hat
conclusion. Should not the student of economics have presented to him
in a similar way the idea or principle, and then be required to follow
the reasoning upon which it is based? Then, through questions and
problems,--the more the better, if time permits of their thorough
discussion and solution,--the student may be exercised in the
interpretation of the principles, and by illustrations drawn from
history and contemporary conditions may be shown the various
applications of the principle to practical problems. To get and hold
the student's _interest_, to fascinate him with the subject, is equal
in importance to the method, for without interest good results are
impossible.[31]

=Tests or teaching results=

It must be confessed that no exact objective measure of the efficiency
of teaching methods in economics has been found. At best we have
certain imperfect indices, among which are the formal examination, the
student's own opinion at the close of the course, and the student's
revised opinion after leaving college.

The primary purpose of the traditional examination is not to test the
relative merits of the different methods of teaching, but to test the
relative merits of the various students in a class, whatever be the
method of teaching. Every teacher knows that high or low average marks
in an entire class are evidences rather of the standard that he is
setting than it is of the merits of his teaching methods,--though in
some cases he is able to compare the results obtained after using two
different methods of exposition for the same subject. But, as was
indicated above, such a difference may result from his own temperament
and may point only to the method that he can best use, not to the best
absolutely considered. Moreover, the teacher may make the average
marks high or low merely by varying the form and content of the
examination papers or the strictness of his markings.

Each ideal and method of teaching has its corresponding type of
examination. Descriptive and concrete courses lend themselves
naturally to memory tests; theoretical courses lend themselves to
problems and reasoning. A high type of question is one whose proper
answer necessitates knowledge of the facts acquired in the course
together with an interpretation of the principles and their
application to new problems. Memory tests serve to mark off "the sheep
from the goats" as regards attention and faithful work; reasoning
tests serve to give a m