Word: whitla
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Psychological tests "are interesting as tools of investigation but should not be used to evaluate candidates for admissions," according to Dean K. Whitla, director of the Office of Tests and associate director of Admissions...
...Whitla said that exams such as the California Psychological Inventory, which measures non-intellectual characteristics employed in predicting college freshmen grades, merely encourage a kind of "gamesmanship" in which the student tries to outguess the questionner's purpose...
Instead of doing his best, Whitla said, the student asks himself: what answer does Harvard really want from me? In this kind of "double-think" the candidate represses honest answers, responding not in terms of his own feelings but in terms of what he thinks the College is looking...
...There is enough anxiety and confusion over admissions as it is," Whitla said. "We want the candidate to play it as straight as possible, giving us accurate information on which to judge his achievement...
...reliance on objective criteria, and the growing importance of arbitrary, or non-objective, standards. Questions such as "Who would flourish in the bottom fourth of his class?" and "Who can get the most out of Harvard?" are hard to answer. In an attempt to remedy this defect, Dean K. Whitla, Director of the Office of Tests, has been experimenting with a 20-22 question interview conducted with the aid of a tape recorder. The new interview was used by 50-60 boys in various parts of the country who were already fairly sure of admission, and the results will...