The Argument from Matriculation Used by Proprietors of Victorian Secondary Schools around 1900

Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia. GPO Box 2747, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia. Tel: +61-8-8363-0288; Fax: +61-8-8362-9288; e-mail: sales@merga.net.au; Web site: http://www.merga.net.au/

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Exit Examinations; Universities; Educational History; Academic Achievement; Academic Standards; Foreign Countries; College Entrance Examinations; Student Records; Mathematics Skills; Mathematics Teachers; College Faculty; Teacher Attitudes; Secondary School Students; Reputation; Institutional Characteristics; Scholarships

In this paper, we analyse data from the University of Melbourne's Matriculation examinations around 1900. The analyses reveal that many schools cleverly developed and applied strategies so that their Matriculation results would appear to be more impressive than they really were. After "excellent" results had been achieved, the schools advertised their Matriculation "successes" in ways which suggested that the schools' "outstanding" results derived from high-class teaching. In this paper, we argue that these tactics generated artificially high "standards", and that throughout the twentieth century there was a tendency to try to maintain those standards.

As Provided

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2018

ED589555