670 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



may be from what is desirable — will have convinced him that 

 his dictum is now not of general application, even if he be not 

 yet prepared to admit that it does not apply at all to true 

 University teaching. 



In the case of special schools such as I advocate, the teaching 

 should be entirely under the control of the School, including 

 the examinations on the course held in conjunction with 

 qualified external examiners appointed by the University — 

 whose part, however, should be that of sympathetic advisers 

 rather than that of fault-finding critics. The condition of entry 

 should also be determined by the School alone. It is to be 

 hoped that, at no distant date, examinations such as the London 

 Matriculation will come to an end, as being wholly bad in 

 their influence on the schools from which candidates are drawn : 

 owing to the failure of the University to lay down proper 

 conditions and the lack of competent examiners, there is no real 

 standard of excellence but only one of difficulty. 



The matriculation examination may be considered to be of 

 value from two points of view — either as affording proof that 

 the person who passes has received a sound education at school ; 

 or as proof of fitness to enter on a course of University study. 

 As at present conducted, it subserves neither purpose properly. 

 It is well known that the requirements are not such as can 

 be directly met by schools and that it is necessary to prepare 

 candidates specially for the ordeal, a thoroughly demoralising 

 proceeding. Moreover, those who have passed the examination, 

 judging from my own experience, are in no way specially fitted 

 to proceed to higher studies. During several years past I have 

 each year had the opportunity of comparing the work done by a 

 considerable number of students who have passed the London 

 Matriculation with that done by at least an equal number who 

 have not submitted themselves to this ordeal : although a 

 distinct difference has been noticeable between the two classes — 

 inasmuch as the former have been more assiduous workers, less 

 anxious to waste their time, being drilled in learning lessons — 

 the one class has not been in any way better prepared than 

 the other to enter upon technical studies. The work done in 

 preparation for the University examination has been in no way 

 of special advantage to the students and has not had the effect 

 of rendering them more intelligent : both classes have been 



