Many efforts toward reform have been fruitful but disappointing. The supposition that evils in existing systems could be completely cured by adopting new methods of instruction, altering promotion methods, giving increased attention to children’s health, and adoption of other innovations, was less effective, experiments have shown, than was generally anticipated by educators who put these theories into operation. These reforms were less successful than their authors expected they would be, for the reason that the reformers fell into the error of assuming that, under the right conditions, all children would be equally, or almost equally capable of making satisfactory progress. They failed to take into account the fact that there are more than two classes of school children and that they cannot be graded merely as “feeble-minded” and “normal.” There are all degrees of intelligence, ranging from idiocy on the one hand to genius on the other, and any efforts toward improvement of conditions must be applied with full recognition of such differences.
There are wide differences among normal human beings in mental inheritance and these differences affect to a marked degree the capacity of men, women, and children to profit from instruction. Just as the Army had to allow for differences in mental capacity, so must the schools differentiate courses of study in such a way that each pupil will be allowed to study in a manner that is easy for him, whether that manner be rapid or slow.
Dr. Lewis M. Terman, Professor of Education at Stanford University, in California, who writes with more authority than any other author on the application of psychological tests in schools, emphasizes the fact that little progress can be made toward the correction of present evils until we acquire a more scientific knowledge of the material with which we deal. This phase of the problem perhaps suggests the only practical way toward solution.
Intelligence tests in schools and higher institutions have been given a wide range of application, but in virtually every instance the results have justified the claim of superiority for these tests over other methods of classifying students. In some instances positively startling developments have been noted.
Of particular interest, from the viewpoint of educators who already are convinced of the value of intelligence rating in educational institutions, is the report of experiments at Public School No. 64, New York City. The object was to select, group, and train a number of children of very superior intelligence, in an attempt toward the solution of the grading problem.
The experiment was suggested by a survey made several years ago by a psychologist employed by the Public Education Association. Among a number of so-called average children was W. H., a boy. W. H.’s mental age measured about two years ahead of his age in years. His physical development was superior to the average child of his grade, consequently he became an interesting subject to study. He was promoted as soon as he acquired the essential features of the work in each grade, and, without any conscious effort on his part, he accomplished the work of nine grades in two years. W. H. was especially fond of athletics and outdoor sports. He took his school work as a matter of course and showed no indication of special interest in books or study. By the time he had reached the fifth-grade several other boys of approximately the same ability had been discovered.
One day the psychologist, the principal, and one of the assistants discussed the possibility of forming a class composed of children similarly gifted. Special classes for defective children, with a course of study adapted to their needs, had been in existence for some time. Why not organize special classes for children at the other end of the scale, composed of those showing the highest grade of intelligence? Surely these children, society’s greatest assets, were entitled to progress at the speed that was desirable and normal to them. If defective children of ungraded classes were worthy of a course of study peculiarly adapted to their limitations, certainly an enriched curriculum must be provided to meet the needs of children whose capabilities extended to the highest degree of attainment.
The initial selection of children was made from the 5A class of W. H.’s associates, from other fifth- and sixth-grade classes in the school, and from similar grades of Public School No. 15, a neighbouring school for girls. The aim was to choose an equal number of boys and girls from four or five grades. The selection was limited to grades 4B through 6B. The basis of selection was determined by the following factors:
1—The age-grade standard was considered. Those children were selected who were below the normal age for the grade and whose school records showed a standing of general excellence for successive terms.
2—The evidence of superior ability as displayed in oral recitation during visits made by the psychologist and the assistant to the principal.