MATRICULATION EXAMINATION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1689, 4 March 1913, Page 4

MATRICULATION EXAMINATION.

The University authorities have— for the first' time we believe—published a tabulated statement showing in detail the matriculation ; passes and failures, and the general public is at length afforded an opportunity of forming some idea as to tho results of this examination in so far as they may be considered to represent the quality of tho socondary education of the Dominion. It may safely be said that tho great majority of those examined had been receiving instruction at secondary institutions for.at least threo or four years. It therefore comes somewhat as a shock to find that out of over 1200 candidates only s<bmc 41 per cent, passed —practically 3 out of ovcry 5 failed. Tho matriculation examination is not a i one, and it certainly was not instituted for the purpose of fostering doctrinaire fads of extremist theories: its object, so far as the University authorities are concerned, should be mainly to determine tho fitness or otherwise of a portion to entor on a University "course; such fitness as the averago intelligence should exhibit under averago teaching circumstances. Thcreforo, when 00 out of some 150 candidates from this city alone are rejected, then it must be fairly apparent that thero is something wrong with the methods of cither tho secondary teachers or the examiners. We are inclined to the lattor hypothesis, as it is difficult ,to credit that some of the most experienced and Bkilful tcachcrs in tho Dominion can be responsible for such a dibdcle. As a matter of fact, tho opinions of prominent members .of the University Senate itself, as expressed at its last •meeting, point to the oonclitsion that something is radically wrong with tho wholp system of examination.

Among other faults, there appears to bo no reasonably fixed standard of requirement or consistency of aim in tho various examination ; tests. There is certainly a syllabus, but a scrutiny of some of the examination papers goes to show that tho syllabus is by no, means a reliable guide for preparation. We understand that it ls no uncommon thing for candidates to, be told by those preparing thorn that if tho paper in a certain subject is on tho lines of, or of the Bamo standard of requirement as, last year's paper, they will probably pass, but if on those of unother year they will certainly fail. The absence of sympathy of purpose or identity of aim between examiner and teacher cannot fail to have an injurious effect on any system of instruction whose efficiency is tested by such methods. The Senate appoints somo score of examiners yearly, the majority of whom need have no knowledge of the condition of secondary education, as it exists in tho Dominion, and who, in most cases at any rate, have no experience in modern secondary teaching or ideals. No revision committee or board of moderators appears to exist, whose duty it should be to see that tho examiners in the various subjects maintain some uniformity of aim and standard. Each examiner evidently interprets the syllabus according to his own ideas, and sets his own standard of requirements; he may decide to fail all candidates getting less than a cortain percentage of marks, and next year a fresh examiner in the same subject would pass candidates with a lower percentage on an easier paper. Hence the common experience of an unfortunate candidate passing in a subject at one examination and failing in it the next. This abscnoo of co-ordination between the one who is responsible for the training of thc'pupil and the one who examines him is the worst feature of the system. In countries in which the University has been brought into real touch with the people, in America say, the opinion of the secondary teacher, who lias had the training and preparing of a youth about- to take up a University course, the chief factor in determining his fitness for entering on that course. So far is this from being the. ease in the Dominion that what with one change in. the regulations and another, the average secondary teacher docs not even know what in the minds of the University authorities really constitutes fitness. Hero is a case in point: in accordance with a recent change in the regulations, a compulsory science paper on new lines will be set this year, and tcnchors and pupils alike havo tho haziest idea'as to what the

examiner's interpretation of these regulations will bo, and tho latter has probably a very hazy idea himself. Something might be said of this haphazard system of examination if it disoouraged "cram," but as a matter of fact it is likely to _ cncouraga "cram" in its most vicious form. Tho academic mind will probably resent any dictation from the lay public as to what should or should not bo the standard oi educational fitness for entrance ' to a University course, but it is a question of considerable public moment if the University authorities set such standards or adopt such methods as are likely to impair the public usefulness of what after all is a public institution, or • which aro likely to penalise any considerable section of the community. A large proportion of candidates for matriculation have no intention of going on to graduate work—their parents cannot it; matriculation for them is only the door by which they may enter on a lino of professional studies or training which has no concern with University degrees. This , door, as a member of tho Senate very truly said, is too often "slammed in their face" by some irresponsible examiner obsessed with the mathematical and literary requirements of a regular University course. Did the University possess_ tho complete confidcnce of tho public, the intelligent public would accept without question its verdict on this or on any other educational matter; but there is a growing dissatisfaction outside, and most pronounced dissatisfaction inside, the University itself in regard to its system of teaching and examining and government, and it has become increasingly plain that tho agitation for reform is well founded.