about its extra efficacy. He had used it, but had not got any more information than was revealed in the ordinary work and exercise of the boy. The method set out in the scheme had been used in some schools, but he did not think it was any decided advantage.