178 EXAMINATIONS IV 



long as they are limited to the examination by a 

 teacher of his own pupils. It is maintained on 

 the other hand— or perhaps I should say was main- 

 tained some years ago— by distinguished educational 

 reformers, that the examination of his pupils by a 

 teacher is harmful and absurd, and that the only 

 good that can be done by examinations is done 

 when the examiner is a stranger alike to the ex- 

 aminees and their teachers. Under this head also 

 arises the consideration whether examinations are 

 at all times in all places good for all men. It may be 

 that examinations of one kind and another can be 

 advantageously applied to schoolboys, but are not 

 useful to the same extent or for the same purposes 

 when applied to university students or to professional 

 men. Some persons think examinations bad for 

 infants, whilst admitting their harmlessness when 

 applied to children above ten years of age; some 

 think that women as a rule are injured by the ex- 

 amination rack, wdiich only permanently injures a 

 small percentage of their brothers. Accordingly, we 

 must note as a variable feature, which must be limited 

 and defined in all statements as to the influence of 

 examinations, the personal element sought by the 

 questions : Who are the examiners ? Who are the 

 examinees ? AVhat are the relations of the one group 

 to the other ? 



It is impossible in the space at my disposal to go 

 over from the three points of view above stated the 

 whole series of examinations held under one or other 

 authority in this country. I will confine myself to a 



