ABSTRACT
The external examiner system separates teaching from evaluation. This is especially important in the teaching of an art or a skill. If one is teaching facts or procedures in which the number of possible choices can be constrained and structured, it is fairly easy to devise a test which will demonstrate persuasively how many facts the student has learned or how accurately he can perform the procedures. When the number of possible choices becomes multiple, as it does in the arts, including writing and speaking, the instructor teaches not only facts and procedures but how to make choices. And many of the options available are only slightly different from one another; so sometimes a decision is based on instinct or prejudice. Since the end product of the art is based upon an interlocking fabric of options selected, the student may have selected a series of options which the instructor would not have selected.
