What purposes are actually achieved by examinations?
What evils necessarily accompany examinations? What evils
usually accompany them?
Outline a plan by which these purposes may be achieved
unaccompanied by the usual evils.
Is memory of facts the best test of
knowledge? Suggest other tests by which the value of a
pupil’s knowledge may be judged.
Experts sometimes vary more than 70 per cent in grading the
same manuscript. The same person often varies 20 per cent or more
in grading the same manuscript at different times. An experiment
with your own grading might prove interesting.
Do you and your pupils in actual practice regard examinations
as an end or as a means to an end? As corroborating evidence or as
a final proof of competence?
How may examinations test intelligence?
Suggest methods by which pupils may be led to distinguish major
from minor and to see things in their right relations.
Is it more desirable to have the pupils develop these powers or
to memorize facts? Why?
Why are “question and answer” publications
antagonistic to modern educational practice? Why harmful to
students?