Mentally Defective Children

by Alfred Binet; Théodore Simon

If we admit, as a hypothesis, that the frequency of each of those four principal causes indicates its importance, we shall conclude that laziness very rarely explains a retardation so great as three years, and that the most important factor is undoubtedly feebleness of mind. We should have expected the teachers to give much more frequently the banal reason of lack of application. They have not done so, and these results confirm in a quite unexpected manner the convention according to which every retardation of three years should make one suspect feebleness of mind.

It would be interesting to know whether any children really defective in intelligence escape the revelation furnished by our tables. We have put this question in writing to the heads of the schools, and they have notified fifteen children, or 6 per cent., who seem to them to be clearly defective, although without a retardation of three years. On testing the statement, we found that mistakes had been made, and the sole residue of defectives who had escaped our census consisted of three subjects who wanted only a month or a few weeks to have shown clearly a retardation of three years. They were therefore on the border, and such exceptional cases are always to be found when one fixes an exact limit. There is no need to worry about them.

Hostile Head-Masters and Teachers.—It is important to state that the procedure for selection which we have outlined can be carried out without the concurrence of the head-masters. As a matter of fact, one has to be prepared for everything, even the hostility of the school staff. It may be that a head-master who has a defective in his school refrains from mentioning the fact. It may be that he is indifferent, or does not believe in special education, or simply does not choose to put himself about; or, again, he may be timid and afraid of trouble, or may shrink from the recriminations of parents, behind whom he sees the hostile shadow of some town councillor or journalist. Lastly, he may be an ignoramus who, even at this time of day, imagines that a child cannot be a defective unless he has incontinence of urine or a sugar-loaf head. We have already come across several fellows of this kind. The sceptical type is most common. We recollect a head-master who, in response to our inquiry, replied with irritating calmness: "I have five hundred pupils in my school. I am sure that not one of them is a defective. You are of a different opinion. Well, my school is open. Come and see for yourself." And he added with a sceptical smile: "The school doctor and myself will be very curious to learn how you manage the inquiry." As a matter of fact, the proportion of defectives in his school was just the usual one—about 2 per cent.

At the time when the Government Commission was holding its inquiry as to the number of defectives, we found in the statistical tables which we had in our hands that whole towns, even as important as Fontainebleau, had replied "None," yet we knew by personal inquiry that that reply was wrong.

The systematic reticence of the head-master is therefore already in evidence, and will certainly turn up again even when the law is in full operation. Doubtless wiser counsels will prevail in the long run, and opposition will become less. But it will never disappear entirely. However, one will not be affected by it in picking out the backward children, but the children who are abnormal, though not backward, and the ill-balanced children, will perhaps escape, unless the inspector visits the school, and, knowing the disposition of the head-master, takes the precaution of questioning the teachers as to the children in their class who give them the most trouble in regard to discipline. As a rule the masters have an interest in pointing out these pupils in the hope that they will be removed.

B THE RÔLE OF THE PRIMARY INSPECTOR: TO ACT AS REFEREE.

In the pedagogical examination the inspector should exercise a measure of control. It is he who sets the teachers to fill up the schedules, who interprets the returns, and estimates their value.

Work is better done when it is subject to inspection. The head-masters will take more care in the selection of the defectives if they know that all their cases will be examined by a person whose competence is equal to their own, and whose position is higher. The inspector, who is generally well acquainted with his personnel, will see at a glance what he ought to think of the returns which are furnished to him. He knows that one master is too severe, and another too indulgent. He has to restrain the overzealous, to stimulate the indifferent, and encourage the despondent. When it is a question of estimating a child's want of balance, it is necessary to know the character of the judge. Some good teachers fail to gain the necessary ascendancy over one of their pupils, either because they are indulgent where strictness is necessary, or because by excessive brusqueness and severity they alienate natures which require to be humoured. The inspector will succeed in taking all these things into account. He will interpret correctly the facts which are laid before him, because it is his business, his métier.

Significance of Irregular Attendance.—The inspector will begin, let us suppose, by examining the returns given concerning the backward children. From the notes sent to him he will be able to distinguish between the children whose backwardness is due to irregular attendance and those who may justly be suspected of mental deficiency or want of balance. He will thus make a first selection.