Chapter IX: Act 1851: made parties to legal proceedings admissible witnesses subject (6)

EWING, JULIANA HORATIA ORR (1841-1885), English writer of books for children, daughter of the Rev. Alfred Gatty and of Margaret Gatty (q.v.), was born at Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, in 1841. One of a large family, she was accustomed to act as nursery story-teller to her brothers and sisters, and her brother Alfred Scott Gatty provided music to accompany her plays. She was well educated in classics and modern languages, and at an early age began to publish verses, being a contributor to _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, which her mother started in 1866. _The Land of Lost Toys_ and many other of Juliana's stories appeared in this magazine. In 1867 she married Major Alexander Ewing, himself an author, and the composer of the well-known hymn "Jerusalem the Golden." From this time until her death (13th May 1885), previously to which she had been a constant invalid, Mrs Ewing produced a number of charming children's stories. The best of these are: _The Brownies_ (1870), _A Flat-Iron for a Farthing_ (1873), _Lob-lie-by the Fire_ (1874), _The Story of a Short Life_ (1885) and _Jackanapes_ (1884), the two last-named, in particular, obtaining great success; among others may be mentioned _Mrs Over-the-Way's Remembrances_ (1869), _Six to Sixteen, Jan of the Windmill_ (1876), _A Great Emergency_ (1877), _We and the World_ (1881), _Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales, Brothers of Pity_ (1882), _The Doll's Wash_, _Master Fritz_, _Our Garden_, _A Soldier's Children_, _Three Little Nest-Birds_, _A Week Spent in a Glass-House_, _A Sweet Little Dear_, and _Blue-Red_ (1883). Many of these were published by the S.P.C.K. Simple and unaffected in style, and sound and wholesome in matter, with quiet touches of humour and bright sketches of scenery and character, Mrs Ewing's best stories have never been surpassed in the style of literature to which they belong.

EWING, THOMAS (1789-1871), American lawyer and statesman, was born near the present West Liberty, West Virginia, on the 28th of December 1789. His father, George Ewing, settled at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1792. Thomas graduated at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, in 1815, and in August 1816 was admitted to the bar at Lancaster, where he won high rank as an advocate. He was a Whig member of the United States senate in 1831-1837, and as such took a prominent part in the legislative struggle over the United States Bank, whose rechartering he favoured and which he resolutely defended against President Jackson's attack, opposing in able speeches the withdrawal of deposits and Secretary Woodbury's "Specie Circular" of 1836. In March 1841 he became secretary of the treasury in President W.H. Harrison's cabinet. When, however, after President Tyler's accession, the relations between the President and the Whig Party became strained, he retired (September 1841) and was succeeded by Walter Forward (1786-1852). Subsequently from March 1849 to July 1850 he was a member of President Taylor's cabinet as the first secretary of the newly established department of the interior. He thoroughly organized the department, and in his able annual report advocated the construction by government aid of a railroad to the Pacific Coast. In 1850-1851 he filled the unexpired term of Thomas Corwin in the U.S. Senate, strenuously opposing Clay's compromise measures and advocating the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He was subsequently a delegate to the Peace Congress in 1861, and was a loyal supporter of President Lincoln's war policy. He died at Lancaster, Ohio, on the 26th of October 1871.

His daughter was the wife of General William T. Sherman. His son, Hugh Boyle Ewing (1826-1905), served throughout the Civil War in the Federal armies, rising from the rank of colonel (1861) to that of brigadier-general (1862) and brevet major-general (1865), and commanding brigades at Antietam and Vicksburg and a division at Chickamauga; and was minister of the United States to the Netherlands in 1866-1870. Another son, Thomas Ewing (1829-1896), studied at Brown University in 1852-1854 (in 1894, by a special vote, he was placed on the list of graduates in the class of 1856); he was a lawyer and a free-state politician in Kansas in 1857-1861, and was the first chief-justice of the Kansas supreme court (1861-1862). In the Civil War he attained the rank of brigadier-general (March 1863) and received the brevet of major-general (1865). He was subsequently a representative in Congress from Ohio in 1877-1881; and from 1882 to 1896 practised law in New York City, where he was long one of the recognized leaders of the bar.

EXAMINATIONS. The term "examination" (i.e. inspecting, weighing and testing; from Lat. _examen_, the tongue of a balance) is used in the following article to denote a systematic test of knowledge, and of either special or general capacity or fitness, carried out under the authority of some public body.

1. _History._--The oldest known system of examinations in history is that used in China for the selection of officers for the public service (c. 1115 B.C.), and the periodic tests which they undergo after entry (c. 2200 B.C.). See CHINA; also W.A.P. Martin, _The Lore of Cathay_ (1901), p. 311 et seq.; T.L. Bullock, "Competitive Examinations in China" (_Nineteenth Century_, July 1894); and Etienne Zi, _Pratique des examens litteraires en Chine_ (Shanghai, 1894). The abolition of this system was announced in 1906, and, as a partial substitute, it was decided to hold an annual examination in Peking of Chinese graduates educated abroad (_Times_, 22nd of October 1906).

The majority of examinations in western countries are derived from the university examinations of the middle ages. The first universities of Europe consisted of corporations of teachers and of students analogous to the trade gilds and merchant gilds of the time. In the trade gilds there were apprentices, companions, and masters. No one was admitted to mastership until he had served his apprenticeship (q.v.), nor, as a rule, until he had shown that he could accomplish a piece of work to the satisfaction of the gild.

The object of the universities was to teach; and to the three classes established by the gild correspond roughly the _scholar_, the _bachelor_ or pupil-teacher (see Rashdall i. 209, note 2, and 221, note 5), and the _master_ or _doctor_ (two terms at first equivalent) who, having served his apprenticeship and passed a definite technical test, had received permission to teach. The early universities of Europe, being under the same religious authority and animated by the same philosophy, resembled each other very closely in curriculum and general organization and examinations, and by the authority of the emperor, or of the pope in most cases, the permission to teach granted by one university was valid in all (_jus ubicunque docendi_).

The earliest university examinations of which a description is available are those in civil and in canon law held at Bologna at a period subsequent to 1219. The student was admitted without examination as bachelor after from four to six years' study, and after from six to eight years' study became qualified as a candidate for the doctorate. He might obtain the doctorate in both branches of law in ten years (Rashdall i. 221-222).

The doctoral examination at Bologna in the 13th-14th centuries consisted of two parts--a private examination which was the real test, and a public one of a ceremonial character (_conventus_). The candidate first took an "oath that he had complied with all the statutable conditions, that he would give no more than the statutable fees or entertainments to the rector himself, the doctor or his fellow-students, and that he would obey the rector." He was then presented to the archdeacon of Bologna by one or more doctors, who were required to have satisfied themselves of his fitness by private examination. On the morning of the examination, after attending mass, he was assigned by one of the doctors of the assembled college two passages (_puncta_) in the civil or canon law, which he retired to his house to study, possibly with the assistance of the presenting doctor. Later in the day he gave a lecture on, or exposition of, the prepared passages, and was examined on them by two of the doctors appointed by the college. Other doctors might then put supplementary questions on law arising out of the passages, or might suggest objections to his answers. The vote of the doctors present was taken by ballot, and the fate of the candidate was determined by the majority. The successful candidate, who received the title of licentiate, was, on payment of a heavy fee and other expenses, permitted to proceed to the _conventus_ or final public examination. This consisted in the delivery of a speech and the defence of a thesis on some point of law, selected by the candidate, against opponents selected from among the students. The successful candidate received from the archdeacon the formal "licence to teach" by the authority of the pope in the name of the Trinity, and was invested with the insignia of office. At Bologna, though not at Paris, the "permission to teach" soon became fictitious, only a small number of doctors being allowed to exercise the right of teaching in that university (Rashdall).

In the faculty of arts of Paris, towards the end of the 13th century, the system was already more complicated than at Bologna. The baccalaureate, licentiateship, and mastership formed three distinct degrees. For admission to the baccalaureate a preliminary test or "Responsions" was first required, at which the candidate had to dispute in grammar or logic with a master. The examiners then inspected the certificates (_schedulae_) of residence and of having attended lectures in the prescribed subjects, and examined him in the contents of his books. The successful candidate was admitted to maintain a thesis against an opponent, a process called "determination" (see Rashdall i. 443 et seq.), and as bachelor was then permitted to give "cursory" lectures. After five or six years from the date of beginning his studies (matriculation) and being twenty years of age (these conditions varied at different periods), a bachelor was permitted to present himself for the examination for the licentiateship, which was divided into two parts. The first part was conducted in private by the chancellor and four examiners (_temptatores in cameris_), and included an inquiry into the candidate's residence, attendance at lectures, and performance of exercises, as well as examination in prescribed books; those candidates adjudged worthy were admitted to the more important examination before the faculty, and the names of successful candidates were sent to the chancellor in batches of eight or more at a time, arranged in order of merit. (The order of merit at the examination for the licentiateship existed in Paris till quite recently.) Each successful candidate was then required to maintain a thesis chosen by himself (_quodlibetica_) in St Julian's church, and was finally submitted to a purely formal public examination (_collatio_) at either the episcopal palace or the abbey of Ste Genevieve, before receiving from the chancellor, in the name of the Trinity, the licence to incept or begin to teach in the faculty of arts. After some six months more the licentiate took part "in a peculiarly solemn disputation known as his 'Vespers,'" then gave his formal inaugural lecture or disputation before the faculty, and was received into the faculty as master. This last process was called "inception."

In discussing the value of medieval examinations of the kind described, Paulsen (_The German Universities_ (1906), p. 25) asserts that they were well adapted to increase a student's alertness, his power of comprehending new ideas, and his ability quickly and surely to assimilate them to his own, and that "they did more to enable [students] to grasp a subject than the mute and solitary reviewing and cramming of our modern examinations can possibly do." At their best they fulfilled precisely the technical purpose for which they were intended; they fully tested the capacity of the candidate to teach the subjects which he was required to teach in accordance with the methods which he was required to use. The limitations of the test were the limitations of the educational and philosophic ideals of the time, in which a dogmatic basis was presupposed to all knowledge and criticism was limited to the superstructure. At their worst, even with venal examiners (and additional fees were often offered as a bribe), Rashdall regards these examinations (at the end of the 13th century) as probably "less of a farce than the pass examinations of Oxford and Cambridge almost within the memory of persons now living." It is, however, to be pointed out that the standard in Paris and elsewhere at a later date became scandalously low in some cases. In some universities the sons of nobles were regularly excused certain examinations. At Cambridge in 1774 Fellow Commoners were examined with such precipitation to fulfil the formal requirements of the statutes that the ceremony was termed "huddling for a degree" (Jebb, _Remarks upon the Present Mode of Education in the University of Cambridge_, 4th ed., 1774, p. 32). The last privileges of this kind were abolished at Cambridge by a grace passed on the 20th of March 1884.

In the medieval examinations described above we find most of the elements of our present examinations: certificates of previous study and good conduct, preparation of set-books, questioning on subjects not specially prepared, division of examinations into various parts, classification in order of merit, payment of fees, the presentation of a dissertation, and the defence and publication of a thesis (a term of which the meaning has now become extended).

The requirement to write answers to questions written or dictated, to satisfy a practical test (other than in teaching), and a clinical test in medicine, appear to be of later date.[1] The medieval candidate for the doctorate in medicine, although required to have attended practice before presenting himself, discussed as his thesis a purely theoretical question, often semi-theological in character, of which as an extreme example may be quoted "whether Adam had a navel."

The competitive system was developed considerably at Louvain, and in the 15th century the candidates for the mastership of arts were divided into three classes (_rigorosi_, honour-men; _transibiles_, pass-men; _gratiosi_, charity-passes), while a fourth, which was not published, contained the names of those who failed. In the 17th century the first class comprised the names of twelve, and the second, of twenty-four, candidates, who were divided on the report of their teachers into classes before the examination, and finally arranged in order of merit by the examiners (Vernulaeus, quoted by Sir W. Hamilton, _Discussions_, 1852; p. 647; Rashdall, loc. cit. ii. 262). At the Cambridge tripos (as described by Jebb in 1774, _Remarks_, &c., pp. 20-31) the first twenty-four candidates were also selected by a preliminary test; they were then divided further into "wranglers" (the disputants, _par excellence_) and _Senior Optimes_, the next twelve on the list being called the _Junior Optimes_. These names have in the mathematics tripos survived the procedure. (The name _Tripos_ is derived from the three-legged stool on which "an old bachilour," selected for the purpose, sat during his disputation with the senior bachelor of the year, who was required to propound two questions to him.)

The subjects in which the medieval universities examined were (i.) those of the trivium and quadrivium in the faculty of arts; (ii.) theology; (iii.) medicine; and (iv.) civil and canon law. The number of subjects in which examinations are held has since grown immensely. We can only sketch in outline the transformations of certain typical university systems of examinations.

At Oxford there is no record of a process of formal examination on books similar to that of Paris (Rashdall, ii. 442 et seq.), disputations being apparently the only test applied in its early history. Examinations were definitely introduced for the B.A. and M.A. degrees by Laud in 1636-1638 (Brodrick, _History of Oxford_, p. 114), but the standard prescribed was so much beyond the actual requirements of later times that it may be doubted if it was enforced. The studies fell in the 18th century into an "abject state," from which they were first raised by a statute passed in 1800 (_Report of Oxford University Commission of 1850-1852_, p. 60 et seq.), under which distinctions were first allotted to the ablest candidates for the bachelor's degree. Further changes were made in 1807 and 1825; and in 1830 a distinction was made between honours examinations of a more difficult character, at which successful candidates were divided into four classes, and pass examinations of an easier character. By the statutes of 1849 and 1858 an intermediate "Moderations" examination was instituted between the preliminary examination called "Responsions" and the final examination. Since 1850, although fresh subjects of examination have been introduced, no considerable change of system has been made.

The bachelor's degree at Oxford tended from an early period to be postponed to an advanced stage of studies, while the requirements for the master's degree diminished until, in 1807, the examination for the M.A. was abolished. It is now awarded to bachelors of three years' standing on payment of a fee.

Cambridge in early times followed the example of Oxford, and here also the bachelor's degree became more and more important (Bass Mullinger, _History of the University of Cambridge from 1535_..., p. 414), and the M.A. has been finally reduced to a mere formality, awarded on terms similar to those of the sister university. The standard of examinations was raised in Cambridge at an earlier date than at Oxford, and in the 18th century the tripos "established the reputation of Cambridge as a School of Mathematical Science." The school, however, produced few, if any, great mathematicians between Newton and George Green. It was only between 1830 and 1840 that the standard of the tripos became a high one. At Cambridge there is no intermediate examination between the "Previous Examination" (commonly called "Little-go"), which corresponds to Oxford "Responsions" or "Smalls" and the triposes and examinations for the "Poll" degree, which correspond to the Oxford final honours and pass examinations respectively. But most of the triposes have been divided into two parts, of which the second is not obligatory in order to obtain a degree. The "senior wrangler" was the first candidate in order of merit in the first part of the mathematical tripos. The abolition of order of merit at this examination was decided on in 1906, and names of candidates appeared in this order for the last time in 1909.

At the Scottish universities the B.A. degree has become extinct, and the M.A., awarded on the results of examination, is the first degree in the faculty of arts.

The incorporation of the university of London in 1836 marks an era in the history of examinations; the teaching and examining functions of a university were dissociated for the first time. Until 1858 the London examinations were open only to students in affiliated colleges, and the teachers had no share in the appointment of the examiners or in determining the curricula for examinations; in 1858 the examinations were thrown open to all comers, and no requirements were insisted on with regard to courses of study except for degrees in the faculty of medicine. The sole function of the university was to examine, and its examinations for matriculation and for degrees in arts and science were carried on by means of written papers not only in London but in many centres in the United Kingdom and the colonies. From the first the degrees were (unlike those of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871) open to all male persons without religious distinctions; and in 1878 they were opened to women. (Tripos examinations were thrown open to women at Cambridge by the grace of 24th Feb. 1881, and at Oxford women were admitted to examinations for honours by statute of 29th April 1884. Proposals to admit women to university degrees were rejected by Oxford and Cambridge in 1896 and 1897 respectively.)

The standard of difficulty set by the university of London was a high one, very much higher for its pass degrees than the corresponding standards at Oxford and Cambridge, while the standard for honours was equally high. In medicine the examinations were made both wider in range and more searching than those of any other examining body. But, for reasons dealt with below, great discontent was roused by the new system. In 1880 the Victoria University, Manchester, was established, in which teaching and examining were again united; and in the universities since established, with the exception of the Royal University of Ireland (which was created in 1880 as an examining body on the model of London, but which was dissolved under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and replaced by the National University of Ireland and the Queen's University of Belfast), the precedent of Victoria has been followed. By an act passed in 1898, of which the provisions came into force in 1900, the university of London was reconstituted as a teaching university, although provision was made for the continuance of the system of examinations by "external examiners" for "external students," together with "internal examinations" for "internal students," in which the teachers and the external examiners of the university are associated. The examinations in music and the final examinations in law and medicine are carried on [1910] both for "internal" and "external" students by "external" examiners only, who are, however, appointed on the recommendation of boards of studies consisting mainly of London teachers.

At the university of Dublin, examinations have been maintained both for the B.A. and M.A. degrees, and students may be admitted to the examinations in subjects other than divinity, law, medicine, and engineering without attendance at university courses.

The examinations of the newer universities, the Victoria University of Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Wales, are open only to students at these universities, and are conducted by the teachers in association with one or more external examiners for each subject. In some universities, e.g. Manchester, the M.A. degree is given after examination to students who have taken a pass, and without examination to those who have taken an honours degree.

The universities which have departed furthest from the medieval system of examinations, at any rate in appearance, are those of Germany. The baccalaureate has disappeared, but students cannot be matriculated without having passed the _Abiturienten-examen_ (see below), probably the most severe of all entrance examinations (foreign students may be exempted under certain conditions). The student desiring to proceed to the doctorate is free from examinations thereafter until he presents his thesis for the doctor's degree,[2] when, if it is accepted, he is submitted to a public oral examination not only in his principal subject (_Hauptfach_), but also as a rule in two or more collateral subjects (_Nebenfacher_). The doctor's degree does not give the right to teach in a faculty (_venia legendi_). To acquire this a doctor must present a further thesis (_Habilitationsschrift_), and must deliver two lectures, one before the faculty, followed by a discussion (_colloquium_), the other in public; but these lectures "seem to be merely secondary and are tending to become so more and more"; "scientific productiveness is so sharply emphasized among the conditions for admission that it overshadows all the rest" (Paulsen, loc. cit. p. 165).

In France the examination for the baccalaureate, though conducted in part by university examiners, has become a school-leaving examination (see below). The licentiateship has been preserved in the faculties of arts, science and laws, and is in point of difficulty about equal to the pass degree examinations of the university of London, though differing in the nature of the tests. In the faculty of sciences, the three subjects of examination selected may, under a recent regulation, be taken separately. Until a few years ago the successful candidates at the licentiateship were arranged in order of merit. For the doctorate in the faculty of letters two theses must be submitted, of which the subject and plan must be approved by the faculty (until recently one of them was required to be written in Latin). Permission to print the theses is given by the rector or vice-rector after report from one or more professors, and they are then discussed publicly by the faculty and the candidate (_soutenance de these_). In this public discussion the "disputation" of the middle ages survives in its least changed form. The literary theses required by French universities are, as a rule, volumes of several hundred pages, and more important in character even than the German _Habilitationsschrift_. The possession of the doctorate is a _sine qua non_ for eligibility to a university chair, and to a lectureship in the university of Paris.

In the faculty of sciences a candidate for the doctorate may submit two theses, or else submit one thesis and undergo an oral examination.

For the doctorate in law, a thesis and two oral examinations are required.

In the faculty of medicine there is no licentiateship, but for the doctorate six examinations must be passed and a thesis submitted.

There is also a special doctorate, the "_doctorat d'Universite_," awarded on a thesis and an oral examination; and there are diplomas (_Diplomes d'Etudes superieures_) awarded on dissertations and examinations on subjects in philosophy, history and geography, classics or modern languages, selected mainly by the candidate and approved by the faculty.

2. _Professional Examinations._ (a) _Teaching._--University examinations for degrees having ceased to be used as technical tests of teaching capacity, new examinations have been devised for this purpose. The test for German university teachers has been described above. For secondary teachers, W. von Humboldt instituted a special examination in 1810 (Paulsen, _Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts_, ii. pp. 283 and 393), and an examination for primary teachers was instituted in Prussia in 1794.

In France there is a competitive examination for secondary teachers, the _agregation_, originally established in 1766. _Agreges_ have a right to state employment and they alone can occupy the highest teaching post (_chaire de professeur_) in a state secondary school, other posts being open to licentiates. There are also examinations for primary teachers. The tests for teachers are different for the two sexes.

In England there is no obligatory test for secondary teachers. The universities and the College of Preceptors conduct examinations for teaching diplomas. The Board of Education holds special examinations (Preliminary Certificate examination and Certificate examination, &c.) for primary teachers.

(b) _Medicine._--See MEDICAL EDUCATION.

(c) _Other Professions._--A system of professional examinations carried on by professional bodies, in some cases with legal sanction, was developed in England during the 19th century. Those in the following subjects are the most important: Accountancy (Institute of Chartered Accountants and Society of Accountants and Auditors), actuarial work (Institute of Actuaries), music (Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music, Royal College of Organists, and the Incorporated Society of Musicians), pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Society), plumbing (the Plumbers' Company), surveying (Surveyors' Institution), veterinary medicine (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons), technical subjects, e.g. cotton-spinning, dyeing, motor-manufacture (City & Guilds of London Institute), architecture (Royal Institute of British Architects), commercial subjects, shorthand (the Society of Arts and London Chamber of Commerce), engineering (Institutions of Civil Engineers, of Mechanical Engineers, and of Electrical Engineers).

3. _School-leaving Examinations._--The faculty of arts in medieval universities covered secondary as well as higher education in the subjects concerned. The division in arts subjects between secondary and university education has been drawn at different levels in different countries. Thus the first two years of the arts curriculum in English and American universities correspond, roughly speaking, to the last two years spent in a secondary school of Germany or France, and the continental "school-leaving examinations" correspond to the intermediate examinations of the newer English universities and to the pass examinations for the degree at Oxford and Cambridge (Mark Pattison, _Suggestions on Academical Organization_, 1868, p. 238, and Matthew Arnold, _Higher Schools and Universities in Germany_, 1892, p. 209).

A tabular summary is given (see Tables I., II., III., IV.) of the requirements of the secondary school-leaving examinations of France, Prussia (for the nine-year secondary schools) and Scotland, and of the university of London.

There are in England a number of school examinations which, under prescribed conditions, also serve as school-leaving examinations, and give entrance to certain universities, especially the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations (both established in 1858), and the examinations of the Oxford and Cambridge "Joint Board." A movement to reduce the number of entrance examinations and to secure uniformity in their standard was set on foot in 1901. In that year the General Medical Council communicated to the Board of Education a memorial on the subject from the Headmasters' Conference. The memorial was further communicated to various professional bodies concerned. Conferences were held by the consultative committee of the Board of Education in 1903, with representatives of the universities, the Headmasters' Conference, the Association of Head-Masters, the Association of Head-Mistresses, the College of Preceptors, the Private Schools' Association, and with representatives of professional bodies. The committee were of opinion that a central board, consisting of representatives of the Board of Education and the different examining bodies, should be established, to co-ordinate and control the standards of the examinations, and to secure interchangeability of certificates, &c., as soon as a sufficient number of such bodies signified their willingness to be represented on the board. They recommended that the examination should be conducted by external and internal examiners, representing in each case the examining body and the school staff respectively, and that reports on the school work of candidates should be available for reference by the examiners (circular of the Board of Education of 12th of July 1904).

The "accrediting" system in the United States was started by the university of Michigan in 1871. A school desiring to be accredited is submitted to inspection without previous notice. If the inspection is satisfactory, the school is accredited by a university for from one to three years, and upon the favourable report of its principal any of its students are admitted to the university by which it has been accredited without any entrance examination. In practice it is found that many students whom their teachers refuse to certify are able to pass the university entrance examination. The statistics of nine years show that the standard of the certified students is higher than that of non-certified students. Two hundred and fifty schools are accredited by the university of Michigan. In 1904 it was stated that the system was gaining favour in the east,[3] and that it had been adopted more or less by all the eastern colleges and universities with the exception of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia.

4. _Methods of Examination._--Examinations may test (i.) knowledge, or, more exactly, the power of restating facts and arguments of a kind that may be learnt by rote; (ii.) the power of doing something, e.g. of making a _precis_ of a written document, of writing a letter or a report on a particular subject with a particular object in view, of translating from or into a foreign language, of solving a mathematical problem, of criticizing a passage from a literary work, of writing an essay on an historical or literary subject with the aid of books in a library, of diagnosing the malady of a patient, of analysing a chemical mixture or compound; and (the highest form under the rubric) of making an original contribution to learning or science as the result of personal investigation or experiment. Examinations are carried out at present by means of (1) written papers; (2) oral examinations; (3) practical, including in medicine clinical, tests; (4) theses; or a combination of these.

Written.

In written examinations the candidates are, as a rule, supplied with a number of printed questions, of which they must answer all, or a certain proportion, within a given time, varying, as a rule, from 1-1/2 to 3 hours, the latter being the duration most generally adopted for higher examinations in England. Whereas in France and Germany the questions are generally few in number and require long answers, showing constructive skill and mastery of the mother-tongue on the part of the candidates, such "essay-papers" are comparatively rare in England. In many subjects, the written examinations test memory rather than capacity. It has been suggested that sets of questions to be answered in writing should as a rule be divided into two parts: (i.) a number of questions requiring short answers and intended to test the range of the candidate's knowledge; (ii.) questions requiring long answers, intended to test its depth, and the candidate's powers of co-ordination and reflection. A necessary condition for the application of the second kind of test is that time should be given for reflection and for rewriting, say one-third or one-quarter of the whole time allowed. A further distinction is important, especially in such subjects as mathematics or foreign languages, in which it is legitimate to ask what precise power on the part of a candidate the passing of an examination shall signify. Owing to a prevailing confusion between tests of memory and tests of capacity, the allowance for chance fairly applied to the former is apt to be unduly extended to the latter. In applying tests of memory, it may be legitimate to allow a candidate to pass who answers correctly from 30 to 50% of the questions; such an allowance if applied to a test of capacity, such as the performance of a sum in addition, the solution of triangles by means of trigonometrical tables, or the translation of an easy passage from a foreign language, appears to be irrational. A candidate who obtains only 50% of the marks in performing such operations cannot be regarded as being able to perform them; and, if the examination is to be treated as a test of his capacity to perform them, he should be rejected unless he obtains full marks, less a certain allowance (say 10, or at most 20%) in view of the more or less artificial conditions inherent in all examinations.

Oral.

The oral examination is better suited than the written to discover the range of a candidate's knowledge; it also serves as a test of his powers of expression in his mother-tongue, or in a foreign language, and may be used (as in the examination for entrance to the Osborne Naval College) to test the important qualities (hardly tested in any other examinations at present), readiness of wit, common-sense and nerve. It may be objected that candidates are heavily handicapped by nervousness in oral examinations, but this objection does not afford sufficient ground for rejecting the test, provided that it is supplemented by others. Oral tests are used almost invariably in medical examinations; and there is a growing tendency to make them compulsory in dealing with modern languages. Oral examinations are much more used abroad than in England, where the pupils during their school years receive but little exercise in the art of consecutive speaking.

TABLE I.--PRUSSIA: ABITURIENTEN EXAMEN

I. Name of Examination.

_Abiturienten Examen_ (established in 1788).

II. Minimum Age for Entry.

Age only limited by condition of length of school course. The usual
age is 17-18.

III. Length of Course of Study.

9 years.

Candidates who have not attended the 9 years' school course may be
admitted to the examination on special application.

IV. Subjects.

In _Gymnasium_.

Written. Oral.
German essay. Latin.
Mathematics. Greek.
Translation into Latin. English or French.
Translation from Greek into Religion.
German. History.
Mathematics.

In _Real-Gymnasium_.

Written. Oral.
German essay. Latin.
Mathematics. English.
Translation from Latin. French.
Translation from German into Physics or Chemistry.
or essay in English or Religion.
French. History.
Physics. Mathematics.

In _Ober-Realschule_.

Written. Oral.
German essay. English.
Mathematics. French.
An exercise in French and in Physics.
English (an essay in one Chemistry.
language and a translation Religion.
from the other into German). History.
Physics or Chemistry. Mathematics.

V. Co-ordination with Teaching.

The object of the examination is defined as being a test of whether
the candidate has fulfilled the aims laid down in the curricula,
&c., prescribed for a _Gymnasium_, _Real-gymnasium_, or
_Ober-realschule_, as the case may be, and the subjects of
examination are those prescribed in the curricula for the kind of
school concerned.

The report on the school work of each candidate in his various
subjects is laid before the Examining Board before the beginning of
the examination.

VI. Examiners.

The Examining Board consists of a government inspector (_der
Konigliche Kommissar_) acting as chairman, the headmaster of the
school, and the teachers of the highest classes in the school. The
inspector may nominate a deputy, who is as a rule, the headmaster of
the school.

Each teacher concerned selects for the written examination three
alternative subjects in his branch, from which, after receiving a
report thereon from the headmaster, the inspector makes a final
choice.

The papers are marked by the teachers concerned and circulated the
the whole Board of Examiners, who then decide whether individual
candidates shall be (i.) rejected, (ii.) admitted with (ii.)
admitted with oral examination, or (iii.) submitted to the oral
examination.

VII. Nature of Examination and General Remarks.

The written examination extends over four or five days. Only one
paper is given each day, for which 3 to 5-1/2 hours are allowed
(5-1/2 hours for the German essay). For essays in foreign languages
dictionaries may be used.

TABLE II.--FRANCE: BACCALAUREAT

I. Name of Examination.

_Baccalaureat de l'enseignement secondaire._

This examination has been carried on under different forms since
1808. The regulations summarized here date from 1902, when the
_baccalaureat_ described replaced the _baccalaureat-es-lettres,
baccalaureat-es-sciences_, and _baccalaureat de l'enseignement
moderne._

II. Minimum Age for Entry.

Part I., 16, or, with special permission, 15.

Part II. may not be taken within an academic year after passing Part
I.

III. Length of Course of Study.

There is no requirement of attendance. Part I. of the examination
corresponds exactly to the subjects taken in the "second cycle" of
secondary education, and Part II. to the _classe de philosophie_ and
_classe de mathematiques._

See also under V.

IV. Subjects.