EXAMINATIONS
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procedures that they tend t o place the student in competition against the instmctors instead of ih cooperation with him. Many students take examinations in a spirit of trying t o satisfy the instructor. They do not even do as a singleton does in golf-shwt against his own bogey or par. They are not competing with the aid of the instructor against an opponent; the instructor himself is in the position of opponent. This; intrinsically, is not through any fault of either students or instructor, but of the situation. I think that some of the harm of this condition might be removed by using types of examinations in which the questions, or the general situation, are such that the student recognizes that be is really testing his ability and his achievement against some ex-
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ternal standard or norm or against the performance of another group of competitors. Two things might be used more widely in engineering in this direction: one is the project or design type of examination-in advanced subjects, of course-which, as previously mentioned, are successful in architecture. The other is the use of outside examiners. This practice has been used by a number of schools with some success, but has not become very general. However. this scheme has the merit of lining up instructor and class as a team against an opponent and thereby tends t o increase morale. It deserves further trial.-Reprinted from Pan. Stele Engineer, 27, 12 (1944).
