Letter to the Chancellor from Dr. Bristowe.

  • Bristowe, John Syer, 1827-1895.
Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the Chancellor from Dr. Bristowe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    It is natural itrbnCi fade to attribute failure to pass examina- tions to incapacity of Candidates, and it must of course be admitted that the rejected Candidates in the case under consideration have not satisfied the requirements of the University, or reached that level of excellence which the examiners in their wisdom have made the measure of suecess. But the simplej|,facts that the rejections at the London University are far more numerous relatively than they are at other Universities, and that without any assigned cause tliey have increased enormously of late years and arc still increasing, plead eloquently in favour of the Candi- dates and in condemnation of the examinations. There are in fact grave faults both in the regulations of the University in regard to the examinations, and in the conduct of the examina- tions. The fault of the regulations of the University in reference to the Matriculation and Preliminary Scientific Examinations is that examination in too wide a range of subjects, and too extensive a knowledge of them, are required of Candidates, who, for the most part, are fresh from school, or at any rate have had very little time for serious study after leaving school. The mere enumera- tion of the subjects required of a Candidate at the Matriculation Examination is sufficient to condemn it as an entrance examina- tion. They are as follows:—Latin; two out of the three lan- guages, Greek, French, and German ; English ; English History with Modern Geography; Arithmetic; Algebra, up to and including simple equations; the first four books of Euclid ; Natui’al Philosophy, including Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, and Pneumatics, Optics and Heat; and Chemistry. Why, even a public school boy of high attainments could not pass such an examination in virtue only of the knowledge he has been acquiring for many years at school: and in the case of boys of average intelligence and education it involves an outrageously severe, and altogether um’emunerative mental and physical strain. Who among the Senate even, or who among the examiners, is competent at this moment to pass successfully through such an ordeal ? The Pre- liminary Scientific Examination again is one of exceeding difficulty, fill' too difficult indeed for that period of a student’s career at Avhich he is required to pass it. Moreover, as I have already observed, it embraces a list of subjects, scarcely one of which has any direct bearing on medicine. In fact, they are placed here in order to get rid of them at once and for ever, so that they may not embarrass the student’s further progress. The subjects are :—Mechanical and Natural Philosophy, treated far too pro- foundly for most men who aim at a degree in medicine ; Zoology, which can only be satisfactorily studied after the student has learnt anatomy and physiology ; Botany, which is of very little, if any, use to a medical man; and Inorganic Chemistry. Is it astonishing that a large number of youths fail to pass the exami- nation ? The faults in the conduct of the examinations relate to the quality of the questions which are set, and to the standard of