The trend of criticism of the times appears to be directing itself more and more against the age-worn institution of examinations as a means of determining the relative knowledge an undergraduate has acquired at the end of a term. With the tedious, wearying events of the last few weeks still fresh in mind, it might seem out of place to set down a few of the considerations which we believe excuse the examination system as it exists today, with all its psychological brutality and its inadequacies, as a standard of cultural measurement. When one considers the recent statement of the New York World that "examinations are a pretty sorry way to test knowledge and absurdly out of joint with the modern world," he is forced to admit that on the face of things the opinion might hold water.

On the other hand, there is not an ideal situation facing the educational world today. The hampering influence of the "four-year loafer" and misfit on his fellows is becoming generally recognized in educational circles. The need for a weeding-out process is essential if the universities and colleges are to be maintained as dispensaries of culture in the best meaning of the word. Herein then, lies the most cogent argument for the examination and here is a need, to eliminate the misfits from colleges, that no other agency has been invented to meet.

Aside from their value in this respect, examinations perform another function, in the urge they develop for work by holding a threat over the head of the undergraduate, Even grades, however faulty and inexact they may be, provide a certain visible record of achievement, which serves as a kind of compensation for energy expended. It offers an opportunity of a sort for a man to check up on himself, to give direction to his efforts. Of course, too often examinations bring a rigid limiting influence that makes for fact-cramming but that type of test is here, at least, happily tending to disappear, giving rise to questions demanding more comprehensive, integrated knowledge. A third feature of examinations is the forced review of the course as a whole, which they necessitate. Again and again men will find that this retrospect gives unity and meaning to the subject that had been impossible to grasp during the weeks of more segmented study. Daily Princetonian