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“ CRa4 M. 83
like having their work rodely tested : they feel the oompetition
of more far-sighted toachers who hnvo adapted themselves
betims to s uew state of things. In those and other ways
it arises that a formidable minority actually have good
grounds for hnting rrrtrninntione. ‘l’i~~y mako their foelinge
widely known, and tho general public, ever ready to grumble
at a novolty of which they hear too much, and do not procisr*ly
appreciate tho advantages, tako up tho burden of tho
complnint.
Fortunately, too, for the opponents of oxamination, an
ndmirablo “cry ” has been found. Exnminntion, they shy,
le& to lr Cram,” and l1 Cmmn ” is tho destruction of true
study. 1’eaplo mlm know nothing else about oxaminntion
know well cnough that it is “Cram.” Tho word 11m nil the
attributes of n perfect yt(cdtion-brggity cpithrt. It is short,
crnphtic, nnd happily ditrivrd fro111 n clisngrccnblo phpicnl
metaphor. :Iccordingly, tlleru is not II r~”spcchblo gentlemnn
iiistributillg prizcs to a body of scllolars at tho end of tho
so;sion, an11 at a loss for something to say, who cloos not think
of this word (( Cram,” and prococd to expatiate on tho evils
of tho examination system.
I intend in this nrticlo to tab up tho loss popular view OE
the subject, and my what I can in fnvour of examinations. I
mi& to analyso tho meaning of tho word ‘‘ Crrtm,” and decide
if possible, whether it is tho baneful thing that so many people
my. Thcro is no difficulty in scoing at once that Cram ”
means two difforcnt things, which I will call “good C~am ” and
(( bad Cmtn.” A candidate, preparing for an important cornpetitivo
exominntion, may put hitnsclf under a tutor well
skilled in preparing for that examination. This tutor looks
for success by carefully directing tho candidate’s studies into
tho most r‘ paying ” lines, and pxhricting them rigorouely to
thoso lines. The training given may be of an arduous
thorough chsmcter, EO that tho faculties of the pupil are
stretched and exercised to their utmost in those lines. This
wonld be called Cram,” bccauee it involvea exolaaive devotion
to the answering of cortain examination-papers, I all it
“ good Cram.’,
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