inal analysis, these examinations are
not tests. The writer does not urge the abolition of examinations, but
argues rather for a reorganized examination that embodies new
standards. A real examination must test for what is permanent and
vital; it must measure the degree to which students approximate the
aims that were set up to govern the entire course; it must gauge the
mental habits, the growth in power, rather than facts. Part of an
examination in mathematics should test students' ability to attack new
problems, to plan a line of work, to think mathematically, to avoid
typical fallacies of thought. For this part of the test, books may be
opened and references consulted. In literature we may question on text
not discussed in class to ascertain the students' power of
appreciation or of literary criticism. So, too, in examinations in
social sciences, physical sciences, foreign languages, and biological
sciences, the examination must consist, in great measure, of
questions which test the acquisition of the habits of thought, of
work, of laboratory procedure--in a word, the permanent contribution
of any study. This part of an examination should be differentiated
from the more mechanical and memory questions which seek to reveal the
student's mastery of those facts of a subject which may be regarded as
socially necessary. Reduce the socially necessary data of any subject
to an absolute minimum and frame questions on it demanding no such
slovenly standard--sixty per cent--as now prevails in college
examinations. If the facts called for on an examination are really the
most vital in the subject, the passing grade should be very high. If
the questions seek to elicit insignificant or minor information, any
passing mark is too high. It is obvious, therefore, that a student
should receive two marks in most subjects,--one that rates power and
another that rates mere acquisition of facts. The passing grade in the
one would necessarily be lower than in the other. An examination is
justified only when it is so devised that it reveals not only the
students' stock of socially useful knowledge but also their growth in
mental power.

PAUL KLAPPER
_College of the City of New York_

PART TWO

THE SCIENCES

CHAPTER

IV THE TEACHING OF BIOLOGY
_T. W. Galloway_

V THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY
_Louis Kahlenberg_

VI THE TEACHING OF PHYSICS