August 11, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



171 



probably continue to hold separate exam- 

 inations instead of joining with other col- 

 leges. '^^ We may take him as the fairest 

 and ablest protagonist of the old way, while 

 recognizing possibilities of new ways, as is 

 shown by his address on 'The Use and 

 Control of Examinations' before the de- 

 partment of superintendence of the Nation- 

 al Educational Association in February, 

 1901.^" In brief he says: An examination 

 has two distinct aspects, one looking toward 

 the past, the other toward the future. It 

 is a means of proving a student's past at- 

 tainment and also of testing his power for 

 that which is to come. A written examina- 

 tion is apt to be a test of the range of a 

 student's proficiency rather than of his 

 thoroughness. It loses a major part of its 

 value as a measure of fitness for anything 

 which is to come. 



In the passage from the high school to 

 college, the evil is felt most seriously be- 

 cause of the complete separation of control 

 and the remoteness of location, which so 

 often make a system of personal consulta- 

 tion impossible. Here is the most acute 

 controversy. Three methods have been de- 

 vised to make the range of examination 

 questions wider, to supplement the written 

 examinations by other tests like certified 

 note books, to depend upon certificates 

 given by the teachers of the candidates. 



The first method may give too much help 

 to the undeserving student. It offers great 

 opportunities for the coach, for hasty 

 cramming and for the evils of the English 

 civil service and university examinations. 

 The second method of supplementing and 

 correcting the results of examinations by 

 accepting certified note-books, etc., has the 

 merits and defects of a compromise. The 

 frank adoption of a certificate system as a 

 whole would be more logical and better. 



^^N. Y. Daily Times, June 28, 1905. 

 ^^Educ. Rev., 21: 286-300, March, 1901. 



The third method, a certificate system, 

 without full discussion of its merits and 

 demerits, has much in its favor. A good 

 preparatory teacher in nine cases out of 

 ten can judge of the fitness of his pupils to 

 enter college better than any college en- 

 trance examination board. Each teacher 

 also has a freedom in choice of methods 

 which is of great advantage to him and his 

 pupils. 



The first obvious objection is that not on 

 account of dishonesty, but of incompetency, 

 a large number of our secondary school 

 teachers can not be trusted to give cer- 

 tificates. Second, the abandonment of an 

 examination by the college takes away an 

 important stimulus for keeping up the 

 standard of admission requirements. The 

 third objection and the decisive argument 

 for the retention of the old plan is that the 

 colleges which insist on examinations think 

 they get a better class of students by that 

 means than by any other. They get the 

 boys who do not shirk a trial. The fable 

 of the choice of the two doors applies. 

 The first door is labeled 'who chooses me 

 shall get what he deserves,' the second, 

 'who chooses me must hazard all he has.' 

 The certificate system attracts those who 

 would go to the former door, the examina- 

 tion system those willing to venture the 

 latter. 



If each of these alternatives thus proves 

 unsatisfactory, is there not some possible 

 combination which may be suggested ? Let 

 us divide our requirements into three 

 groups of subjects: 



First, the prerequisites for power to go 

 on with collegiate study, viz., mathematics 

 and the required languages, to prove power 

 of precise thought and of precise expres- 

 sion, where the examinations would be 

 maintained in the hands of the college 

 which is to have the student in charge. 



The second group of subjects, viz., the 



