Connecticut western news., 1907-07-25
CHANGE NEEDED

CHANGE NEEDED
 Pupils the country over are enjoying the annual two months or ten weeks respite from study, which weeks invari- ably seem to them to be the shortest of the year.
 When these students again answer the call of the school gong, they will take their places in the classes or grades in which they were studying when school closed or, by virture of the pro- motion card, will be advanced class, grade or a room as the case may be. Their advancement depends entirely on the result of the final examinations which they took last June.
 We do not believe that the promotion of student should be made dependent upon the result of single examlnation at the close of the year and we do believe that promotion should be granted or withheld by school authorities as result of the average work of student during the entire school year or of test examina- tions or reviews at the end of every month.
 The system of passing promotions on the result of -year-through work has been adopted in some sections of the country (not in Connecticut, according to our information and belief) and the result has been most satisfactory. In every instance the teachers say that it has brought about more earnest, consis- tant and uniform work on the part of the pupils. When student realizes that the work of each day is to form a part of the grand total to be considered at the end of the year, it causes him to exert greater care in the preparation of his lessons, induces better and more thorough understanding of the subject or subjects, in brief it inspires him to earnest effort each day, rather than dur ing two, three or four weeks just preced- ing final examination.
 With the expectation of being disa- greed with by various school teachers we claim that the percentage of the pupil ill the final examination falls far short of being a positive indication of ability or the lack of it. Nearly every reader of these lines will recall the fact that when he or she attended school there were instances when some of the failed to pass the final examinations while some who had been backward or indifferent throughout the year received high percentage markings. Now there was reason for this at that time and there is reason for it at the present day. It simply meant that the questions selected to be asked at those examina- tions happened to be those on which the backward ones were proficient and they happened to be the ones on which the brighter, more faithful and more ener- getic students were deficient
 And the mental condition of a student at examination time has much to do with his or her work. Very often hard-working and capable student, be- cause of nervousness and fear that he will not pass the examination, fails on questions that at almost any other time could have been answered correctly without the slightest hesitation.
 These are few of several reasons for our belief that the practice or custom of continuing the final examination per centage as the basis for promotion should be relegated to the land of the by-gones and that the day to day, week to week and month to month plan should take it's place. This, it seems to us, is the best, the surest and the fairest method of determining the fitness and the capability of student and we have yet to hear of school which has adopted the method that would return to the old plan.