State Association of Town and City Superintendents
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM. Report of Committee on Delinquent and Dependent Children Including Truancy, Juvenile Courts and Poor Relief.*
[1 ranklin, Ind.] 1908. Pp. 40.
In the present state of our knowledge each new study not only adds to our knowledge of local conditions, but contributes something to the elucidation of the general problem of retardation. Not infrequently such studies present new facts, or lay a new emphasis on those already familiar. In the present report the statistical substructure is loosely put together, but the presentation is a striking one. The facts purport to relate to seven thousand children, and are gathered in “about twenty-five cities in all parts of the state,” and “usually by returns from one representative building.” Had such a method been followed throughout, the results, valuable as they are for the several grades, might be equally valuable in the aggregate, as representing a typical distribution by grades and ages in Indiana schools. But we are not given a general age and grade table by which to judge at a glance whether such a condition obtains. Since, however, we are given both the number and percentage of over-age pupils in each grade we may by calculation construct the grade totals as follows:
Grade 1 1000 Grade 2 905 Grade 3 573 Grade 4 100G Grade 5 936 Grade 6 887 Grade 7 982 Grade 8 729 7018
Obviously this is not a normal grade distribution, in which each grade would be successively smaller than the next preceding. Any properly calculated average of the whole, taking into account as it should the numbers in the several grades, must be considerably affected by such an abnormal grade distribution.
In the absence of a general age and grade table which would have shown at a glance the weaknesses of the material, we find instead a ?Copies of this report may be obtained from the chairman of the committee, Supt. A. O. Ncal, Franklin, Ind. number of subsidiary tables and some effective diagrams. Reducing these tables to a compact statement we have the following: Statistics of 7000 Children in Indiana. Grade Range of ages >> ? U a S I2 53 cj Q >, Pupils of Minimum age ?? a u n C 3 Ph ft Average pupils Standard Jl a o M c-S ? co o ^ u, a O p PL, ft Most frequent age o* JSji o h us a”-a ? a 5 ox 2 U ft ft ?3ft ft d G 7 9 9 10 11 12 15 14 10 17 18 18 17 7 10 8 9 7 0 7 8 9 10 11 12 03 58 51 30 35 29 33 34 35
9 yrs. or over… 10’yrs. or over… 11 yrs. or over… 12 yrs. or over… 13 yrs. or over… 14 yrs. or over… 15 yrs. or over… 10 yrs.’or over…
48 07 121 155 148 120 111 70 4.8 7.4 21.1 15.4 15.3 14.2 11.3 9.0 12.4 0 7 9 9 11 12 13 10 57 44 32 30 29 23 20 22 ?Estimated from diagram.
This table serves to bring out the wide variations in ages which are posssible in the several grades, though in the absence of exact figures we cannot determine how much significance is to be attached to the extreme figures. The gradual decline in the percentage of pupils of the minimum age until the fifth grade is reached is another interesting factor. In the discussion of over-age pupils it is regretable that a standard should be adopted which differs from the one commonly in use, since it makes comparison with familiar figures more difficult. No good reason is assigned for making over-age pupils in the first grade those of nine years and upward, instead of eight years and upward. The reason given points to the common usage. The increasing proportion of over-age pupils revealed by these figures as the grades advance, and the diminishing proportion as the upper grades are reached is familiar. But it is quite unusual that the maximum proportion of over-age children should be in the third grade. Let us compare these results with those of Fort Wayne, computed on the same basis of retardation from the table reprinted in the report: Per cent Overage.
7000 Indiana Fort Wayne, 1906-07, Grade Children. 5558 Children. 1 4.8 3.0 2 7.4 5.5 3 21.1 89 4 15.4 15.6 5 15.8 10.G G 14.2 12.3 7 11.3 7.0 8 9.G 5.3
The Fort Wayne figures make a showing directly comparable with those observed in other cities. Here the maximum retardation is in the fifth grade. In Dr Cornman’s study we find it to be in the fourth grade in Kansas City and in the fifth grade in Camden, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. If the statistical basis of the Indiana investigation were a given system, or a group of systems, or even a normal distribution of grades, a maximum retardation in the third grade would be a very striking fact. As it is we are forced to the conclusion that it results from the choice of the figures presented for consideration.
In regard to the retardation of 12.4 per cent for the whole body of children reported upon, it may be said that this average is gained by taking the percentage column, adding it up and dividing by eight. This is certainly not a scientific way of getting an average. We are told that 84G children were retarded in an aggregate of 7000. This is 12.1 per cent. The difference is not noticeable, but it is certain that were the grades more uneven in number the result might be quite different.
If we have gone into a somewhat detailed analysis it is not with any desire to underrate the many excellencies of this report. It is particularly strong in its presentation of facts by means of diagrams; and in its appeal to the interest of schoolmen is probably more effective than some of the more carefully worked out statistical treatments of the subject. If it does not, as stated, very accurately measure retardation, there can be no doubt that it proves the existence of the problem, and makes a strong plea for the special treatment of the backward child. From the conclusion that there is a need for special ungraded schools in every community with a school population of one thousand or over, there is likely to be little dissent. R. P. F.
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