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The medians for a passing quality in composition for each year high school for the five groups of teachers represented in table 1 read as follows:

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Table II vividly sets forth the relationship between the normal ability of highschool pupils in composition and the arbitrary judgment of teachers with reference to passing standards.

The table gives the medians actually attained by thousands of high-school pupils in typical American city and county school systems. Presented here also are the medians derived by Trabue through data* collected by him in his survey of the composition teaching in the high schools of Nassau County, New York. It will be ob

served that Trabue, in deriving his standards, discriminated between the pupils in the lower 25 per cent of the highschool classes and those in the upper 75 per cent, and that he also set up, in a tentative way, standards regarded as ideal. The subjective passing standards set by teachers of English in the various sections of the United States are seen to rise far above the actual attainments of pupils in the several sections of the country represented in this report, and also above both the practical and ideal standards derived by Trabue.

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apropos. A drill sergeant, during the early days of our preparation for war, was training a squad of rookies. He was so intent upon securing the exact movements involved in the facings, that he never took his eyes off the feet of the men. After a command for "About face," he found one pair of shoes that remained in the original position pointing to the front. He glanced up at the man, reprimanded him sharply, and demanded an explanation. "If you please, sir," responded the man, "I executed your command all right, but the shoes issued to me by the supply sergeant are so large that it is very difficult to make. them turn with my feet."

It appears from the findings reported in

WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND”

2

1

STANDARDS

SET BY TEACHERS

2

Diagram B-Comparison of Teachers' Arbitrary Passing Standards in Composition with Ideal Standards and with Medians Actually Attained by Pupils

The absurdity of the whole situation is caricatured in the accompanying cartoon by Burton Barns.

The cartoon presents very truthfully the unhappy situation of the pupil struggling under the arbitrary standards imposed by zealous but erring teachers. One is reminded by this cartoon of a story that is

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stood. An abnormal situation prevails, the calm perspective of distance, that all which teachers are unconscious of.

The children feel it, but do not understand. As a result, mental and social relations are broken down rather than built up. Teachers are blissfully unaware of the velocity effect of their teaching, which outstrips the psychological movements of the child-mind. They seem to view the whole educational field from a superior intellectual altitude, into which few objective realities enter. In their mental isolation they view things much as the writer did once, looking from an aeroplane down upon the city of London. At an altitude of many thousand feet above the city the velocity at which the aeroplane moved was not as disturbing to vision as might have been expected. The passenger was indeed scarcely conscious of the speed of his movements. So long as his surroundings were essentially space, attenuated atmosphere, in which the more ponderable objects of the world were not present to force upon the attention a realization of relative speeds or velocities, he caught sight of things in

but eliminated the effect of motion. To him the placid Thames, the Tower of London, the spires of Westminster possessed the stability of centuries and did not lose their charm because of his own mad rush, traveling above them. It was not until he began the descent at a sharp and precipitous angle, passing within measurable distance of a tiny cottage on the outskirts of London, that he became aware of the terrific velocity of his movements in relation to the terrestrial objects beneath him.

Teachers must single out now and then a few distinct, objective elements in the educational landscape, and get their mental bearings with reference to these. They must descend now and then from the superior altitude of their pedagogical traditions to the mental level of the child. Teachers of composition must revise their standards in accordance with rational methods of research. They must derive standards that will define definite "passing attainments" for each year high school.

THE EXAMINER'S CATECHISM*

PREVAILING CONDITIONS

What are the prevailing types of examination set in English?

Do the examinations as commonly set test what they are expected to test?

Is it definitely known what examinations as commonly set are actually intended to test?

Do the prevailing types of examination test what they ought to test?

What degree of correlation is there between examination grades and subsequent class-standing?

What technical considerations seem to determine the purposes of examinations?

What is the relative value of college entrance examinations as compared with the certification of high schools?

What profitable lessons may be learned from the history of comprehensive examinations? What profitable lessons may be learned from the history of intensive examinations?

What significance attaches to the tendency of educational authority to offer options between intensive and comprehensive examinations?

Are intensive and comprehensive examinations really alternatives? Are they complementary? Are they supplementary?

What effect upon pedagogical method may be expected from a substitution (optional) of intelligence tests and tests for specific ability for formal examinations in specific or general attainment as a requirement for entrance to college?

* C. C. Certain in The English Journal, 1919-’20.

E..G. BLACKSTONE Central High School

OW fast and how accurately should a pupil be able to operate a typewriter at the end of one, two, three, or four semesters? It seems that no one has been able to supply definite information as to the rate to be attained at the end of any semester's work in typewriting. This article is a report of an attempt to formulate tentative standards for each semester's work in typewriting.

UNIFORM UNITS OF MEASUREMENT LACKING

The first difficulty encountered in attacking this problem was that of adequate and accurate methods of measurement. The units ordinarily used have been either the word or the line. Since a word may consist of from one to fifteen or more letters, and a line may be from forty to eighty spaces in length, one cannot tell what has really been accomplished when a pupil has written forty words, or three lines per minute. An example of the variability possible is found in the following excerpts from tests sent out by two typewriter companies. Note the difference in the lengths of the words.

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-Those who are actively engaged in shipping, however, realize that in addition, Lloyd's comprises a wide system of reporting the movements of vessels- .""

In each of these passages there are about 145 spaces, but in the first there are 34 words, and in the second only 23. If material similar to the first example be given to a group of pupils as a test of their ability in typewriting, the report might well be "34 words per minute." *Copyright, 1920, by E. G. Blackstone.

But, similar to the second, the report would probably be "23 words per minute," and yet approximately the same number of keys would be struck in each test. Another difficulty, due to the unequal unit, arises when an attempt is made by a teacher to measure the progress of pupils from day to day. If the same test is repeated frequently, the element of practice enters and results are vitiated as far as the determination of growth is concerned. If different tests are given, the results are not comparable. It is, therefore, exceedingly difficult to measure accurately the progress made with the means available at present.

THE STROKE AS A UNIT OF MEASURE

After conferences with Homer W. Anderson, assistant director of educational research, the writer decided that a new unit of measurement must be used, and accordingly, the stroke unit was investigated. A stroke may be defined as any single effort in typewriting. It may be (1) the effort made in striking any key, whether it be a letter key, a back spacer key, a tabulator key, or a shift key, or it may be (2) the effort made in returning the carriage to start a new line. It is clear then that a capital letter represents two strokes, one for the shift key and one for the letter.

In order to judge of the value of the stroke unit, two types of tests were given. In the first, 250 pupils of Central High School wrote for three minutes on material consisting of a portion of an easy fairy tale. The words were short, averaging 4.7 strokes. This was followed by a second test from an editorial of literary character. The stroke average in this case. was 7.2. When the results had been tab

ulated, it was found that there was, a great variation in the number of words written in the two cases, but that the median number of strokes per minute was approximately equal. Tests of the same type were given again, and the same results were obtained. These results indicate that the stroke is a satisfactory unit of measurement. However, not enough experimentation has been made to make certain the uniformity in results when words of extreme variation in length are used. Therefore, in the construction of typewriting, tests for use in determining standards, tests as nearly equivalent as possible, have been constructed. In order to secure this, each test has an equal number of one letter, or two, three, five, ten, etc., letter words. It is believed that with this additional refinement, the stroke unit is sufficiently accurate to give reliable results in the measurement of abilities and progress in typewriting.

HOW DATA WERE SECURED

The tests based on the principles set forth above were given in June, 1920, to all the typewriting classes in four high schools.

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We inclose a stamped envelope for your answers to our questions. Respectfully yours,

The test was scored by having the pupils count the number of words written and having the teacher convert this number into the number of strokes by means of a conversion table. The results were then tabulated by courses.

TENTATIVE STANDARDS FOR RATE

The rates at which pupils wrote in this test are shown in Diagram I. STROKES 300

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The following shows the method of giving the test and the test itself.

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204 LOWER

(Typewriting

Course)
2

(School) Central High

5. Teacher and pupils should read the following together:

When the above directions have been carried out, wait for the signal "Start" from the instructor. When this order is given, type the letter on the lower part of this paper. You will be given three minutes to write as much as you can. You will not be expected to finish the letter. You will be marked for both accuracy and speed. Stop instantly when "Time" is called. Do not make any corrections. Wait for the signal to start. Keep your eyes on the instructor until it is given.

Dear Sir:

THE TEST

Answering your request, we recently quoted you a low price on our pianos, and, not having received your order, we take occasion to inquire whether you have as yet bought. If you have, will you tell

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