The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-12-29

one chosen by the board, or whether
the answer contained a slight mathe-
NAUTICAL error; in the present examine
ton this ruling was changed by mo-
ton of the board to read: Where a
candidate does not arrive at a correct
answer, no more tnan so per cent
shall be given such answer This
rule applying only, of course, to math-
ecatical questions, was so worked that
no candidate was allowed any per-
centage on an answer that was not
absolutely correct. l remember one
answer to a question on the splitting
of an air current of 10000 cubic feet
Of air; the candidates answer was
correct to within 23 cubic feet, he
getting 11,077 cubic feet in split A,
and 1887 cubic feet in split B, in
stead of 11,100 and $4,000 cubic feet,
respectively. His grade on this ques-
ton as determined by the board was
zero. The rule adopted by the board
certainly worked a great injustice to
the candidates owing to the limited
time at heir command and to their
more or less ervou condition during
the examination. The law gives the
board the right to make its own rules,
but no board has any rigLC under Civ
IL Service rules to treat any candidate
with injustice. The rules adopted by
the board required that a candidate
shall receive a mark of at least 80 per
cent in order to entitle him to a GER
tihcate. No certificates were granted
to any candidate in this examina-
tion.'
The writer does not wish to intro
duce here anything unnecessary to
the object to be gained, and particu-
larly ne desires to avoid being under
stood as making anything like an I'M
Warranted criticism of the action or
the Iowa STATE Examining Board; he
merely desires to present briefly the
important facts as they have been
givento him, and let these speak for
themselves. No state examining
board should object to a statement
of facts; If these facts are not cor
rect, a simple denial or explanation
is all that is required.
Taking one of the certified copies
of a candidates paper, the writer
went carefully through the answers in
detail, marking each answer more Sc
verely by far than he has been accus-
toned to do in marking papers. The
result was that this paper, which re-
ceived a mark Of 64 per cent in Des
'Moines, was found not to deserve a
lower mark than SO per cent, n
would ordinarily be ACCORDED a mark
OF about 92 per cent. Under no cir
cumstances of fairness and Justice to
the paper examined, could a mark of
"a per cent be given, except only
through the ignorance Of me parties
examining the paper . The records
of two of the other candidates at this
examination r likewise from 20 to
rs per cent lower than should have
been accorded them. The writer Is
speaking now from an unprejudiced
standpoint, and has used perhaps
more severity in his marking of these
papers than would be warranted were
he doing the same work on a state
examining board, and this after an
experience of twenty-five years both
in the work Of examining boards and
the correction Of papers.
To show the nature of the examin-
alton, and to enable anyone to make
any comparison he may desire, the
questions asked in the written por-
ton of the examination have been
answered in the November issue of
Mines and Minerals, and a copy OF
this issue of the Journal will be sent
free to any address in Iowa as long
as they last, in response to a postal
card asking for the same. The an
swers given in this examination are,
according to our regular custom, made
more complete than would be re-
quired Of any candidate in an examin-
alton. This is done for the purpose
Of enabling mining students to study
these answers as they would from a
textbook.
(Signed) J. T. Beard,
Principal School of Mines, Goal Min
ing Div.), International Correspond
ence Schools.
Scranton, Pa, October %, 1904.