TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 363 



The judicious teacher will insist on every answer being a complete loi/iral 

 predication, especially in the case of short answers : if a definition be asked for, 

 the answer must contain a statement as to the application thereon. Thus if the 

 question be ' Define the fulcrum of a lever,' the answer, ' The fixed point on 

 which the lever turns,' must be recognised as absolutely worthless. 



Where questions of wider range are set, the pupil is given the opportunity 

 of acquiring both literary form and symmetficcd logical order, of which the 

 importance must be demonstrated by the teacher. Composition is thereby better 

 taught than even by the classical method of ' Narration from memory.' Here 

 I speak from the experience of five years' examining in botany under the Irish 

 Intermediate Board. It is impossible that pupils, save of the most ungrateful 

 nature, who have had proper training by the method of class examination should 

 incur the oft-quoted censure of one great authority, who writes : ' That an exami- 

 nation candidate writes for a person who, in general, knows already what he has 

 to say, i.e. the examiner . . . may be trained unwittingly to express himself 

 obscurely and by allusion.' The candidate who does this damns his teacher, 

 whether schoolmaster or coach : such modes of expression make for low scoring 

 everywhere. 



Grading examinations are invaluable for giving method to teaching and 

 study and limiting its range in any given period to reasonable bounds. The 

 brilliant teacher and the brilliant student are ever in danger of covering more 

 ground than they can profitably survey. For the student who works alone the 

 gi'aded course of examinations affords one shield for perseverance which it 

 would be stupid and Pharisaical to ignore. A man who studies ' to improve his 

 mind ' is liable to be assailed by the temptations to accept lower aims, obsessed 

 by the jeers of his friends and family. But the pursuit of a University career 

 gives his pursuit that business-like character that cannot fail to impress Mrs. 

 Grundy. Herein lies the use of the 'Examining University.' 



3. Discussion upon the Present Position of Private Scliools. 



