I. FALLACY OF EXAMINATIONS AS A TEST. 



The indictment against examinations as a test is that they 

 are not a test of education in the true sense at all. They 

 usually test memory only, but are not a sure test even for that. 



Professor Blackie. — " The qualities which make a young 

 man capable of performing effectively the duties of any public 

 station, are not in any wise identical with those which enable 

 him to make a good appearance in a school examination." 



Michael Foster, M.A., F.R.S., &c. — "Again and again I 

 have known men whom I have been obliged to speak of as 

 good examination men who did not prove of great value in 

 after life. Again and again I have known men who have not 

 done well in the examination room who have been of enormous 

 value in after years." 



2. PRIZES AND COMPETITION ARE UNNECESSARY. 



Mr. E. C. Price, a teacher, says : — " A good teacher will get 

 better results without the artificial stimulus of marks and prizes." 

 "The lame teacher wants a crutch, don't have a lame teacher." 



When in Canada last spring I had a long conversation with 

 Mr. Marling, the Chief of the Education Department at Toronto, 

 and one of the things he mentioned was that the giving of 

 prizes was discouraged by the Department, though local autho- 

 rities might if they liked provide them at their own expense. 

 In the Girls' Normal School, Philadelphia, where the pupils 

 numbered 575, the chief, Dr. Fetter, told me they could not 

 think of offering prizes. There was some competition for a 

 place in the examination for a diploma at leaving, which he 

 said was often too strong an inducement towards overwork ; in 

 the ordinary work of the school there were no prizes whatever. 

 Mr. MacAlister, Superintendent of Public Schools in Phila- 

 delphia, said he was entirely opposed to the prize system, and 

 that it was unheard of as an important adjunct to schools in 

 Philadelphia. The answer of a bright lad who showed me over 

 that splendid institution, the Manual Training School of 

 Philadelphia, was characteristic. When I asked if they gave 

 any prizes there, he replied, with an amused smile, " No, sir ; 

 I guess we came here intending to work." What strikes one 



