ENTER TO GROW IN WISDOM

The Carnegie Foundation's recent report on college admissions presents a solution to the problem which, while it is new, is very much experimental. Taking the stand that "the swollen and unwholesome concern with mere admission to college" is greatly over-emphasized, the Foundation objects to both certification and admission by examination as criterions of a student's eligibility to enter college. Instead, the report recommends "a true chart and record of the pupil's activities" to show his fitness for further study, and to give an indication of the most suitable field for him. In addition tests are suggested to give an accurate survey of the pupil's "present" knowledge.

From an educational point of view, the Foundation's criticism of the two chief methods of determining college admissions (certification and examination) can hardly be refuted. Certification, used in 90 per cent of American colleges, permits too much leeway to be any accurate standard. Little account is taken of the frequently haphazard or outdated school courses, and there have also been more than a few cases of kind schoolmasters padding a student's grade. The Old Plan examination method of the oldest and best-known American universities depends too much on the chance that the pupil will have the ideal combination of "knowledge, health, and temperament, cleverness, and good luck" at one time.

In indicting these weaknesses the Foundation fails to consider the New Plan Examination system. The New Plan judges the student's right to enter college from three points: his ability as shown on a three hour intelligence test, his last four years' preparatory school record, and the results of the four comprehensive examinations he takes. This plan combines the better points of the two more common methods and eliminates their weaknesses. Carelessness or irregularity in school courses are prevented by the examinations. The school record and the intelligence test often save the able student who may have slipped up in the examination.

The chief objection to the method suggested by the report is the fact that it is untried whereas the New Plan is already in effect. The suggested plan is experimental and ideal, which would make the majority of colleges who dislike to be "the first by whom the new is tried" hesitant to adopt it. To remedy the shortcomings of current admission systems the report seeks to admit only the student who is genuine college material, by presenting an accurate standard for estimating his fitness. Yet the New Plan has been tried, found practicable, and adopted. By means of the New Plan's "check and balance" it approaches very near the spirit of the method worked out by the Foundation.