5^8 



NATURE 



[February 29, 19 12 



l)y which, in their preliminary examinations, children 

 under fourteen years of age can gain "distinctions" 

 in individual subjects! As Mr. Paton, the high- 

 master of the Manchester Grammar School, points 

 out, " the endorsement of a certificate with the name 

 of a university of national repute raises quite a false 

 assumption of academic attainment." 



Unfortunately, examinations of this kind for which 

 a large number of candidates submit themselves are 

 paying concerns ; they are not only a source of income 

 to the examiners employed, but the bodies which 

 conduct them also make a considerable annual profit. 



The report proves conclusively that the examina- 

 tions as at present conducted are a source of at least 

 as much (probably more) harm than good. The in- 

 fluence of these external examinations on the school 

 curriculum is often distinctly bad ; bookish subjects 

 which can be easily examined get more credit than 

 subjects of importance, such as handicraft for boys 

 and cookery for girls, which are not readily brought 

 into the examination net. 



Not only is the curriculum damaged, but the teach- 

 ing is also injured, and experiments are made difficult. 

 If it is asked: "Why, then, do not the best teachers 

 dtcline to prepare for these examinations? " the 

 answer is that too many parents gauge the success 

 of a school by its examination results, that many 

 boys and girls must pass these examinations in order 

 to qualify for the work they mean to undertake on 

 leaving school, and that, if the schools declined to 

 prepare for them, it would simply result in the children 

 hting forced to go to a "crammer," and so to lose 

 such benefits as the examination system still allows the 

 secondary schools to offer. 



The subjects on the modern side of a school sufTer 

 more particularly, since existing schemes of examina- 

 tion tend to lessen the importance of a good know- 

 ledge of modern languages and of practical work in 

 science. Instances are by no means uncommon when 

 a teacher of science, in the interest of pupils who 

 must pass a certain examination, is obliged to let 

 them spend the time which ought to be devoted to 

 practical work in "reading up" for the written 

 examination. In but very few examinations is any 

 credit given for the practical work done throughout 

 the session. Even when a practical examination is 

 held, it is of little use, since it can only test to a 

 very small extent the examinee's aptitude for practical 

 work and his understanding of the results which he 

 obtains. 



In literary subjects also the influence of the present 

 examination system is often bad. A teacher cannot 

 adopt what he considers the best methods, but must 

 always have an eye to the kind of questions which 

 the examineir, who is seldom in touch with him, is 

 likely to set. 



While the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 

 are probably mainly responsible for the present vicious 

 system, it must be remembered that, as the committee 

 points out, their objects were, and no doubt still are, 

 undoubtedly good. They started these examinations 

 at a time when the secondary schools of the country 

 sadly needed guidance, both as to what should be 

 taught and as to the standard of knowledge which 

 their pupils ought to attain. 



The modern universities are by no means blameless 

 in the matter. With the exception of the northern 

 universities, which have, fortunately, been compelled 

 to adopt a common matriculation examination, each 

 new university has taken its own view as to what 

 its requirements for entry should be. It is true that 

 they have adopted systems of " equivalents," but 

 in no two cases are these " equivalents " alike, so 

 that a boy or a girl who g^oes to school, say, in 

 Rlrminefham, and whose parents move to London or 



NO. 2209, VOL. 88] 



Manchester at the age when the child is fit to enter 

 a university, may very well find that, while the child 

 is qualified for entry to the University at Birmingham, 

 he cannot be admitted either at Manchester or in 

 London without a further examination. Surely the 

 time has come when, as in other civilised countries, 

 there should be a school certificate which all the 

 universities should be compelled to accept as qualify- 

 ing for admission to their courses for a first degree. 



But when the schools have provided for the require- 

 ments of the universities, they have only dealt with 

 a small proportion of their pupils. The various pro- 

 fessional bodies have various requirements for the 

 admission of students. These are not always the 

 same as those required by the universities; thus the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers lays down conditions 

 which can but rarely be fulfilled by boys who have 

 attended schools where the training is mainly of a 

 literary character; for the intending student must have 

 passed his qualifying examination in more advanced 

 mathematics and science. Why should a boy with 

 distinct mathematical and engineering ability be shut 

 out simply because his father has happened to send 

 him to a classical school? By all means require him 

 to give evidence in later e.xaminations that he has 

 the requisite amount of mathematical and scientific 

 knowledge to enable him to become a competent 

 engineer, but why block his way at entrance? The 

 question ought not to be at this stage what the boy 

 has learnt, but whether he has learnt it well, and 

 whether his mind has been trained to be receptive of 

 fresh knowledge. 



Then, in addition to the requirements of the univer- 

 sities and professional bodies, we have the paradise 

 of crammers provided by the Civil Service examina- 

 tions. No doubt for many branches of the Civil Ser- 

 vice special examinations are necessary, but for all 

 except certain subordinate posts a certificate of the 

 satisfactory completion of a secondary course should 

 be regarded as an essential qualification. This is the 

 case in Germany, though the Abiturienten E.xamen 

 represents a longer period of training in a secondary 

 school and a higher standard of attainment than the 

 school certificate which the committee advocates. 



If such a preliminary qualification were accepted, it 

 would only be necessary for the Civil Service Com- 

 missioners to hold examinations in certain special 

 subjects required by the various public departments. 



The most important recommendations made by the 

 committee are : — (i) in regard to a secondary-school 

 certificate ; (2) in regard to a secondary-school testa- 

 mur ; and (3) in regard to an examinations council to 

 whom would be entrusted powers to carry into prac- 

 tice the principles which the committee favours. 



The secondary-school certificate is to be issued to 

 pupils not less than sixteen years of age ; it is to be 

 of approximately the same standard as the present 

 matriculation examination, but is to be awarded not 

 merely on written work, but partly on inspection, on 

 an examination of the whole of the work done by 

 the pupils, and on the marks given for such work 

 by the teachers, who would have a consultative voice 

 in the award of the certificate. This proposal involves 

 a great improvement on the present chaotic system ; 

 but it represents only a step in the right direction. 



It is unfortunate that in this country' the majority' 

 of the pupils in secondary schools leave at about the 

 age of sixteen or earlier, while in both Germany and 

 America a far larger proportion remain at school until 

 about the age of eighteen. For from this results a 

 further drawback that, while the usual age of admis- 

 sion to German and American universities and tech- 

 nical hiph schools is not less than eighteen, the 

 modern universities in this country and the technical 

 colleges are obliged to fix their minimum age of 



