EXAMINATIONS AS A TEST OF INTELLECT.

It is generally deplored that academic honors in College are not a greater object of ambition among undergraduates. There are many reasons for this lamentable attitude towards scholarship, not least among which is the actual character of many of the examination papers. That this has been recognized is proved by the appointment some time ago of a committee from the Faculty "to consider how tests for rank in College may be made a more generally recognized measure of intellectual power."

After amassing quantities of material upon this subject, the committee issued an extremely interesting report, to be found in the last number of the Graduates' Magazine, in which appeared the statement that "the committee feels that in awarding high rank or distinction, emphasis should be laid more largely than it is today on ability to deal with facts and principles, as compared with information acquired and memory." This is very welcome announcement, for the useless and irksome task of temporarily assimilating a quantity of trivial details in order to obtain a high mark, has proved a most effectual deterrent to students who otherwise would have aspired to honors. An A obtained by such work is considered of little value by the majority of students, for, as President Lowell has put it, "the object of a liberal education is not so much knowledge as an attitude of mind and a familiarity with process of thought."

The committee mentioned above concludes its report by suggesting to instructors, "in addition to the ordinary tests for passing a course, the experimental use of special tests designed to measure intellectual power or grasp of a subject." A few instructors have tried this plan with apparent success. The CRIMSON wishes to endorse the scheme heartily, and hopes that all those instructors to whose courses it is applicable will adopt it in making out their next examinations.