University Reform. 323 



producing it ; nor would the student be likely to 

 do credit to himself in the examination, who 

 should fail previously to test his powers of an- 

 swering questions on the spur of the moment. 

 But the business of recitation should not be con- 

 fined to going over in public what has already 

 been gone over in private. The instructor's su- 

 perior knowledge and more extensive sources of 

 information should be applied to the elucidation 

 of the subject in hand. Questions should be freely 

 asked, and discussion, wherever relevant, should 

 be encouraged. Thus conducted, the recitation 

 would fulfil its appropriate function of making 

 good the shortcomings inherent in a system of 

 merely private study, of supplying illustrations 

 which cannot be found in text-books, and of 

 smoothing the difficulties which from time to time 

 beset the student in his progress. 



Viewed in this light, the recitation is properly 

 an auxiliary to study, rather than a gauge of the 

 student's attainments. The latter purpose can be 

 adequately subserved only by the examinations, 

 on which the rank assigned to the student should 

 exclusively depend. The marks given on indi- 

 vidual recitations are nearly worthless as an index 

 of scholarship. By dint of " cramming." the use 

 of keys, translations, and other abominations, a 



