VALUE OF EXAMS.

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 848, 17 December 1929, Page 8

VALUE OF EXAMS.

PROPOSED NEW SYSTEM VIEPtS OF HEADMASTER “Touching upon the perennial t of matric Illation I feel that 1 shoT refer brleity to the proposal of University Senate to reduce the bur* den of assessing the papers of jn ' ’5,000 candkiates each year by the i n * troduction <«t‘ a modified form ot crediting. 1 ieel that we shock) gn* this system a. fair trial." said tliehcau master. Mr. 3i. J. D. Mahon ,» , K ' annual prize giving ceremony or h” Auckland Gr.immar School held ■ . evening. “In a large r-ehool like ours. wh ,, we have exceptional opportunities ■ classifying puptils according to the° attainments, w e should have no i). r rteulty in accrediting each vear a nur her of pupils wla.se work is wellabov the average qu.&tU.ition requ. ril j f * matriculation. Itr 192 s there were 'I boys in each of our two highest fio forms. These oh JSovs sat for matrici lation and all piussed. If. howeveaecrediting results, us in Victoria filing examination papers over a stated period and in th*e dull mechanic* routine of appraieifing these i n operation with inspectors, our lat-m state will be worse than our earlier Such drudgery woifld dull the minds of both headmasters and inspectors to-w-hat is Their essenißal work, the d» velopment of broad raid cultural moth" ods in education and' I should nnhesu tatingly revert to thr» present custom of requiring every bop- to sit for the examination. TENDENCY TO CONDEMN "I think we should not lose skt,, of the fact that rnatr krulation is the one outside examination which the majority of the boys take during their secondary school cou rue. They *re accredited for senior ire*? places, and for higher leaving certificutes after onyear’s efficient post -tn&tri eolation work. At the present day, when iheris a tendency to condenur. examiaitions as essentially evil things, it might be well to point oust that they are not entirely without virtue. “To quote from a report of the Knflish Board of Education, they have tiiese among other good efßeets: (ii ‘They make the pupil worit at parts of a subject, which, though important, may be uninteresting and repay, nant to him personally.’ I rthmUdlike to add that the habit of ftactng and overcoming at school what ;may he uncongenial is the best way of cultivating that moral fibre w’hiclb alone enables us to surmount the drudgery all of us are called upon to do in our work in life. 1 (2) 'They trail! the power of getting up a subject Jor a definite purpose, even though it raay not be necessary to remember it afterward —a training that is tbelu for parts of the professional dufy of the lawyer, the administrator, the journalist, and the man of business.'"