Some account of the origin and objects of the new Oxford examinations for the title of Associate in Arts and certificates, for the year 1858 / by T.D. Acland ; also letters from J. Hullah [and others] and selected papers relating to the West of England examination.
- Acland, Sir Thomas Dyke, 1809-1898.
- Date:
- 1858
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Some account of the origin and objects of the new Oxford examinations for the title of Associate in Arts and certificates, for the year 1858 / by T.D. Acland ; also letters from J. Hullah [and others] and selected papers relating to the West of England examination. 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.
7/256
![juniors from a dread of the overpowering number of Candi- dates, the higher fee for the junior class may have this effect; while the lower fee for the seniors may be, in some cases, accepted as a set-off to the lower honour to be given. Honours,—The honours to be awarded at Cambridge to suc- cessful Candidates differ in two respects from those offered at Oxford : first, honour will not be given separately for success in particular subjects, but only for the general result of the education; this course is adopted at Oxford as regards boys under fifteen, but, as regards Candidates under eighteen, Oxford offers separate classes in Language, Science, and the Arts. In the second place, while at Oxford the names both of senior and junior Candidates in the first class are to be arranged in order of merit—those in the second and third classes being placed in alphabetical order —the Cambridge lists are to be in alphabetical order throughout. It is remarkable that both Universities apply to their juvenile aspirants from without a principle opposed to their respective practice in the examination of their resident alumni. Oxford appears to have acted with a view both to single out provincial talent of the highest order, and to encourage the improvement of school instruction in particular subjects ; Cambridge, it is presumed, with a view to give a more boyish character to the Examination, and to encourage general and preparatory training. Cambridge also refuses to give to the successful senior Candidates the title “ Associate in Arts.” The objections to this title are fully discussed in the following pages ; and, nothing new having been advanced on the subject, it may be left to experience to decide which University has judged most wisely in this particular.* The course adopted by * I cannot, however, forego the pleasure of referring to some remarks of Dr. Shaw, of Dublin, as a confirmation of what I have already urged:—“ Our chief object in the present paper was to point out the improvements which may be expected to result in middle-class schools from the institution of a corre- sponding system of University Examinations. To this work we trust that the governing bodies of our two [Irish] Universities will soon and seriously address themselves. If they neglect it much longer, it -will inevitably be undertaken in other quarters, and the Universities will incur no small loss of educational and social influence. Let not these learned bodies suppose that they consult their dignity by ignoring the educational wants of our mercantile classes, and, as a consequence, allowing the intellectual life of every successive generation to drift further and further away from University ideas and modes of culture. Of course there are objections to be met, apprehensions to be removed. There always are lions in the way when any good service is to be done. ‘ The proposed Ex-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440392_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
