Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1880. SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 8, 28 September 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1880. SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS.

» Are the annual school examinations desirable, and are the classifications based upon them of value as indications of the mental powers of the scholars? are questions well worthy of consideration. Considerable importance is being attached to them in the old world, and there are not want* ing indications of a widely spreading opinion (hat there is room for considerable improvement, not only in the manner in which the examinations are prepared for, but also in the principle on which they are conducted. Ie is held by some experienced men of standing that the examinations tend to encourage ready pupils at the expense of solid ones, that instead of improving, they hinder the ordinary work of schools, that thoy necessitate a strain on the (faculties which is in many cases as faial to mental as to physical health, and that they are made the ends for which pupils are taught, and not means by which the character of school teaching may be ascertained. In a word, that the tendency of the examination system is to cram a pupil so as to secure a pass, irrespective of whether or not the knowledge becomes incorporated into his or her mental being. We take it, the examinations are supposed to be fair tests of the mental strength of schools, and not of individuals. Yet the scholarship examinations in this district, have hitherto partaken rather of the character of trials of strength between individual boys than of fair tests of the progress of the schools. What we mean is, that the scholarships should be awarded to the children who succeed best at the ordinary examination, and thus every child in the district would be competing' at the same time for the prize, irrespective of every other influence. In many of the districts parents of promising cnildren may be unable to send their children to Wanganui for the examination, or wherever else it may take place, but if the plan suggested were adopted every scholar in the district entitled to compete would have the same chances of carrying off the prize. Upon the general question a good deal can be said on both sides. The annual examination is a time-honored institution, but if it is not of real utility, far better that it should be removed altogether. Much,

of may be urged in favor ol » it. Nevertheless, if it is the cause (as we fear it i«, in too many cases) of scholars being hastily cram ned with a smattering of knowledge, in order to secure their passes, we cannot but regard it as a very doubtful good. In such instances, the succasifol few show what can be done by a few picked scholars, not what is being done by the whole school. The way to make the examinations really effective would be to hold them quarterly. The Inspector would thus become better known to the scholars, he would have a fairly accurate knowledge of the progress they wore making, he would bo able to arrange his questions so as to test whether or not the knowledge previously gained was remembered, and above all his frequent visits would effectually pre» vent cramming. We are aware thai what we propose would increase the expense of the Education Department. Still, it would possess this advantage. The increased expen* diture would secure greater good from the money now laid out than at present we get. The number of Inspectors would not need to be largely increased. The examinations could be chiefly carried out on the paper system, a couple of members of Committee superintending. Cur attention has been directed to this subject by noticing a review of aa able paper contributed by Professor Max Mailer to the Contemporary Keview, in which he deals with the broai question as regards high»r education. We quote the following paragraphs from M ax M uller's paper: - Though, says Max Muller, I have not lost my faith in examinations, I cannot conceal the faci that I am frightened by 'the manner in which they are conducted, and by tho results which they produce. All examinations are a means to ascertain how pupils have been taught. They ought never to be allowed to become the end for which pupils are taught. Teaching with a view to examinations lowers the teacher in the eyes of his pupils ; learning with a view to examinations is apt to produoe shallowncss and dishonesty. Whatever attractions learning possesses in itself, and whatever efforts were formerly made by boys »t school from a sense of duty, all this is lost if they once imagine that (he highest object in all learning i.s gaining marks in examinations. Aa an instance of the superficiality of the knowledge which results irom over examinations, Max Muller speaks of a candidate who, " after giving most glibly the dates and the titles of the principal works of Cobbett, Gibbon, Burke, Adam Smith, and David Hume, wns asked whether he had ever seen any of their writings, and he had to answer, No. Another who was a9ked which of tho works of Phidias he had seen, replied that he had only read the first two books. This is the kind of dishonest knowledge which is fostered by too frequent examinations There are two kinds of knowledge, the one that enters into our very blood, the other which we carry about in our pockets. Those who read for examiua tions have generally their pockets cram full. Those who work on quietly and have theirj whole heart in their work are often discour/ a^ed at the small amount of their knowledge/ at the little life blood they have made '( The tendency both in primary and second^ ary schools is to multiply branches of teaching without limit, and the tendency is \jy no means so desirable as many supposfe. " Omniscience," says Max Muller, "is jat present the bt.ne of all our knowledge. From the dav he loaves school and cctfrs the University, a man ought to make up his mind that in many things he must Remain either altogether ignorant, or be satisfied with knowledge at second h:oid. There are few men who have a passion for all knowledge ; there is hardly one who has not a hobby of his own. Those so called hobbies ought to be utilised and not as they are now discouraged, if we wish our Universities to produce move men like Faraday, Carlyle, Grote, or Darwin. In some schools all spring, all vigour, all joyousness of work is crushed out under that load of names and dates, of anomalous verbs and syntactic rules, of mathematical formulas and geometrical axioms, which boys are expected to bring up for competitive examinations."