The Binet Tests Applied to Colored Children.
- Author:
Bykon A. Phillips, Ph.D.
Supervising Principal, Harriet Beecher Stowe School, Philadelphia, Pa. In measuring retardation in the past, emphasis has been laid on pedagogic retardation owing to the fact that the psychological retardation of large numbers of children was impossible to ascertain. The Binet test furnishes us with a method for measuring the psychological retardation of the child. It is, however, almost impossible to test every child in the school system of a great city by means of these tests. This is so for two reasons: first, the length of time that would be required; secondly, the limited number of those who can handle the Binet tests. This method of testing, however, might be easily applied to a limited group of children and the psychological retardation compared with the pedagogic.
In a former article (The Psychological Clinic, Vol. 6, No. 3) a comparison was made of the retardation of schools containing all colored pupils and of those containing none or only a few. The result of this has shown that the retardation of the colored schools is as follows:
J. Miller School 68.2 per cent Pollock School 60.6 Catto School 67.3 Ramsey School 70.9 Vaux School 66.3 Hill School 72.0 Meehan School 58.3 Wilmot School 59.3
The retardation of Philadelphia in that year was 40.3 per cent. No school in the city, even those composed almost totally of foreigners, had a retardation percentage above 56 per cent.
While the result from this investigation leads to the conclusion that the mentality of the two groups is not the same, or else that the courses of instruction do not fit both groups equally well, there are a great many factors entering into this result which make it dangerous to draw conclusions.
One of these factors in particular is the environmental conditions of each group. Even ascertaining the environmental conditions of each group, still without knowing the home conditions of each individual our conclusions are apt to be erroneous. In order to make a comparison of the two groups a psychological method is preferable to a pedagogical if we can control all the factors. Of course in any scientific experiment we should endeavor to reproduce exactly the same conditions in each group of phenomena. This is particularly difficult in sociological studies. However, we have endeavored to secure this result, by having the Binet tests made by a single individual, by taking pupils of the same chronological age as nearly as possible, and more important still we have only compared the white with the colored who have had the same home conditions. Forty colored girls and 46 colored boys, totaling 86, were tested by the Binet scale; 75 white girls and 62 white boys, totaling 137, were likewise tested. The home of each of these 223 pupils was visited and the home conditions noted, as Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor. In so rating the home the material (money), intellectual, and moral elements were noted in making up the rating. In the following comparison only the white children of excellent home conditions are compared with the colored of excellent home conditions; the white of good home conditions with the colored of good home conditions, and so on. This method of procedure, of course, necessitated the elimination of quite a number of those tested, so that our final comparison is made on 29 each of colored boys and girls respectively. Table I gives a percentage of the colored and the white boys arranged chronologically. It will be noted that this table gives the following data: the chronological age, the Binet age, the Binet retardation, the Binet acceleration, the school grade, and the home conditions. Table II gives the same data for the girls.
Table III summarizes tables I and II. This table, it will be noted, is divided into three parts. Part I shows that the retardation of the colored boys is .83, of the colored girls .57, and of boys and girls combined .7, against no average retardation for the white. On the other hand there is no acceleration in either colored girls or boys, while the white boys are accelerated .16, the white girls .19, the combined white group .17.
Passing to the second group we see that of those tested 37.9 per cent of the white boys were retarded, while 65.5 per cent of the colored boys were retarded; that 46.4 per cent of the white girls were retarded and 71.4 per cent of the colored girls were retarded; and that 42.1 per cent of the white boys and girls combined were retarded, and that 68.4 per cent of the colored boys and girls combined were retarded. This makes the colored boys retarded 17.4 per cent more than the white boys; the colored girls retarded 25 per cent more than the white girls; while the total rate of retardation of both groups is 26.3 per cent.
In the third group we find that 31 per cent of the colored girls TABLE I?BOYS. COLORED 15.0 11.2 3.8 5 E 14.2 9.8 4.4 5 F 13.9 11.8 2.1 5 G 13.0 9.6 3.4 4 E 12.5 12.2 .3 7 E 11.2 10.2 1.0 4 G 11.0 9.6 1.4 4 E 10.5 11.0 .5 5 G 9.9 8.8 1.1 3 F 9.6 9.8 .2 3 P 9.5 10.2 .7 3 P 9.5 8.2 1.3 2 G 9.3 10.0 .7 4 G 9.2 9.0 .2 1 G 9.1 7.8 1.3 2 E 8.8 7.6 1.2 1 G 8.7 8.8 .1 2 G 8.6 6.8 1.8 1 F 8.5 7.0 1.5 2 P 8.2 6.8 1.4 1 G 7.5 7.2 .3 1 G 7.5 9.0 1.5 2 E 7.3 8.2 .9 2 E 7.2 7.2 1 G 7.1 6.2 .9 IF 7.0 7.4 .4 2 E 6.9 6.2 .7 IF 6.3 7.0 .7 1 E 6.0 5.2 .8 IE WHITE 15.8 11.4 4.4 6 E 14.5 11.2 3.3 5 F 13.8 11.0 2.8 6 E 13.0 10.2 2.8 4 G 12.5 12.0 .5 7 E 11.1 10.8 .3 4 E 11.0 10.2 .8 4 G 10.5 11.6 1.1 5 G 9.8 10.6 .8 4 E 9.7 9.2 .5 4 G 9.6 10.0 .4 2 F 9.5 9.6 .1 3 P 9.3 8.0 1.3 1 G 9.2 9.2 2 P 9.0 9.4 .4 2 G 8.6 10.0 1.4 2 G 8.3 8.2 .1 2 F 8.2 10.2 2.0 2 G 8.0 9.2 1.2 2 G 8.0 9.8 1.8 2 P 7.6 8.0 .4 1 G 7.6 9.6 2.0 2 F 7.6 10.0 2.4 2 E 7.4 9.0 1.6 2 E 7.3 8.8 1.5 2 E 7.2 9.2 2.0 2 G 6.7 7.6 .9 1 E 6.5 7.8 1.3 1 E 6.5 7.6 1.1 1 F BINET TESTS OF COLORED CHILDREN. 193 TABLE II.?GIRLS. COLORED 14.4 11.8 2.6 8 E 14.3 12.0 2.3 7 E 13.7 12.2 1.5 7 E 13.1 15.0 1.9 7 E 12.8 12.4 .4 5 G 12.5 12.6 .1 7 G 12.5 10.6 1.9 5 E 11.7 10.0 1.7 3 G 10.9 9.4 1.5 3 F 10.8 9.0 1.8 3 E 10.7 8.2 2.5 3 E 10.4 9.6 .8 4 G 10.3 10.2 .1 5 G 10.0 9.2 .8 2 E 9.5 8.2 1.3 4 G 9.5 11.4 1.9 4 E 8.7 8.0 .7 2 F 8.4 8.0 .4 2 E 8.3 8.4 .1 2 E 8.1 6.8 1.3 1 G 7.6 7.2 .4 IF 7.6 6.0 1.6 1 G 7.5 8.8 1.3 2 G 7.3 7.6 .3 1 G 6.9 6.6 .3 1 G 6.8 6.4 .4 1 G 6.2 7.2 1.0 1 E 6.1 7.2 1.1 1 E WHITE 14.5 15.6 1.1 8 E 14.4 13.0 1.4 7 E 13.5 13.0 .5 7 E 13.4 12.4 1.0 7 E 12.5 15.0 2.5 5 G 12.4 15.0 2.6 5 G 12.1 12.2 .1 7 E 11.1 9.6 1.5 3 G 10.8 9.4 1.4 4 G 10.6 9.4 1.2 3 E 10.4 9.8 .6 4 G 10.1 8.6 1.5 2 G 10.0 9.4 .6 4 E 10.0 9.6 .4 4 E 9.8 10.4 .6 3 G 9.7 8.8 .9 3 E 8.0 9.4 1.4 1 E 8.0 8.8 .8 2 E 8.0 9.6 1.6 2 G 8.0 9.0 1.0 2 F 7.8 7.2 .6 2 F 7.7 6.2 1.5 1 G 7.6 9.2 1.6 1 G 7.0 8.2 1.2 1 G 6.7 7.6 .9 1 E 6.6 8.4 1.8 1 E 6.5 7.2 .7 1 G 6.1 6.6 .5 1 G
TABLE III. WHOLE GROUP ?! H Colored Boys (29) 273 yr White Boys (29) 275.2 Colored Girls (28) 276.6 White Girls (28) 273.3 Colored Boys and Girls 549.6 White Boys and Girls 548.5 yr 249.8 279.6 260. 278.6 509.8 558.2 ? <1 < yr9.41 9.48 9.87 9.76 9.64 9.62 yr. 8.58 9.64 9.28 9.95 8.94 9.79 yr. .83 16 .59 19 .17 RETARDED GROUP 65.5 37.9 71.4 46.4 68.4 42.1 28.7 yr. -t-19 17.8 yr. + 11 24.3 yr. +20 13.1 yr. + 13 52 yr. -4-39 30.9 yr+ 24 -a o d> V 1.51 yr. 1.61 yr. 1.215 yr. 1.007 yr. 1.33 yr. 1.287 ACCELERATED GROUP 31 62 28.5 53.5 29.8 57.8 5.7 yr. +9 22.4 yr. + 18 7.7 yr. 18.4 yr. + 15 13.4 yr. + 17 40.8 yr. +33 ? o o << < “o yr. .63 1.24 ,962 1.226 .788 1.236
29 Colored Boys + 28 Colored Girla 29 White Boys + 28 White Girls BINET TESTS OF COLORED CHILDREN. 195 are accelerated, while 62 per cent of the white girls are accelerated; that 28.5 per cent of the colored boys are accelerated and 53.5 per cent of the white boys; and that 29.8 per cent of colored boys and girls are accelerated and 57.8 per cent of both white girls and boys. This makes a difference in the acceleration between the two races of 31 per cent in favor of the white boys, 25 per cent in favor of the white girls, 28 per cent in favor of the white pupils with boys and girls combined.
This would seem to corroborate the findings in the case of pedagogic retardation. We see in every group, considering the retardation from pedagogical or psychological view points, that the colored pupils are retarded from 20 to 30 per cent more than the white pupils, and that the white pupils are always greatly above them in acceleration.
The above data are taken from experiments where the home conditions are practically the same. It is interesting, however, in corroboration of the above to note the results obtained from the testing of the whole group. Table IV gives them:
TABLE IV. BOYS Colored White 4G 91 S 27 19 20 <D -rj U) o 59 21 21.9 Colored 40 20 GIRLS White 75 22 14 Colored 47 COMBINED White 41 34 50 12.5 29.3 18.6 54.6 6.9 24 20.4
We note here that 59 per cent of the colored boys are retarded one year or more and 21 per cent of the white boys. That 50 per cent of the colored girls are retarded one year or more against 29.3 per cent of the white girls, and combining the two we find that the colored retardation is 54.6 per cent against 25.4 per cent of the white retardation. On the side of acceleration we have 2 per cent of the colored boys accelerated against 21.9 per cent of the white boys; 12.5 per cent of the colored girls against 18.6 per cent of the white girls, with a total colored acceleration of 6.9 per cent against 20.4 per cent of white acceleration.
In applying the Binet tests to colored children the following facts of interest were fortunately thrust upon our attention. In the first place the colored pupils as a class were good in the memory tests and poor in those requiring judgment. They were generally slower in response. The testing of the colored children took a much longer time than the white. Their reaction time was greater, they were less animated. It is significant to note that the younger white children were more advanced than the colored children of the same age. This is in contradiction to the generally accepted fact that colored children are quicker when young.
To summarize, we see, first: that the colored children are retarded to a much greater extent both pedagogically and psychologically than the white children; and secondly, that the white children are accelerated to a much greater extent than the colored children. If the Binet tests are at all a gauge of mentality it must follow that there is a difference in mentality between the colored and the white children, and this raises the question:?Should the two groups be instructed under the same curriculum?
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