L.— EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 217 



without appeal to the average pupil, it must be covered ; no matter that 

 his class is over-large and badly graded, he must deliver to the examination- 

 room pupils capable of answering questions which an intensive study of 

 past papers indicates as likely to be set. No wonder, then, he looks upon 

 argumentative teaching as waste of time, and fails to show the bearing of 

 his subject upon the events of every day. He has no time to digress to 

 related subjects outside the four walls of his syllabus. Some teachers 

 can resist the temptations that examinations offer, and, treating the syllabus 

 as a useful servant, can obtain good results without sacrificing the broader 

 aims of education. 



The Public Demand for Examinations. — The public, with reason, 

 demands some guarantee that a pupil leaving school has made satis- 

 factory progress in a curriculum approved by an expert. It does not, 

 unfortunately, seek information as to the more important results of school 

 training— character, physical fitness, and practical skill — which written 

 examination is unable to assess. 



The shackles of examination are in the main self-imposed ; no efficient 

 school will suffer in reputation because it elects to play the game in an 

 amateur spirit and refuses to enter a league of rival competitors. Many 

 public and secondary schools retain their freedom, or at least keep the 

 dangers of examination in check, but hundreds of others appear to exist 

 solely to promote the well-being of semi-official boards and examiners. 

 The assessment of the progress of pupils is primarily the duty of the 

 expert school staff, who are in daily contact with them. Periodical examina- 

 tions by the teachers themselves provide valuable information as to the 

 success of their own efforts, and as to the special difficulties of individual 

 pupils. The tendency of these great examining bodies to mould many 

 schools in the same pattern and to relieve the teachers of one of their 

 important functions is a matter for grave consideration. 



It is argued that the influence of preparation for examination is confined 

 to the last year of school life. In practice we find this is not so. In some 

 cases the purpose of instruction is distorted for several years prior to the 

 examination, or, on the other hand, we find low-pressure teaching in the 

 earlier years and consequent over-pressure as the examination approaches. 

 Examinations, disastrous in their influence upon scientific and practical 

 studies, are probably less harmful with linguistic and mathematical sub- 

 jects, but with these must discourage free teaching and experiment. 



Internal examination strictly upon what has been taught, supplemented 

 by the other information that any well-conducted school can supply, 

 should meet every demand that parent and employer can make. 



The quantitative testing by written examination of selected candidates 

 is no measure of the value of the work of a school as a whole, which can 

 only be ascertained by the guarantee of the teaching staff, supplemented 

 by adequate extern inspection. Constructive and sufficient inspection 

 in close co-operation with the teaching staffs can provide every safeguard 

 that the public may demand. Teachers and inspectors alike must assume 

 wider responsibilities and we must trust them both. 



The elementary and central schools have hitherto led a healthy 

 educational life, but the virus of examination is beginning to enter their 



