EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
When the writer of this introductory note began teaching, it was popularly believed that a pupil who showed special excellence in intellectual work or in some particular study owed his superiority to a faithful and energetic will which held him to his tasks until he had mastered them thoroughly. It was generally believed, also, that marked deficiency in school work as a whole or in a special subject was due principally to a lethargic or indifferent will which could not resist distractions and temptations to self-indulgence. In those days, pupils were upbraided and even physically chastised if they failed to prepare the lessons which were prescribed for them in any study. The writer has often seen pupils whipped because they failed in their spelling, arithmetic, reading, history, or grammar. When punishment was administered in the school it was frequently repeated in the home, since parents quite generally entertained the view that failure to perform intellectual tasks satisfactorily was due to negligence or laziness, and it was thought that the best way to correct such delinquency was to arouse the will, usually by means of dermal stimulation. In his early experience as a teacher, the writer never heard, either in training classes or in teachers’ institutes, that pupils possessed special talents or defects which were certain to be manifested in their school work because they were established by native endowment which could not be modified to any large extent by rewards or penalties.
But we are gradually abandoning the view that either brightness or dullness in general or in special directions is due primarily to volitional control or the absence of it. During the last few years, experimental studies have impressed the principle that individuals differ in their inheritance of special capacities. Dr. Hollingworth shows in this volume how far we have gone in the detection of special talents and defects, with particular regard to the work of the school. She shows in preliminary discussion what notions people have entertained regarding the nature of ability, and then she discusses methods of measuring ability, alike of a general and of a special sort. She discusses the bases for differences among individuals in ability in respect to various intellectual traits or functions. Then she presents in detail what is known to-day regarding special talents and defects as revealed in the more important subjects taught in the schools.
We believe in these times that the school should to the fullest extent provide opportunities for each pupil to develop his talents as completely and as rapidly as possible. It is still required in most public schools, though, that pupils in any group should be kept quite close together in their educational progress, even when they show marked differences in ability in particular subjects or in the entire work of the school. But the pressure is becoming constantly greater to arrange school programs so that pupils may go forward as rapidly as their abilities, either general or special, will enable them to do, while those who are deficient may receive help according to their needs. There are already a number of experimental schools and school systems in which the principle of individual differences in ability is recognized and applied to a greater or less extent. One may safely predict that we shall find a way in time so that the principle may be recognized and applied in all public schools.
Dr. Hollingworth’s book lays a sound foundation for the differentiation of pupils in a school or classroom according to special abilities or deficiencies. It can be read by teachers who have not had extensive study of educational psychology or statistical methods of investigating such problems as are treated in this volume. The book is written in a graceful style, and technical matters are discussed in an unusually clear, simple, and attractive way. It may be confidently asserted that any teacher who has charge of thirty or forty pupils—or a smaller or larger number—will be helped to understand individual traits of excellence or deficiency if she will read what Dr. Hollingworth has presented in this volume. It may be safely stated, also, that a teacher will be more sympathetic toward pupils who experience difficulty in mastering special subjects of study if she will become familiar with the facts and conclusions which this book contains.
M. V. O’Shea
The University of Wisconsin
May, 1923
SPECIAL TALENTS AND DEFECTS