Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1928. EXAMINATIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 7 December 1928, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1928. EXAMINATIONS.

During tlie past t.wo or thm weeks, the schools (])iib]ic and private) in the Mastertmi district have been holding their annual examinations. Nor are the candidates the only victims of this vast inquisition. The examiners arc under the harrow, too. Day and night must they toil at the correction of papers, the most monotonous and irksome intellectual task ever devised by the wit of man. But, after all, did the wit of man devise it? Did he not rather adopt the examination system and all it entails in an unenlightened mood, and cling to it blindly, through the force of tradition, long after its disadvantages had become manifest. No educational institution has been the target of so much criticism, and the justice of that criticism cannot be disputed. For obvious reasons, the examiners would shed no tears if the system were abolished. Examiners would gladly be freed from an intolerable burden, while teachers claim that the exigencies of the system cramp ' them and stereotype their methods. The objection's to examinations are very familiar. The answers to a few questions in a few papers provide no real guarantee of ability. Luck enters largely into a system which plays into the hands of the fluent, the self-possessed, and of those who have the knack of putting their goods into the shop window. The merely clever candidate may make a better impression than one of far superior attainments. Many of the leaders in the professions did not distinguish themselves in examinations. Conversely, many who secured high honours have made no mark in after life. Again, in the schools, the compulsion of training for the same test is apt to produce excessive standardisation and to encourage cramming. It prevents the enterprising from browsing at large, in the fields of learning and acquiring a broader culture. These are the commonplaces of argument. They arc repeated “ad nauseam ’’ and

in a chorus. Few are the dissentient voices. Since, then, the evils of the system are so apparent, why do we, knowing- the better path, continue to follow tinworse’ The answer is that, evil though the examination system may be, it is, generally speaking, the most satisfactory one. For certain purposes a more effective alternative has not yet been found. Man is not a wholly irrational creature. That the system should have such a wide currency and should have survived so many assaults indicates that, with all its shortcomings, it supplies a need. Clearly it is in the public interest that admission to the professions should be by examination. This affords at least some sort of protection.