Episcopal Press and News

Good on Multiple Choice?

Diocesan Press Service. May 8, 1963 [X-3]

How well do you score on multiple choice tests? If you don't do too well, it may be, according to Dr. Banesh Hoffmann, that your depth, subtlety, or creativity is the reason.

Dr. Hoffmann, author of The Tyranny of Testing, noted mathematician, and former member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, recently expounded his views on testing during an interview on The Good Life. Asked by interviewer Jane Martin what happens to the creative or subtly intelligent child or adult when he takes an objective test, Dr. Hoffmann replied, "He is likely to be penalized because he will see too much in the question, and he quite possibly will.pick the wrong answer since he is too good."

One of the best known multiple choice tests is the College Board test by which schools determine whether or not a student is academically eligible for entrance. Dr. Hoffmann finds these tests invalid although the testers find them scientifically acceptable and fully justified.

Of special interest were Dr. Hoffmann's comments on objective tests given to men interested in entering the ministry. "... It does seem to me that if a man is going into the ministry, then one should look at his private beliefs in a certain sense. However, I do think that the current method of leaving this sort of probing to psychologists is entirely wrong and immoral. I think that the probing should be done by people already in the ministry who can ask the proper questions, and not probe into matters that they shouldn't."

The Good Life, a 15-minute interview program, is produced by the Radio, Television, and Audio-Visual Division of the National Council of the Episcopal Church. Ask your rector or your diocesan department of promotion for the broadcasting schedule in your area.