How Exeter Should Conduct History Tests

By   JOSEPH KIM ‘26 and FORREST ZENG ‘26

Disclaimer: The following OP-ED is written in the style of a Socratic Dialogue, a form popularized by Socrates’ disciple Plato. Characters are entirely fictional, and any similarity between speakers and real people is purely coincidental. 

Student 1 and Student 2 are at Me & Ollie’s after family weekend.

Student 1: We went to Maine.

Student 2: Did you? But why?

Student 1: What do you mean?

Student 2: There’s nothing in Maine. 

Student 1: Except for the most delicious lobster. 

Student 2: Sure, but other than that…

Student 1: Nothing much, you’re right. 

They are silent for a moment.

Student 1: Say, I’ve been meaning to tell you about a strange discussion I overheard. 

Student 2: Do say. We have plenty of time.

Student 1: See, the other day, I was in the newsroom working on a video for The Exonian. I was searching the cabinets for old SD cards to use, when I chanced upon an ancient SD card, pocketed in a dirty plastic bag with the words “October 2024” scribbled on top in black marker. Out of pure curiosity, I plugged it into a computer and scrolled through the footage.

Student 2: And what did you find?

Student 1: It seems that they were recording a video about Family Weekend. There were videos of families walking along the paths and students being interviewed. At the end of the SD card file, though, I found the most intriguing—and mysterious—video file. 

Apparently, whoever was recording had intended to record an interview, but forgot to press record at the start. So, when they pressed record to end the capture, it started a new video—one that they never noticed was being recorded. They set it down at the tables near Grill, and just left. For a few seconds, nothing happened, before all of a sudden, two students walked into the frame. 

Watching the screen, I listened to their dialogue closely. One of them was an upper called Thomas, and the other was a tall lanky senior called Marcus. Here’s how the dialogue went:

Thomas said, “Marcus, I’ve been meaning to tell you my opinion about history tests. In order for history to be most useful for students, they ought to be tested on their ability to recall historical facts and details—especially their ability to cite specific examples.”

Marcus thought for a few moments, then commented, “That’s a fascinating way of thinking about it. Allow me the liberty to ask you a few questions, then.”

“Go ahead. I’m pretty certain of my opinion,” Thomas said.

“What would be an example of a good history test, in your belief?”

“The best history test would be one that tests the student on specific details. For example, dates, names, and events.”

“And what faculty of the human mind would this process of recalling details most contribute to?”

“What do you mean?” asked Thomas.

“Well, surely you’d agree that all learning is to train the mind.”

“Of course.”

“And yet, different ways of learning would train different elements of the mind.”

“Perhaps.”

“Just as different exercises of the body train different muscles of the body, so would different kinds of mental exercises train different mental faculties, right?”

“It seems so.”

“And it’d be fair to say that practicing rote memorization of historical details would therefore train a different mental faculty than, say, analyzing historical trends, wouldn’t it?”

“Certainly,” agreed Thomas.

“Let’s explore then which mental faculties these might be. What is the difference between memorizing, say, the dates of a specific historical event, and memorizing the words of a language?”

“Well, indeed there would seem to be.”

“What would that difference be?”

“In the process of memorizing words of a language, I am also memorizing their meanings at the same time. But when memorizing dates and details, I am only memorizing numbers and names—not necessarily their meanings.”

“Likewise, is there a difference between memorizing dates, and analyzing historical trends, such as in an essay?”

“Well, absolutely. In one, you are recalling information, the other, processing it.”

“Let’s consider the practice of history as similar to one of a computer. What makes a computer useful?”

“I suppose it’s the ability to recall information quickly,” wondered Thomas.

“Perhaps—but would that information be of any use if it wasn’t processed?”

“Surely not.”

“Likewise, would historical dates and details be of any use if they weren’t interpreted?”

“Not at all,” conceded Thomas.

“So from what we have said so far, just as a computer is made important by its ability to process information, so must historians be important in their ability to analyze historical facts and trends,” Marcus said.

“It seems so,” said Thomas. “And I suppose that if we’d like for students to be useful historians, we ought to teach them extensive historical analysis.”

“Certainly.”

But at this moment, they were interrupted. I saw their faces turn to the left in surprise. Into the frame walked another student, who sat down. Apparently, he had been standing near the elevators, listening closely to Thomas and Marcus’s conversation. 

“I could not help but listen in. And I must say, I agree vehemently with Marcus,” said this mysterious new student. 

“Sorry, but who are you?” inquired Thomas.

“I’m Evan. And I really disagree with you, Thomas—respectfully of course.” Evan smirked and then grinned at Marcus. “This guy is crazy, isn’t he?”

Marcus smiled awkwardly and said, “Well, why don’t you tell us what exactly you think about history tests?”

“I’ll gladly say. See, I see no use in training this so-called ‘memorization’ muscle that you, Marcus, so eloquently described earlier. At the end of the day, recalling useless facts about history will never serve any practical use in the future. Could you imagine using the fact that Napoleon conquered Russia in 1812 while making an excel sheet for a presentation? Remembering historical facts is useless—all we really need at Exeter isn’t high-pressure history tests that require memorization at all. Instead, we should be replacing them with slow-paced, deliberate, researched papers that test students on their analytical abilities. Try disproving that, Thomas!”

Bewildered by Evan’s forwardness, Marcus and Thomas seemed speechless, until Marcus said, “Well, thank you for sharing, Evan. I’ll ask you a few questions if that’s alright.”

“Sure, try your best!”

“I’ll ask you the same question which I asked Thomas. What sorts of mental ‘muscles’ does paper-writing exercise?”

“Well, it exercises analytical skills, argumentative skills, and certainly revised writing skills.”

“And how important are such skills to the practice of history?”

“Incredibly important. As you two concluded earlier, without analysis, history is nothing.”

“Right. Now, let me ask you, what is the difference between rotely memorizing dates, and memorizing, say, broad historical trends, like the rise of conservatism after the Napoleonic wars?”

“Well, as you said, the latter is broad and covers broad historical knowledge.”

“It’d be fair to say that broad historical knowledge does not require the memorization of trivial facts such as dates, names, and specific locations.”

“Right. But could you give another example to clarify what you mean?”

“I mean to say that testing for broad historical knowledge doesn’t require useless specifics—but instead knowledge about ideological, political, and cultural trends. For example, that the Declaration of Independence was inspired by Enlightenment thinkers is broad historical knowledge, while knowing the exact names of the people who signed the Declaration would be ‘useless facts.’”

“I see.”

“Which seems more useful to know?”

“Well, it appears the latter, surely.”

“And why so?”

“Rotely memorizing small details doesn’t show the larger picture, while broad historical knowledge does.”

“Right. You can’t see the forest from the trees.”

“I see what you did there,” laughed Evan.

Marcus looked at him a bit strangely, confused, then continued. 

“I’ll return to our computer metaphor. As we said before, historians, like computers, need information to analyze.”

“That’s what you said, correct.”

“Analyzing historical facts is essential for historians.”

“Right.”

“But just analysis is an important companion to information, so is the contrary important.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean to say that, as it seems to us now, analysis relies on information to be accurate, and information relies on analysis for relevance, right?”

“It seems so,” agreed Evan.

“So historians ought to do both—recall accurately broad historical knowledge, and then analyze it well.”

“I suppose that’s correct,” conceded Evan. It was apparent to all at the table that they had reached an incredible compromise. However, there apparently remained one question.

“So, how ought we to conduct history tests at Exeter?” asked Thomas.

They all thought for a moment, and then Marcus asked, “Well, let’s examine what we know and derive a solution. We’ve concluded that broad historical knowledge and analytical skills are the most useful skills for historians, right?”

Evan and Thomas agreed.

“How would you classify a test such as the AP multiple choice section?”

Evan replied, “Well, the AP history tests, surprisingly, are fairly broad. In fact, they have a policy that makes their questions as broad as reasonably possible—so I’d say they test the ability to recall broad historical knowledge.”

“And how about papers?”

“Well, since papers are researched outside of class, they don’t help the student with memorization,” Thomas said. “Instead, papers are entirely about analysis.”

“Right. It’d be fair to say, then, that the optimal history test would be a paper that also covers broad historical knowledge in a testing environment.”

“It seems that you’ve described in-class essays,” Evan said. “An in-class essay would require memorizing broad historical knowledge, while also requiring the student to analyze the knowledge they prepare.”

“Precisely. And perhaps add a few short-response or multiple-choice questions testing broad historical knowledge, and we’ve sealed the deal. A student being tested on the American Revolution would come to class expecting to write both a longer analytical essay and also recall broad historical facts in two sections.”

 They seemed to sit there a few moments, pondering their conclusion—that the optimal history test would be a mix between an in-class essay and broad knowledge-based recall questions.

The video abruptly ended. It seems that the SD card had run out of memory. That was the full extent of the discussion that I watched. 

Student 2: A fascinating discourse. Let us enjoy our breakfast knowing these things. 

 .