Philip Joseph Hartog and Arthur Watson

“ Examinations are suited in the first instance for the purpose for which they were originally designed in medieval universities—the test of technical and professional capacity; it has never been proposed to abolish qualifying examinations for doctors, pharmaceutical chemists, &c. ; the tests applied are (or should be) direct tests of capacity carried out under conditions as nearly as possible like those of actual practice. If a student can auscultate correctly, or make up a prescription, at an examination, he will in all probability be able to do so in other circumstances. ”

“ In medicine the clinical examination of a patient is a test carried out under conditions more nearly approaching those of actual work than any other; and distinction in medical examinations is probably more often followed by distinction in after life than is the case in other examinations.
For the doctor’s degree (where this is not an honorary distinction) a thesis or dissertation is generally, though not invariably, required in England. Of recent years the thesis has been introduced into lower examinations; it is required for the master’s degree at London in the case of Thesis. ”

“ In this public discussion the “disputation” of the middle ages survives in its least changed form. The literary theses required by French universities are, as a rule, volumes of several hundred pages, and more important in character even than the German Habilitationsschrift. The possession of the doctorate is a sine qua non for eligibility to a university chair, and to a lectureship in the university of Paris.
In the faculty of sciences a candidate for the doctorate may submit two theses, or else submit one thesis and undergo an oral examination. ”

“ The difficulties of comparison of marks are further complicated when students take different subjects and it is necessary to compare their merit by means of marks allotted by different examiners and added together. In a pass examination the question has to be considered how far, if at all, excellence in one subject shall compensate for deficiency in another, a question which is indeterminate until the precise object of the whole examination is formulated. ”

“ The standard of difficulty set by the university of London was a high one, very much higher for its pass degrees than the corresponding standards at Oxford and Cambridge, while the standard for honours was equally high. In medicine the examinations were made both wider in range and more searching than those of any other examining body. ”

“ If the inspection is satisfactory, the school is accredited by a university for from one to three years, and upon the favourable report of its principal any of its students are admitted to the university by which it has been accredited without any entrance examination. In practice it is found that many students whom their teachers refuse to certify are able to pass the university entrance examination. ”

“ In some cases wealthy students have been known to return the emoluments of scholarships. In many universities of the United States there is a definite understanding that emoluments shall only be accepted by those needing them. It would not be difficult to ask candidates to make a confidential declaration on this subject on entrance and to establish in Great Britain a tradition similar to that of the United States, and steps in this direction have been taken both at Oxford and Cambridge (Lord Curzon of Kedleston, University Reform, p. 86) . ”

“ There is also a special doctorate, the “doctorat d’Université,” awarded on a thesis and an oral examination; and there are diplomas (Diplômes d’Études supérieures) awarded on dissertations and examinations on subjects in philosophy, history and geography, classics or modern languages, selected mainly by the candidate and approved by the faculty.
2. Professional Examinations. (a) Teaching.—University examinations for degrees having ceased to be used as technical tests of teaching capacity, new examinations have been devised for this purpose. ”

“ When used as tests of “general culture,” examinations, in the view of Paulsen, based on a study of German education, not only fail in their purpose, but tend to destroy the faculties which it is desired to develop (Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, ii. 684 et seq.) ; to prepare ready answers to the numberless questions which an examiner may ask on a large variety of subjects is to paralyse the natural and free activity of the mind (cf. A. C. Benson on the results of English secondary classical education, From a College Window, 3rd ed., 1906, pp. 154-177) . ”

“ It may be objected that candidates are heavily handicapped by nervousness in oral examinations, but this objection does not afford sufficient ground for rejecting the test, provided that it is supplemented by others. Oral tests are used almost invariably in medical examinations; and there is a growing tendency to make them compulsory in dealing with modern languages. Oral examinations are much more used abroad than in England, where the pupils during their school years receive but little exercise in the art of consecutive speaking. ”

“ On the other hand, the defenders of examinations reply that (xiii.) examinations are necessary in order to test the efficiency of schools to which grants of public money are given (this argument has become somewhat out of date owing to the recent substitution of “inspection” for examination as a test of the efficiency of schools; a combination of inspection and examination is also sometimes used) ; (xiv.) they serve as a necessary incentive to steady and concentrated work [4] (the reply made to this is that the incentive is a bad one, and that with efficient teachers it is unnecessary) ”

“ Erudition would be tested by the power of writing, at leisure, a dissertation on some subject selected by the examiners or the candidate or, in the case of a teacher, by the delivery of a lecture on the subject. At the French agrégation candidates are given twenty-four hours for the preparation of a lecture of this kind. Such examinations would test the “skill in the manipulation of facts which is the true sign of a trained intelligence” (cf. K. Pearson, “The Function of Science in the Modern State,” Ency. Brit. 10th ed. xxxii. Prefatory essay) . ”

“ There are also examinations for primary teachers. The tests for teachers are different for the two sexes.
In England there is no obligatory test for secondary teachers. The universities and the College of Preceptors conduct examinations for teaching diplomas. The Board of Education holds special examinations (Preliminary Certificate examination and Certificate examination, &c.) for primary teachers. ”

“ The majority of examinations in western countries are derived from the university examinations of the middle ages. The first universities of Europe consisted of corporations of teachers and of students analogous to the trade gilds and merchant gilds of the time. ”

“ For the doctorate in law, a thesis and two oral examinations are required.
In the faculty of medicine there is no licentiateship, but for the doctorate six examinations must be passed and a thesis submitted. ”

“ In applying tests of memory, it may be legitimate to allow a candidate to pass who answers correctly from 30 to 50% of the questions; such an allowance if applied to a test of capacity, such as the performance of a sum in addition, the solution of triangles by means of trigonometrical tables, or the translation of an easy passage from a foreign language, appears to be irrational. A candidate who obtains only 50% of the marks in performing such operations cannot be regarded as being able to perform them ”

“ It can scarcely be doubted that in spite of the powerful objections that have been advanced against examinations, they are, in the view of the majority of English people, an indispensable element in the social organization of a highly specialized democratic state, which prefers to trust nearly all decisions to committees rather than to individuals. ”

“ In the 17th century the first class comprised the names of twelve, and the second, of twenty-four, candidates, who were divided on the report of their teachers into classes before the examination, and finally arranged in order of merit by the examiners (Vernulaeus, quoted by Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, 1852; p. 647; Rashdall, loc. cit. ii. 262) . At the Cambridge tripos (as described by Jebb in 1774, Remarks, &c. , pp. 20-31) the first twenty-four candidates were also selected by a preliminary test ”

“ School-leaving Examinations.—The faculty of arts in medieval universities covered secondary as well as higher education in the subjects concerned. The division in arts subjects between secondary and university education has been drawn at different levels in different countries. ”

“ These names have in the mathematics tripos survived the procedure. (The name Tripos is derived from the three-legged stool on which “an old bachilour,” selected for the purpose, sat during his disputation with the senior bachelor of the year, who was required to propound two questions to him.) ”