EXAMINATIONS, GRADES AND CREDITS. 367 



EXAMINATIONS, GRADES AND CREDITS. 



By PROFESSOR J. McKEEN CATTELL, 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 



r| THE determination of individual differences, the improvement of 

 -*- useful traits and the assignment of men to the work for which 

 they are fit are among the most important problems in the whole 

 range of pure and applied science. The extraordinary growth of the 

 material sciences with their applications during the nineteenth cen- 

 tury requires as its complement a corresponding development of 

 psychology. It would under existing conditions be intolerable to 

 erect a building without regard to the quality and strength of materials, 

 to use at random a wooden beam or a steel girder ; yet we often do much 

 this thing in selecting men for their work and adjusting them to it. 



In examinations and grades we attempt to determine individual 

 differences and to select individuals for special purposes. It seems 

 strange that no scientific study of any consequence has been made to 

 determine the validity of our methods, to standardize and improve 

 them. It is quite possible that the assigning of grades to school 

 children and college students as a kind of reward or punishment is 

 useless or worse; its value could and should be determined. But 

 when students are excluded from college because they do not secure 

 a certain grade in a written examination, or when candidates for 

 positions in the government service are selected as the result of a 

 written examination, we assume a serious responsibility. The least 

 we can do is to make a scientific study of our methods and results. 



Grades assigned to college students have some meaning, though 

 just what this is remains to be determined. Dr. Wissler* has shown 

 that there is a decided correlation in the standing in different sub- 

 jects. A man who receives a high grade in Latin is likely to receive 

 a high grade in Greek, and almost as likely to receive a high grade 

 in mathematics or gymnastics. This seems to indicate that the grades 

 are assigned for moral traits, or for the general impression made by 

 the man, as much as for ability and performance in a given subject. 

 Professor Thorndike and his students f have found a similar relation- 

 ship in school grades and in the New York State Regents' examina- 

 tions. Professor Dexter^ has shown that a man who is given a high 



* ' The Correlation of Mental and Physical Tests,' Monograph Supplement 

 to The Psychological Review, No. 16. 



t Summarized in ' Educational Psychology,' Lemcke and Buchner, 1903. 

 t ' High Grade Men in College and Out,' Pop. Sci. Mon., March, 1903. 



