WHISTLE‐STOP TESTING: PROOF OR SPOOF?

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1714.1964.tb01267.x
• Published date: 01 May 1964
• Author: ALBERT E. HARUM
• Date: 01 May 1964

203

WHISTLE-STOP TESTING: PROOF OR SPOOF?

ALBERT

E.

HL4RUM*

Much

has been written and a good deal more has been expressed

in profane and other un-footnotable terms about final examinations-

both by the takers and givers of these barbarous instruments

of

in-

tellectual torture.

While

I

can’t recall what any one of the highly rated imported

speakers at any of the five commencements in which

I

have participated

had to say,

I

have no difficulty recalling vividly the tense, dreary and

frustrating context

of

more than

100

final examinations

I

have sat,

sweated and written through in almost twenty years

of

schooling. I’m

no different from most in that I’ve taken finals under good situations

and bad-with and without headaches or more serious disorders, tired

and refreshed, after receiving good news and bad, well and poorly

prepared, sad and happy,

in

air-conditioned and in

hot

and stuffy

quarters, in comfort and in pain, using desks carved out of mahogany

and more than a few on which were carved with penknife great

sophomoric wisdom, at daybreak and late at night, while hungry

and while in that comatose state which is induced by good food and

lots

of

it, using pencil, ballpoint, fountain pen and typewriter.

I

recall no final exam which

I

really enjoyed (with one possible

exception),

a

great many which were unpleasant, and not a few which

I

downright hated.

Oddly enough, the one

I

almost enjoyed was taken in Law School:

the task was to write a

2,500

word essay explaining Equity in such a

manner that, as the professor put it, “my wife, who knows no law,

will understand what Equity

is.”

I

was intrigued by this challenge, though I’m sure the professor’s

wife must have had some previous inkling about Equity since

I

also

enjoyed the grade in the course.

These somewhat violent reactions to final examinations seem to

*

Associate Professor, Business

Law,

University

of

Miami.