Competitive Examinations and the Culture of Masculinity in Oxbridge Undergraduate Life, 1850-1920

Abstract

As the primary means through which academic success was measured and professional credentials were established, competitive examinations for university degrees and civil service appointments became a frequently discussed topic among the Victorian and Edwardian elite in Great Britain. Students and dons (the term for college fellows with teaching and pastoral responsibilities) at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as a whole range of outside observers, regularly commented on the importance of these exercises during the seven decades that passed between the curricular and administrative reforms of the 1850s and the conclusion of World War I, years in which these ancient institutions achieved their modern form and functioned, in the words of Jan Morris, as “power house [s]” and “conscious instruments of Victorian national greatness.” In an 1863Student's Guide to the University of Cambridge, for example, J.R. Seeley, a famous Cambridge don and historian, celebrated the invigorating, youthful, and competitive nature of the Tripos (or Honors) examinations in a lengthy discussion of academic life: “Into these [examinations] flock annually the ablest young men … who during their University course have received all the instruction that the best Tutors, and all the stimulus that a competition well known to be severe, can give…. The contest is one into which the cleverest lads in the country enter [and] it may safely be affirmed that even the lowest place in these Triposes is justly called anhonour.” By the 1860s, when Seeley first penned these comments, competitive examinations had become, in the words of one contemporary observer, “matters of … much interest and importance not only to those whose future success in life depended upon them, but to the public in general.” Public interest was further fueled, throughout this period, by numerous articles in the periodical press that discussed and debated the general value of competitive examinations and by the regular publication of test results in widely circulated, national newspapers such as theTimes.

Rhodes‟s Men: Class, Race, and Ethnicity in International Leadership

“…By drawing on their mutual experiences, largely unique to Oxbridge men, they were able, both during and after graduation, to refer to that sense of commonality that was so integral to the perpetuation of elite, male status (Deslandes, 2002, p. 558). This opportunity for camaraderie as presented undergraduates with an opportunity for social bonding as well as a chance to celebrate their successes and mourn their failures in a collective fashion (Deslandes, 2002).…”

“…To perform successfully in competitive exams foreshadowed a successful future as a man; to fail as a student fated oneself as a failure as a man. Thus, "academic exercises, within this context, became gauges of professional masculinity which could measure the candidate"s competitive spirit, endurance, stamina, strength, diligence, ability to overcome adversity and rise to any challenge, [and] gentlemanly proficiency" (Deslandes, 2002) as they proved their academic ability, which signified their success as leaders.…”

Les rapports sociaux de sexe, les appartenances de classe et de race et la réussite en enseignement postsecondaire : l’état de la question

“…Ces 46 articles ont constitué le corpus de la recension. L'objectif visé était la construction d'une typologie des principaux facteurs explicatifs de la réussite éducative qui se dégageaient des recherches (Cloutier et al, 2005a(Cloutier et al, , 2005b) et la présentation systématique 7 de chacun des écrits scientifiques à l'intérieur de cette typologie (Bellemare, 2003;Côté, 2003;Paré, 2003).…”

Irish medical student culture and the performance of masculinity, c.1880–1930

“…Deslandes has argued, that for Oxbridge, although the student press was produced by a minority of the student population, its 'broad dissemination among students, as well as its timeliness, render it far superior to the memoirs, reflections and autobiographies usually consulted'. 21 The same may be applied to the Irish context. Irish student magazines I will draw on include Q.C.C., which began to be produced from the early 1900s.…”