Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 2. 7th March 1973

Examinations

Examinations

Professor Philpott's "criticism" of the article on exams is hard to follow. The Professor wrote that the article "leaves the impression that not only do (exams) not matter but that they're positively harmful and that so too, by inference, is the process of learning that precedes them". This gives an erroneous impression: the article asserted that exams do matter, albeit because they are harmful. Further than this, however the article specifically refutes the contention that the process of learning does not matter' "What is learned at university (or what should be learned) is the ability to research and discern..." Neither does the article imply that the learning process is harmful; what it does imply is that learning for examination purposes is virtually useless. The real difficulty with the Professor's arguments on exams, however, lies with the next paragraph of his review: "It seems necessary to point out once again to people embarking on a university career(!), that the process of learning is and always has been hard work, often arduous and tedious and sometimes even boring but above all very demanding by way of effort on the part of a student (and even more so may I say on the part of the teacher). One of the greatest fallacies of this time is to assume that students by being simply exposed to knowledge will somehow acquire it through their mental pores by some subtle osmotic process". It may all be true, but what does any of it have to do with exams? One can only assume that the Professor sought to discredit the arguments put forward in "Handbook" by implying that their purpose was to make life easier for students. The argument put forward in the article was not that at all, but rather that examinations are expressive of an underlying ideology intended to be internalised by students as though it were an immutable fact of life. Far from refuting this point, Professor Philpott confirmed it when he wrote: "Students who approach their time here under the impression given by "Handbook's" article on exams viz. that exams don't matter—will find that they have wasted their time..." In other words, the purpose of a university education does not lie with the knowledge gained but rather with the piece of paper that purports to evidence that fact; knowledge that is not marketable is useless. So much for the university's purpose being to seek and teach the truth. The Professor goes on to say that not only will these aberrant students waste their time, also they will wast the taxpayers money ... as the "Handbook" article said "Ask yourself next time you work at a freezing works, or as a waitress, what good your education will do those working alongside you on a full-time basis the taxpayers. The truth about university graduates is that their services are for those that can afford them". Professor Philpott has simply failed to join issue.