Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

1.2EXAMINATIONS

1. LOCAL EXAMINATIONS

The inspectors visited primary schools regularly and the main aim of this type of testing was to monitor students' development since their last visit to school: "... the school inspector was due to arrive and inspect our progress to send his report and our results back to England" (Clarke, Growing 11). Therefore, these examinations were very important for both the teachers and the headmasters because the students' performance reflected their professionalism and ability to teach. Moreover, the lack of knowledge shed a bad light on the school, which might have consequently influenced the amount of school funding or the salary of the teachers whose classes performed badly, as the teaching staff was still paid by results (Campbell, Young Colonials 99).

Both Austin C. Clarke in Amongst Thistles and Thorns and George Lamming in In the Castle of My Skin mention, apart from the external examinations, the visit of the school inspector and the significance of this event for both the students and the teachers. Both describe the inspector in a very similar way: "dressed in the white of colonial power: white shirt with the short sleeves ... white cork hat with green undersides, white short pants with white threequarter stockings and white leather shoes..." (Clarke, Amongst 173) or "[t]he inspector wore a white suit with a red, white and blue badge on the lapel of the jacket" (Lamming 38). In other words, the inspector visiting their school is an Englishman who in his appearance and behaviour embodies or represents a symbol of their mother country, Britain.

However, the authors differ in the description of the examination conducted by the inspector. On the one hand, Lamming provides quite a positive overview of the inspector's visit to a primary school in Barbados. The students proudly show the inspector what their teachers have taught them since his last visit to school, for example:

... the boys recited the lesson they had been learning for the last three months:

Thirty days hath September,

April, June and November;

All the rest have thirty-one

Except February which hath but twenty-eight and

twenty-nine in a Leap Year. (Lamming 41)

After the individual performances the inspector chooses the winner of the recitation competition. For the students he is a nice man because he has brought them some pennies from the good Queen. However, he keeps his distance and his indifference towards the students is shown by an abrupt leaving.

Similarly, Mr. Biswas, the title character of V. S. Naipaul's novel, also prepares for the visit of the school inspector when he goes to Lal's school. As well as the pupils in Lamming's school, Mr. Biswas also learns by heart a poem, "Bingen on the Rhine", to perform it in front of the inspector. It seems that he is enthusiastic about his visit because he can publicly show what he has learnt and probably gain some admiration from the inspector, his teacher Lal and his colleagues.

On the other hand, Austin C. Clarke depicts a negative side of the internal examinations. In Milton's school the students do not recite short poems or sing hymns and compete in a friendly way between each other but instead they are properly tested on the knowledge the inspector thinks to be important: "... the inspector, full of lunch, would ask us the most difficult questions because, as it seemed to me, he wanted to show us how much he knew, an how little we knew" (Clarke, Amongst 175). This negative view of the inspector is intensified by his cruelty he shows towards the students' lack of knowledge.

1. EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS

Moreover, these examinations were highly regarded because they were a symbol of a higher social status of the students and their families: "British external exams, originally established solely as a measure of students' academic progress, became in an off themselves the key to success for many in West Indian society. This development enhanced the connection between education, status, and Britishness that was already a feature of British Caribbean life" (Rush 41). What is more, the examination the students took determined their future career.

1. ENTRANCE AND EXHIBITION EXAMINATION

There were two possibilities how the primary school pupils could enter a good secondary school. They could either pass an entrance examination which was "test-based selection and placement system positioned at the transition between primary and secondary schooling" (De Lisle 112) but the school fees would still apply, or they could aim at passing the exhibition examination, which would secure the students a free place without the obligation of paying school fees, books or uniforms. For example, in Guyana "the Buxton Scholarship" was offered to children from rural areas since the 1920' (Rush 29) or "the College Exhibition" was awarded to outstanding students in Trinidad since the end of the nineteenth century (Campbell, Young Colonials 70). Moreover, Rush says that the exhibition examination mirrored the entrance examination into public schools taken by students in Britain (28). In other words, passing this examination and being among the top students in the country was the only opportunity for intelligent students coming from lower economic stratum to be accepted into one of the prestigious secondary schools, for example the Queen's College in Trinidad, or Combermere and Harrison College in Barbados. As Rush wrote prior to 1918 only four students were accepted for free education, prior to 1935 the number of students was raised to nine, by 1938 to sixteen (Rush 28-29), and by 1948 the number of exhibitions awarded was fifty-two (Campbell, Endless Education 38).

Based on the description of the individual parts of the examination by a correspondent of the Port of Spain Gazette, it is not surprising that students took extra tutoring in order to succeed. As the reporter noted the examination consisted of a geography paper, where the students were required to draw a map of the British Empire with all overseas dominions. Then, there was a grammar paper where definitions and rules were tested, the arithmetic paper with specific emphasis on percentages and addition, dictation paper and finally a short written essay or a letter (qtd. in Campbell, Young Colonials 176-177). The design of the exhibition examination changed several times during the twentieth century due to the slight changes to the syllabus. For example, in the late 1940's subjects such as Hygiene or Nature Studies were included and in the 1950's the examination consisted of "English Language and Grammar, English Composition, Arithmetic and Geography" (De Lisle 117). Moreover, since the beginning of the twentieth century female students were allowed to take this examination and what is more, two girls won the College Exhibition in Trinidad in 1926 (Campbell, Young Colonials 242).

Although the exhibition examination equalized students' possibilities of being accepted to secondary schools, the authorities monitoring development and trends in education in the Caribbean also expressed dissatisfaction with the system of examinations. They pointed out that the exhibition examination only selected the brightest students and the other boys from working class families or students attending rural primary schools did not stand a chance of being accepted to secondary schools. Another point of criticism was the establishment of exhibition classes which concentrated solely on those students taking the examination and the other students at school were neglected. Moreover, the syllabus of these classes consisted only of the subjects that were needed for passing the examination, other knowledge was not necessary. What is more, some headmasters prepared their own tests to rule out unprepared students and avoid any form of negative criticism (De Lisle 116-117).

Due to the growing number of free secondary school students, the Common Secondary School Entrance Examination was introduced in the Caribbean in the 1960's (Bacchus 89) to equalize chances for all students. On the whole, the importance of the examination in general remained the same because "the test batteries were constructed in England" (De Lisle 120).
Exhibition Examination

The exhibition examination was the first most important examination taken by primary school pupils at about the age of eleven or twelve. The majority of parents wanted to secure for their children a better future in terms of their education, position in the society and a good career prospect. In order to achieve this, they were willing to do almost anything to help their talented and intelligent children to prepare for and pass the difficult examination which could open the door to a prestigious secondary school. This part focuses on the journey of the main characters towards this goal.

In A House for Mr Biswas V. S. Naipaul describes the journey of Mr Biswas' son Anand towards succeeding in the highly respected entrance examination. Mr Biswas first learns about his son's talent for writing from his composition book which contains various stories written at school. As he has known the teacher, he is positively surprised by his son's work. His story is not a disconnected piece of writing but a coherent narrative, which is above all exciting and entertaining. In cooperation with the school Mr Biswas decides that Anand is an ideal candidate for the exhibition examination: "[t]hey agreed that Anand could win an exhibition if he worked..." (Naipaul, House 359) In order to succeed he needs as much training as possible and Mr Biswas is willing to do anything for him. Therefore, he arranges, as many other parents, private lessons where his son will only concentrates on the facts he will need to succeed. Both school and private lessons which the pupils attend have become even more demanding nearing the day of the examination:

Private lessons were given in the morning for half an hour before school; private lessons were given in the afternoon for an hour after school; private lessons were given for the whole of Saturday morning. Then in addition to all these private lessons from his class teacher, Anand began to take private lessons from the headmaster, at the headmaster's house, from five to six. (Naipaul, House 463)

Apart from attending private lessons, Anand also attends the exhibition class which is established specifically for students preparing for the exhibition examination and the syllabus consists only of the subjects which appear in the examination itself. The exhibition class students do not use any course books because "only the notes of the teacher mattered..." (Naipaul, House 382). In other words their teacher provides them with the only knowledge thy need to know "for this was the exhibition class where no learning mattered except that which led to good examination results" (Naipaul, House 382).

The day of the examination is nearly the first most important milestone in both the student's and family's life. That is why the children wear their best school clothes to mark the significance of this day: "[t]hey all wore serge shorts, white shirts and school ties ... Anybody would believe I am going to this place to get married" (Naipaul, House 471). Naipaul also describes a religious preparation for the test which should bring the participants a good luck and eliminate bad omens. This little ceremony is likely to be only performed by religious Hindus who still believe in the higher power. Above all, it demonstrates the importance of their own culture, especially in the society that is driven by the English way of life, thinking, religion or education: "Vidiadhar bathed in consecrated water, put on a dhoti and faced the pundit across a sacrificial fire. He listened to the pundit's prayers, burned some ghee and chipped coconut and brown sugar, and the readers and learners rang bells and struck gongs" (Naipaul, House 470-471). Moreover, the children are often accompanied by their enthusiastic parents, mainly fathers, who want to be present at this special day and who eagerly wait for their children, supply them with ink, pen and other things which they might need.

There are two parts of the examination: the first one consists of questions on arithmetic, geography, and English; and the second part is devoted to writing a composition on a given topic. For example, in an English paper the students have to write definitions and synonyms of given words. (Naipaul, House 477) Subsequently, the students have to wait for the results of their examination as they are not corrected by the school but by the educated scholars in Britain. The results of the exhibition examination are published in the newspapers and every inhabitant of the island knows the names of the most and least successful students. Consequently, the winners of the exhibition are photographed and become the heroes of their primary school. Anand is very successful and overall he is third in the country which secures him a free education in a good college. Additionally, even though Mr Biswas' daughter also succeeds in the exhibition examination a few years later, she never gains the same fame as her brother and the other two boys because she is not among the top students in the country.

Also in Barbados the primary school students could take the exhibition examination and win a scholarship to one of the best schools. In the Castle of My Skin Lamming writes about his indirect experience with this examination through the ceremony of awarding the scholarship to three boys who attend his school. It is a very important event in the lives of the three boys and the school as a whole because the boys represent their teachers' good work and therefore everyone is very proud of them (Lamming 42). At the age of eleven, Lamming himself prepared and subsequently took the "public examination" as it was called in Barbados. Similarly to Anand's father, Lamming's mother also invests into private tuition to give him the best chance of succeeding among the boys who attend primary schools in towns. Nevertheless, Lamming, attending a village school, has a considerably smaller chance of succeeding in the examination due to the lack of qualified teachers in these rural areas (Campbell, Young Colonials 93). Despite the odds, he is awarded the scholarship and he moves from a rural primary school to a town secondary school. Although he gets the scholarship, his mother expresses her doubts prior to the results because she has invested a large amount of money in his preparation for the examination and if he had not succeeded, she would be very upset: "[s]he said it was nothing more than she expected, and hadn't it [passing the examination] happened she would have considered all her efforts and money a waste of time" (Lamming 217). Unlike Mrs Lamming, Mr Biswas does not regret any money that he has spent on his son's private tuition and he would save even more to be able to pay his way through secondary school because education is not only very important for him but also for the future of his children.

In Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack the protagonist describes the entrance examinations to two types of secondary schools. There is the high profiled Harrison College where the acceptance is based on the scholarship examination exclusively. In other words, only the top students in Barbados could attend this school. Then, there exist other secondary schools mainly for middle-class students, such as Combermere or the Boys' Foundation School, where the applicants also have to take an entrance examination but it is not as highly regarded as the scholarship, for example "the Junior to Second Grade, the Senior to Second Grade, the Junior to First Grade, the Senior to Second Grade" (Clarke, Growing 71) which were also set up and corrected in England. As in other cases, the students who can afford it also attend private lessons devoted to studying the English Language, History and Arithmetic, in other words, the core subjects of the entrance examination. For the boy Clarke and his family, the success in the Junior to Second Grade Examination is a means of moving up the social ladder in their community as he is expected to become an educated man in the future.

1. CAMBRIDGE SECONDARY SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS

The Senior Cambridge Examination or sometimes known as the Higher School Certificate Examination was taken by students at secondary schools between the age of fifteen and eighteen since the 1930's (Rush 41). The popularity of the Senior Cambridge examination could be seen on the growing number of students taking this examination, to be specific 358 students entered in 1937, 607 in 1941 and 1,134 in 1945 (Campbell, Endless Education 33). Furthermore, upon passing the Island Scholarship, which dates back to the 1860's (Rush 28), the students could enter a university in England and study, for example, medicine or law (Campbell, Endless Education 39). Among the Island scholarship winners were, for example, E. R. Braithwaite, Merle Hodge, V. S. Naipaul or Dr. Eric Williams.

In Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack the main character Clarke takes this examination at the end of the fifth form of the secondary school. It is evident that passing this examination is highly important:

So we prepared ourselves for this overseas examination, the most important event in our lives...It meant life and could mean death. If you were not lucky and careful and had failed, it meant that for generations afterwards people would whisper when you passed, and say that you had wasted your mother's money and had not got your Senior Cambridge. (Clarke, Growing 181-182)

This overseas examination decides "whether we would be able to enter a British university" (Clarke, Growing 182) or "whether we were going to be sanitary inspectors for the rest of our lives or were going to get into the civil service..." (Clarke, Growing 181). Therefore, especially boys who are preparing for the scholarship to a university take private lessons to help them achieve another important step in their life. Again the examinations "were set by some learned professors who lived in England ... and our answers would be sent back up to England, to those same learned professors, who must have marvelled at the answers we gave them to these overseas questions..." (Clarke, Growing 180-181) Furthermore, the students have to wait for their results until the start of the new school year as they are not published in a newspaper like the winners of the exhibition scholarships. However, only the successful students will receive their results by mail.⁶

In The Castle of My Skin Lamming describes the opposite side of these highly regarded examinations. Those students "who didn't pass the Cambridge examinations and couldn't enter the civil service or the university were heard of four or five years after they left. They usually went to live with an aunt in New York" (Lamming 219). In other words, they leave so that they or their families do not have to face the humiliation which the examination failure has brought on them.

1. OTHER EXAMINATIONS

For those children who did not get into a secondary school or whose parents did not have the money to pay for the fees there were other possibilities such as receiving an apprenticeship scholarship. The basic idea of this scholarship was to give the students a chance to learn a profession which would be finished by a certificate. Unfortunately, women were disadvantaged throughout most of the twentieth century, as Campbell wrote, there were no recognised apprenticeships for women until the 1970's (Young Colonials 162). The students could take additional courses in various subject and aim at receiving the City and Gilds Examination (Campbell, Young Colonials 160), for example the teachers could take "a course in Domestic Science" ("Memorandum on Compulsory Education in Barbados). The qualification and examinations the teachers needed to be allowed to teach will be discussed in a separate chapter (see 2.1.1).

2. 
   
   Download 179.88 Kb.
   
   Share with your friends: