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The KANSAN Comments
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SUNDAY, MAY 4, 1941
In Defense of Finals By Arthur W. Davidson Professor of Chemistry
I believe that a valid case for final examinations can be based upon the following arguments.
I do not consider myself to be conspicuously callous to human suffering, yef I confess that these wailings will probably leave me almost entirely unmoved. Further, although I should be greatly distressed, (having a native preference for the progressive side in almost all controversial matters, at being labelled a reactionary, I find myself impelled to defend the conservative viewpoint on the perennial question of whether or not final examinations are justifiable.
Now, in the first week of May, the aspect of our campus gladdens the eye, and the air is still fragrant with the scent of lilacs and medolious with the rustle of spring. Yet in three short weeks this same atmosphere will be rent with the loud lamentations of hundreds of young men and women over the ordeal which is to be inflicted upon them, in pursuance (as they will say) of an outworn educational tradition, and with the willing co-operation of a group of unfeeling pedagogues on whose flinty hearts the beauties of nature have exerted no softening influence. They will be compelled, we shall hear, to go through a gruelling week of unrelenting nervous strain, in order to avoid being plowed under by a series of tests which can give no fair measure of their abilities or accomplishments.
Basis for Award
First, no practicable alternative has as yet been devised or suggested. Even the most ardent opponent of finals would probably not propose that every student should proceed automatically from one semester's work to the next, with no sort of test of his achievement, and that he should eventually receive a degree as a reward for four years of attendance. It is sometimes stated that weekly or monthly quizzes provide a sufficient measure of the student's progress, but it is obvious that such tests cannot give satisfactory evidence of mastery of a subject as a whole. At the other extreme, we are told that a more civilized practice would be a series of comprehensive examinations, such as are administered at Oxford and Cambridge, at the end of the fouryear period. There is much to be said in favor of comprehensive tests; but it could hardly be contended that a single group of examinations, the results of which were to determine the success or failure of one's entire college career, would not constitute an ordeal infinitely more nerve-wracking than a series of tests each dealing with the subject matter of a single course.
Students Learn From Review
In the second place, the final examination has an
educational function entirely distinct from its use as a test of achievement. Review of a subject in preparation for an examination provides a perspective which cannot be acquired otherwise. From the top of a mountain, the country below has an appearance quite different from that which it presented to the observer on the plain or on the hillside trail; and similarly, after a course has been completed, the earlier portions of the subject matter inevitably take on an aspect which was not apparent on first encounter. Of course, one could take such a backward glance even without the necessity of preparing for a final examination, but, in view of the frailty of human nature, the incentive provided by the day of reckoning is salutary in all cases and necessary in most. Further, there is something to be said for the actual taking of an examination—as distinguished from the preparation for it-as a valuable exercise in the organization of ideas and in the application of principles to the solution of specific problems.
Results Justify Examinations
Lastly, I believe that final examinations are justified, in the main, by their results. We shall hear, when the time of lamentations arrives, that what is required for the passing of examinations is not a real mastery of the subject, but merely the ability to reproduce the words of the text-book, or to echo the lectures of the professor. Now, I make no claim of perfection for my colleagues, still less for myself; but if the teacher exists who actually prefers the mechanical repetition of words—even of his own golden phrases—to the expression of original ideas by his students, I have yet to meet him. In fact, I am certain that such a teacher is merely a myth; or, rather, a straw man set up by critics for the purpose of being demolished. I know of no teacher who does not hail with glad acclaim any evidence of independent thought shown by his students.
Promising Students Pass
Do we really find the student who thinks for himself falling by the wayside, while his inferior but more imitative classmate carries off the honors? Oh yes, we shall be told, Einstein was a poor hand at passing examinations in mathematics! But for every genius who found it impossible to adapt his talents to the restrictions of the traditional examinations system, there are hundreds of cases in which successful careers were foreshadowed by academic distinction. The contention that examinations are unfair falls down completely in the face of the very simple and obvious fact that the intelligent student, the original student, the promising student, does pass final examinations, in fact, one may as well go so far as to say that such a student almost invariably gets good grades in final examinations.
Grades Reflect Student Industry
In this connection, we shall hear a great deal also, about the iniquities of the grading system. Instructors set too much store by grades, recommendation for a job depends only on grades, the student who wins recognition is not the one who wants to learn but the one who works only for grades, etc. etc. This is another bogey set up as a target for convenient demolition. That there are students who attach too much importance to grades, who take no interest in a returned examination paper beyond a glance at the figures at the top of the page, or who will argue—as if it mattered—about a discrepancy of 5 or 10 points in the grade on a single quiz cannot be denied. But these are manifestations of the attitude of the student, not of the intsuctor. The truth is that the grading system is no more than a crude, though convenient, arithmetical device for the simplification of the keeping of records; but that, in the long run, good grades nevertheless accrue automatically to the student who devotes his energies simply to learning as much as he can.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Friday, they received a courteous
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Old Golds, apologizing for the incident and enclosing three packages of cigarettes.
Intelligence Plus Effort Makes Success
And so, when the semi-annual storm breaks once again, I shall not be too greatly disturbed by the weeping, the wailing, and the gnashing of teeth. I shall continue to hold the belief that, perhaps with rare exceptions, what it takes to pass final examinations is not the ability to guess what is going to be asked, not luck, not trickery, not the suppression of original thought, not the memorizing of paragraphs of text nor the repetition of the favorite sentences of the instructor. No, what it takes is merely a moderate amount of intelligence and common sense, accompanied by the determination to give one's best efforts to the job that has to be done, even though one may find it less pleasant than idleness. In other words, what it takes to pass examinations is not very different from what all of us are going to need in increasing measure in the troublesome times ahead of us.
An argument in the street followed
As an added corny touch they enclosed "the wrapper from the defective weed" with the note, "Perhaps this will serve for identification purposes."
Their story was that at the dinner table, in front of important guests, they pulled out a pack of cigarettes of that brand and pulled forth a weed. Lo and behold, before their very eyes it crumbled into nothing, spilling over the tablecloth and making everyone titter, much to the embarrassment of the complainants.
ROCK CHALK TALK
By HEIDI VIETS
One day when they were in a mood to complain, Everton Doon and John Conard wrote to four tobacco companies describing the defects of their cigarettes.
Friday afternoon the Chesterfield representative came around with diplomacy on his tongue, tried to sweeten them up on his product, and left a whole carton of Chesterfields.
By HEIDI VIETS
Men in the Phi Mu Alpha house just north of the Beta's called back. "It's good music. We ought to know." Phi Mu Alpha is a professional music fraternity.
Now they are considering complaining to the Packard company.
When the Alpha Chi's were serenading the Beta's Wednesday night, some heckler in a boarding house across the street yelled, 'Quiet! What music!"
The serenade Thursday night by Pi Phi freshmen brought a heavier battle at the Phi Delt house than any in the history of Pi Phi-Phi Delt waterfights.
The boys got out several hoses for crossfire, threw bucketfuls of water. When the girls turned to look for their cars, they had been driven away.
Altogether, the serenade and fight lasted an hour. Friday several Phi Delts were heard to say, "It was the most fun I ever had."
World at its worst: to wake up at 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning, and suddenly realize that you are a junior, that the University requires every college student to take the English proficiency examination before his senior year, and that this very morning is the last chance of
OFFICIAL BULLETIN
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Notices due at Channellor's office at $ p.m.
on day before publication during the week.
Please return these to us.
Sunday, May 4 ,1941 Vol. 38 No. 139
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION: Christian Science Organization will hold a regular meeting Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 in the Pine room of the Union building. Betty Charles.
EL ATENEO; The regular meeting of the Spanish Club will be held at 3:30 in 113 F. S. Election of officers. —Merle E. Simmons.
ENGLISH LECTURE. Professor John Nelson will lecture on E. W. Howe, Thursday afternoon at 3:30 in room 205 Fraser. The lecture is open
NOTICE TO ALL STUDENTS: Dr. E. T. Gibson will be available for personal conferences at Watkins Memorial Hospital on Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 5. Appointments should be made at the Watkins Memorial hospital—Ralph I. Cansutes.
SENIORS: Seniors who have not filled out activities cards for their Jayhawker senior pictures please do so at the Jayhawker Office before May 6.-Bob Woodward, business manager.
SIGMA XI: Spring Initiation and annual Banquet Tuesday in the Memorial Union building. Initiation, 6:00 p.m., Pine Room. Banquet, 6:30 p.m. Ballroom—W. H. Schoewe, secretary.
SYMPOSIUM: Meet in the Pine room at 7:30 this evening.—James I. Nelson.
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