The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-15
COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS.
Progress of a New Movement i'm Edu-
cational World.


NEW YORK, Oct. A-The second annual
report OF the secretary of the College En-
trance Examination Board is a record of
very gratifying progress. The board, which
is now in the second year of it's existence.
has for its ultimate aim TO hold examina-
tons in every city of the United States,
and at the most important points abroad,
which shall be accepted for admission to
all colleges and universities. The forma-
ton of the College Entrance Examination
Board represents the largest cooperative
undertaking that has yet characterized
American educational development, and
suggests in some ways those combinations
that have marked recent progress in the
manufacturing and commercial world. The
number of places in which examinations
were held this year is 100 as against sixty
nine last year. The number of candidates
Increased from 973 to 1862, and the num-
Der of colleges to which admission was
sought by the candidates examined in
creased from twenty-three to thirty-five.
The principal points in which the work
of the board represents an advance with
respect to examinations that have hitherto
been held for admission to college may be
enumerated as follows:
/. The principle of cooperation between
colleges. This principle which is of the
greatest value, Is substituted for the dis
trust and rivalry which has so largely pre-
vailed in the past. Colleges are agree
ing TO regard themselves as allies in the
struggle for an ideal. No college can per-
manently increase It's influence and broaden
its constituency by regarding itself the
enemy of its fellows and neglecting its
duty to education as whole.
2. Stability in the subject in which ex-
aminations are held. The definitions adop-
ted by the board are not chosen arbitrarily,
but are based upon recommendations made
after long considerations by representa-
tive bodies of scholars such as the Ameri-
can Pathological Association, the American
Historical Cociety, the American Mathe-
NAUTICAL Society, and the Modern Language
Association. These definitions will not be
altered every year or two. If they are
altered at all it will be only by co-opera-
tive action.
3. Cooperation between the secondary
schools on the one hand and the colleges
on the other at point in which each class
OF institutions is vitality interested. One of
the most striking results of the board s
experience so far Is the great value of the
services of the representatives of the sec
ondary schools. not only in framing the
| questions and rating the answers, but also
in matters of general policy.
4. Uniformity of academic standards
| whereby the comparative educational eff
| cheney OF every community and institution
| throughout the entire country may be
measured.
5. Economy of time, money and effort in
| the administration of college admission re-
| quirements. Hitherto examinations for ad-
mission to college have been held only In
| the larger cities of the country and each
| of the larger colleges has maintained its
| own seperate system Of examinations
A very interesting feature of the secre-
| tary's report is a list of over 400 secondary
schools that prepared candidates for the
| examinations held last June This list of
| schools, which is arranged after the man.
ner of locality, index and covers the
| whole country from Maine to California,
| comprises institutions of a superior type,
the standards set by the college entrance
| examination board being such that only
| schools of high efficiency successfully
| prepare candidates for its examinations
| A development of special interest in con-
! nection with the work of the board is seen
| in the desire expressed at a number of
| points by school authorities to make the
| examinations of the board graduation ex-
| amina atoms for the secondary schools The
| Importance of a movement which will make
| the tests for graduation from school iden-
| teal with the tests for admission to col
| lege can hardly be oyerestimated If the
| boards examinations be adopted generally
| by the schools the means of graduation,
| not only will the schools and the colleges
| secure identity of standards at that point
! of contact, but these standards will be i'm
| personal impartial and in every essential
| respect uniform. The secretary states in
| his report that the boards of education of
| two important municipalities have already
voted to make the examinations of the
| board the basis of graduation from the pub
4 uOb high schools.