¢ JOUGLAS COLLEGE LIBRARY,

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AnGHIVES

TRYING THE TRIAL EXAMINATION

 

While concern about diminishing skills in reading and writing has
noticeably increased, discussion generally centres upon speed in
reading and correctness in writing. A major problem, however, is
the loss of fluency and speed in written communication. The dis-
appearance of the essay-type examination is, I believe, both result
and partial cause of the increasing slowness with which students
generate sentences; its reinstatement seems to me a matter of urgency.

The written examination exercises (as well as tests) real skills
of personal intellectual value and vocational importance: the ability
to analyse an argument, see the implications of a statement, retain
learned material and reorder it swiftly into new patterns, determine
what is relevant and irrelevant to a new argument and shape what is
known into a coherent thesis. These are all skills of an actively
functioning mind, not a passively absorbent one.

The written examination requires that such operations be conducted
at speed--an essential for any student; otherwise he will carry a
reasonable work-load only with unreasonable effort. I have found
that asking students to add to a home assignment the number of hours
they spent on it is both informative and horrifying. And judging by
the speed with which they work in class, their estimates are fairly
accurate. When the results of their herculean efforts are unsatis-
factory, we penalize them by assigning a low grade, or with more
humanity and equal short-sightedness, reduce the work-load. Instead
we should take a positive, training approach to a problem familiar
to all those who talk to students about their work habits.

The written examination in essay form--especially if it is required
in a number of subjects--puts an immediate premium on acquiring some
very important skills. Once acquired they are permanently useful.
There is little doubt of their vocational importance. Employers who
hire graduates from general programmes are less interested in their
field of knowledge than their habit of mind. They are prepared to

b.