THREE IN ONE

The all-inclusive plan of admission favored by Assistant Professor Bancroft Beatley appears to have certain advantages. The much-advertised "intelligence tests," now in use at Columbia and other universities would give each candidate a rating as to native capacity or "mental efficiency." The School record would indicate past performance. The New Plan examinations would test his specific knowledge of four basic subjects. Quite ideal.

It is necessary, however, to examine each kind of examination with care. The "mental efficiency" tests were first used extensively during the War, when it was found that when applied to large numbers of individuals, these tests gave the results which might have been expected. That is to say the average rating of the officers was higher than the average rating of the enlisted men, the while soldiers averaged higher than negro soldiers and so on. But it was never demonstrated and rarely asserted that in any individual case, the "intelligence test" gave a true index to mental ability. In the long run, the average results were dependable. Unfortunately, it is with individuals that the Committee on Admissions must deal, and as a basis of comparision for individuals, the "intelligence test" ought not be relied on.

There is however, the school record. Theoretically, a man who has done well in school should do well in college; as a matter of experience this theory is so often contradicted that it is quite invalid as a working rule. Nevertheless, the school record is helpful--as auxiliary evidence only.

Finally, there are the New Plan examinations. The fact is that these really are unusually comprehensive--and if they were made still more comprehensive, admission could justly be decided by them alone. Questions requiring originality and clear thinking, rather than mere congeries of remembered facts serve the same purpose as the "intelligence tests," and serve it more faithfully for individual cases. And the results of such examinations indicate the capacity of the candidate at the time which after all, is the important thing rather than his capacity in the first form or at any other more or less remote period. In any case, the Committee on Admissions will use its own judgment in the end, and the multiplication of tests and evidence, especially if every test must be discounted to correct for all sorts of human variables, can only confuse rather than aid. There is no reason why a single set of satisfactory examinations cannot be devised on which the Committee may solely rely.