Tom Fawthrop's "Education or Examination" is without doubt one of the most important studies to come out of the contemporary radical student upsurge. The first part of the booklet is devoted to "an examination of examinations" and questions some of the assumptions upon which the system works. Are examinations reliable in relation to their aims? are they objective? and linked to these questions - are they relevant? These are all answered by an impressive battery of arguments which expose examinations as a gigantic fraud. Take, for instance, these quotations which Fawthrop has managed to find: "It isn't a matter of knowing all about your subject, it's a matter of knowing all about examinations." (Dennis B. Jackson, Educationalist) or, "All the experimental data has shown that for a particular performance expressed in terms of an examination script assessment by different examiners produces marks with considerable variety such that in the determination of these marks the part played by the examiner can be greater than that of the examinee". What can be more damning statements than these?
Not only are examinations unreliable within their own terms of reference - they also have positively harmful effects both academic and non-academic. Among the academic effects cited are the limitations imposed upon the syllabi and the necessity to cram; among the non-academic are the suffering and misery of failure and the problems of mental illness - "the final witness for the prosecution".
AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM
Having established the case against examinations Fawthrop goes on to suggest alternatives, and this section of his booklet is for socialists the most exciting and stimulating. Not only must examinations be abolished, but students must abolish the power structure from which they originate. Thus the student can become an "active participant within an intellectual community" instead of a "passive consumer of the knowledge factory". Along with new rights and power students must take corresponding obligations and responsibilities and possibly in the last resort sanctions may be evolved to prevent their evasion. Education cannot stand apart from society; it has to take sides. The authoritarian nature of education now is to shape, mould and manipulate students from the primary school through to the university to fit into place in capitalist society. Instead of obedience to authority, education should stimulate critical awareness, geared to human values. "I am arguing for revolutionary education which takes the side of the 'masses'. This is the whole point of humanistic education." Fawthrop is, of course, aware that real student power cannot be achieved without a new society and sees the necessity for united action within the working class. In this context Student Power is closely related to the demand for Workers' Control.
Readers may remember how a few weeks ago Tom Fawthrop tore up the papers of his final degree examinations. He argues that action by students should include whatever sanctions are at their disposal - the final sanction being a boycott of examinations themselves - and urges support for the Radical Student Alliance. Students should not be afraid to lose their respectability - they will not succeed if they attempt to keep it.
One point of criticism arises. In the study there seems to be some doubt as to the feasibility of dropping examinations entirely in the natural science subjects. There is a gap here which must be followed up. To abolish exams in the arts and social sciences but not in the natural sciences would act as a strong disincentive to the study of the natural sciences. But with this, and a degree of repetition discounted, "Education or Examinations" is a definite must for all students.