U niversity oi' O regon M onthly
13
deal with the completed blocks and thereby give him the
feeling that he is a real constructor, rather than a subordinate
laborer perpetually engrossed with details.
From what has
mentioned above it seems that aside
from all other considerations,The psychic principles involved
are /sufficient to give examinations a place in methods of
preparation fot hfe and when examinations are judiciously
employed so that they become an effectual means of educa
tion^ they become indispensable.
Admitting then that they are necessary, let us deter
mine what their character should be. This will be learned
from the deductions from the above data. These deductions
will be merely enumerated without showing the intermediate
steps Of deduction Or even the particular data Used.
in the "first place there should be no external examina
tions that wodld interfere with the methods of teaching or
dictate the ctffirifcutum. T his’ ’o f (course means that schools,
as primary, grammar and secondary schools, be completed
units designed for giving the individual a completed culture
for the period to which the school 'corresponds.
Then (a) the examinations should be designed to give
coherence and perspective to the work covered, (b) no more
significance should be attached to examinations' than that
of revealing a conception of the work covered, (c) examina
tion papers should be reviewed that the pupils learn the
cause of their failure or success, (d) the teacher should
point out to the pupils their weakness in time for prepara
tion for the examination, and (e) the examination should
be adapted to the students as well as to the subject.
The excuse for deviating to mention these few deduc
tions, is that they are necessary characteristics of an exam
ination that ds calculated to preserve the normal mental oper
ation of the student.
.
. K . K.- Robinson, ’07, thesis for B, A , degree.