TABLE 15.-Showing average age of competitors in examinations for the classified service in all its branches, July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888, both inclusive-Continued. In four of these examinations the average age of those that passed was greater than those that failed; in all the others the reverse was the case. In most of the examinations the difference was not great, however, and the figures are not important except as showing that the bulk of those entering the examinations for the different branches of the service are not boys and girls fresh from school, but mature men and women, the majority of them from ten to fifteen years away from their school days. The education of those examined for the postal service is shown in the following table: TABLE 16.—Showing the education of persons examined for the postal service, July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1838, both inclusive. In the following comparative statement showing the education of those examined for admission to all branches of the classified service during the period covered by this and the two preceding reports, commen schools, high schools, and academies are consolidated under the designation of "public schools:" TABLE 17. - Comparative statement showing the education of those examined for all branches of the classified service, January 16, 1855, to January 15, 1886; January 16, 1886, to June 30, 1887, and July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888. Jan. 16, 1885, to Jan. 15, 1886. 3,714 2, 629 1,085 29. 2 255 211 44 17.3 140 112 28 20.0 5, 560 3,231 2, 113 31.3 412 343 69 16.7 312 249 63 20.2 260 75 22.4 208 141 67 32.2 16, 017 10, 490 5, 527 34.51, 002 6, 273 4, 170 2, 103 33. 51, 005 641 TABLE 17.-Comparative statement showing the education of those examined for all branches of the classified service, etc.-Continued. These statistics concerning the education of competitors are of comparatively little value, as they do not show with any degree of certainty what on their face they purport to show, viz, the extent and character of the education which the competitors have received. Those who have had but a few months, or a few years' schooling at a country district school, as well as those who have been through all the grades of the best city schools, are alike classed as having received a commonschool education. The large per cent. of failures among competitors of this class does not therefore prove anything of value concerning the quality of what may be called a full common-school education nor concerning the character or difficulty of the examinations of the commission. What is shown is that a very large per cent. of all those claiming to have received only a common-school education are able to pass the examinations creditably and, when appointed, to do the public work satisfactorily, proving that the average common-school education is adequate for intelligent and useful citizenship. What has been said of common schools may with equal propriety be said of high schools, academies, and colleges. When an applicant states that he has had an "academic," a "high school," or a "collegiate" education, nothing can with certainty be inferred from it as to what his real education has been. The experience and observation of the commission thus far seem to justify the statement that whether a man will or will not successfully pass the examinations and become a useful public servant depends quite as much upon his personal qualities and the use he has made of his opportunities since quitting school as upon the extent and character of the education he received in the schools. In other words, while the education of the schools is important and necessary as a preparation for the public service, it does not in itself necessarily or generally constitute a complete preparation for that service any more than it does for a business or professional pursuit. It is that education joined with the personal qualities and habits of the individual, mental, moral, and physical, that determines success or failure in the public service and in the steps leading thereto. This fact is often lost sight of by the critics of the commission and its examinations and methods, when they charge that it is the students fresh from their books that pass the examinations most successfully. The figures show to the contrary, and, beyond question, prove that the clerical examinations of the commission are of that practical and common-sense character that enables those with only an ordinary education, backed by good common sense, to pass them. APPOINTMENTS. The number of appointments made to the several Executive Depart ments at Washington from each kind of examination during the period covered by this report was as follows: TABLE 18.- Showing appointments made from the several examinations to the classified departmental service in each department, July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888, both inclusive. TABLE 18.-Showing appointments made from the several examinations to the classified departmental service, etc., July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888, both inclusive-Continued. Kind of examination. Clerk..... Copyist Assistant curator.. Assistant examiner, Patent Office..... Assistant mycologist. Book-keeping... Botanical clerk Copyist of mechanical draw Male. Fem. Male. Fem. Male. Fem. Male. Fem. Male. Fem. Total. 22 112 28 37 11 48 1 1 1 Special pension examiner.. Special printer..... Type-writing.. Total... * United States Civil Service Commission, 1. |