The Old New Plan

Elsewhere in these columns will be found a quotation from the Christian Science Monitor regarding the abandonment of "Old Plan" examinations which is advised by the report of the Overseers' committee of Harvard University. According to the report, this particular form of examining does not supply the college with all the desired information about the applicant; it tests "knowledge and not appreciation;" it encourages cramming, and, moreover, it appears that a large variance exists in the marking standard of various readers. The new plan places more emphasis on the school record, on quality, and on the capacity of the boy to do the work.

When these facts are once pointed out, the reason for them will certainly be apparent. In the first place, there are fewer examinations to be taken; they can be rated from a different point of view, and can show, from the treatment a boy gives a subject, his power to handle information rather than to amass it. There can be no doubt as to the superiority of this newer system over the old, and it is more than probable that if Exeter did not have so many students who come here for only one or two years, she would turn her attention away from the "Old Plan."

However, the Harvard report recommends even a greater departure from any entrance requirements which place emphasis on points of examination credits. It continues that whatever methods of admission are adopted, they should be such as to insure the selection of candidates able to do work of the quality Harvard requires, and they should be diversified enough to make possible a check of one method by several others. It is also recommended that it be made possible for boys to be admitted who may not be well prepared in their formal studies but who have shown unusual achievement in the face of difficulties, or who can offer an excellent record in one or more subjects as a counter-balance to insufficiency in some other subject or subjects.

While on the question, it will be interesting to see what Princeton and Yale believe. President Angell says, "We have been giving increasing weight to the school records made by the students before coming to Yale and to such evidence as we can command regarding essential personality." Princeton has developed a system which is in effect a balancing four components in a man's record, checking one against another. These four components are: (1) the candidate's school record, with greatest emphasis on the record of the final year and the numerical standing in the class at graduation, (2) combinations of College Board Examinations, (3) the scholastic aptitude test, and (4) the character, promise, and school citizenship of the candidate, as indicated by the principal of his school. --The Exonian.