The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-06-17
YESTERDAY was the last day
: Of school.

81 OF SChOQ!.
1t was not all of pleasure,
for many found their years
work done for nothing: nor
was it all of pain. for the great ma
iority Of the pupils We're successful in
their examinations: but the thought of
the long summer vacation was with
them all, and TO that extent the day
was one of festivity.
For the first time in a great many
years the pupils were promoted on eX-
animation and the new system has in
measure demoralized the graduating
classes. In nearly every school the
graduates held exercises of some kind,
hut these We're seriously interfered
with because of the uncertainty sur
rounding the results of the examina-
ions. 1t is not always the brightest
pupil who does best on an examination,
however. and among those who mourn
are some as quick and intelligent as
those Who celebrate.
There has been much dissatisfaction
among parents, pupils and teachers
over the methods put in force this
year Every class was examined and
Ii was al first intended TO decide upon
the result of the examination. whether
or not the pupil should rise Il grade
higher. Ii is eleven years since such
examinations We're held and the pupils
found themselves confronted with a
problem entirely new to them. 1t was
worse for members Of the ninth grade
than for those of the lower classes. The
pupils OF the ninth grade We're gradu-
ating from the grammar schools and
We're therefore examined in the high
schools. They We're examined by
strange teachers, in strange places and
were marked in new and strange
manner. one of the questions asked
was, Give synopsis Of the verb
strike 1t looks simple and it may be
simple to many who have spent time
on the matter, but it becomes more
complicated when the pupil is COM
PEELED 10 supplant the old-fashioned
YOU with thou" in the second per-
son singular. When the verb gets into
the potential mode it has peculiar an
tics and when the pupils in trying TO
make it straight wrote for the second
person, singular number, past tense,
potential mode" the form you might
have struck they We're marked wrong
because they did not use the prayer
book form of thou mightst have
struck. This meant promotion or no
promotion to some, and it went hard
with those who found that it cost them
the coveted diploma.
According to the complaints made
there was also a great difference in the
marking Of the papers in the various
high schools. Where one teacher
would give seven credits another would
give none at all. The rule was that in
arithmetic, where the principle was
correct, the pupils should get seven
credits, and where the answer and
work We're correct in every form he
would get ten. With some teachers the
answer counted and nothing else. and
when the pupil went through every
Thing correctly and then multiplied
TWO by four and got five as a result he
received nothing for his pains.
The superintendent Office was
filled all day with teachers and parents
who wished to make complaint, and in
more than one case when the papers
were looked over it was found that
pupil had made the percentage after
being marked down just below it.
Another of the rules was that when
a pupil made less than 80 in the ninth
and less than sixty in other grades, in
any one study he lost his diploma.
There was no help for him or her.
Arithmetic and grammar were respon-