EXAMINATIONS AIM

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1934, Page 2

EXAMINATIONS AIM

WHAT THEY SHOULD BE. AUSTRALIAN’S THEORIES. We must all have laughed at the reminder that “if Columbus had been formally examined in his day he would have received zero for geography,” writes C. T. Parkinson, headmaster of the King’s School, in the Sydney Telegraph. I expect Columbus 'would also have received three hours’ detention for trying to be funny at the expense of a master. A few years ago he might have been made to write out five hundred times in his best hand-writing: “The earth is flat.” Wasn’t it Galileo who was forced by the Inquisition solemnly to recant his opinion that the earth moved round the sun, but was heard to mutter, after signing the recantation, “But it moves all the same!” People responsible for compiling the syllabuses for public examinations cannot be expected to be prophets. They must work on the basis of facts so far ascertained. School masters also are seldom original researchers, and they, too, work from ascertained facts. Faced by the expectation of parents and the general public that boys should pass certain stereotyped tests, the form and substance of which remain much the same over a period of years, there is an. inevitable tendency to depend upon the use of very limited text books, and to teach subjects in such a way that the• answer to every likely question is spoon-fed to the pupil, and regurgitated by him at the right moment on to the examination paper. A GREAT GAME. Indeed, a great game seems to be played by two opposing sides. The examiners set out to ask tricky and catchy questions, hoping to bowl out the examinees, and the teachers try. to anticipate and defeat this nefarious scheme. It would be absurd to blame anybody in particular. There. are competitive bursaries to be obtained. Teachers are anxious to obtain these for their pupils, and examiners are anxious to be able to sort out the pupils satisfactorily into winners and losers. Between these two antagonists, there is little doubt that the real training of the mind of the pupil, the cultivation of his taste for literature, his appreciation of history, and the encouragement of original research, are sadly lacking. I think that this state of affairs prevails in many parts of the world. It is exercising the minds of educationists in England, and is no less an anxiety there than it is here. Is there a remedy? Within the confines'of a State-wide examination system, I doubt whether there is a complete remedy. Something could be done by varying the type of question and paper set in certain subjects. For instance, in examining in English, French or Latin, if we could only escape the lure of set books, schools and teachers would have much wider opportunities to educate. If the English examination consisted of an essay with a very wide choice of subjects, and a general knowledge paper with an almost unlimited choice of subjects, I think it would be very much better. What the examiners ought to want to find out is whether the pupil has begun to take an intelligent interest in literature, history, music, art, governmental and economic problems, and can write intelligently about them. . NOTHING FROM GRAMMAR. I cannot see anything gained in examining a pupil in grammar or analysis. These subjects may have to be taught in order that the pupil shall write grammatically, but I see no reason to examine him on them any more than one would dream of making a tennis player or golfer exhibit his skill at individual shots in order to declare him x champion. It is the result we want,

not' the steps and stages by which. the result has been achieved. A friend of mine, who used to examine for the London Matriculation English, told me that he always read the essays first. If, amongst the hundreds of these, he found any that showed originality of humour, taste or style, he at once gave the writer first-class honours, and never bothered about the rest of the answers at all. .

Similarly I think that one really good answer on an historical question showing appreciative reading and understanding of period and a faculty to express one’s knowledge in a lucid and logical manner, is worth far more than the amassing of marks on a lafge number of questions of fact. In such subjects as French and Latin, if fhe tests were confined to the translating of unseen passages and the writing of prose, the examiner should be able to assess the degree of mastery of the language attained. In French or any modem language' an examination that does not include an oral test cannot be regarded as of much value. If we schoolmasters could anticipate examination tests being set that were not competitive, and in which the pupils were given a wide choice of questions, I believe we could fundamentally alter our methods of teaching with 'great benefit io our pupils and ultimately- to the standard of education in the State.

Space forbids me to outline what this fundamental alteration could be, but there are many schools in different parts of the world where the experiment has been tried with' very interesting and successful results, notably the Perse School at Cambridge, Be dales in Hampshire, the Winnetka schools in Chicago, and many schools in Northern European countries.