Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-03

4 y DLiO 81 hpOb b2N Il WI NAIIDN
The board of education OF st. Paul
has unanimously authorized the entire
| abandonment OF the system of examina-
tions for promotion in the city high
school, and the substitution therefor Of
an individual record, based upon the
teachers judgment instead OF upon
marks given for daily recitatious. AL
most coincident with this action OF the
st. Paul school board appeared the re-
port OF a committee OF the New York
board OF education appointed to iuvesti-
gate the method OF teaching and study
pursued in the public schools of
that city. The report attributed such
evils as exist under the present system
to the marking and examination meth
DDS employed. In the opinion of the
committee these methods place both the
pupils and the teachers in false posi-
ton, and one that is disadvantageous
for the production OF good and enduring
work.
The committee condemns the system
unqualifedly. 1t says that it offers an
inducement to all teachers to devote
every energy to the preparation OF the
class for the expected and ofttime
dreaded examination, and the
work Of instruction is at times
carried on with a total disregard of the
real advancement of the children in
knowledge, character or mental power.
1t furnishes stimulus to the teacher to
cram and load the memory of the pupil
with facts and figures to be retained for
a time, and then drawn out at the
proper moment for the expected and
looted-for questions. Accuracy of
statement and correctness Of answer are
counted far beyond their true value,
and even among the youngest children
the memory is used us an edu-
cational tool to a degree that
should not be tolerated even in
the education of adults. Obiec-
tions to the examination system of
nearly similar nature were brought to
bear on the st. Paul board of education.
1t was urged that the practice of promo
tion by marks, the examination and not
the daily recitation the great feature of
the pupils work, thus encouraging
cramming and discouraging patient
daily study: that it subjects pupils to q
mental and nervous strain which il de-
triment.ss.!! &c health; that 1t consumes
time which might more proftably be
spent in the regular work of study and
instruction, and that it tends to dis
honesty by enabling the teacher
to work up examination pa
pers beyond their deserts, in order to
get rid of an undesirable student, to
promote a favorlte, or to secure an in
dividual record by advancing the
greatest possible number Of pupils to
the next highest grade.
This concurrent testimony from re-
sponsible sources against the generally
prevailing examination system in the
public schools Of the country might be
supplemented by the opinions of intelli-
gent educators, both in England and
this country. But without such en-
dorsement the testimony is worthy
Of serious consideration. The evils
that are found in the public schools
of New York as result of the exami-
nation system must necessarily exist to
some extent wherever a like system is
in vogue, and if the system has no ad-
vantages there it cannot reasonably be
expected to show any elsewhere. 1t
has its advocates, but the weight of ev-
idence is obviously against the system,
and its general abandonment in favor
of a method more in accord with the
suggestions of experience and more en-
lightened views Of school government is
doubtless only question of time.