Physiological Age and School Standing
- Author:
Irving King,
State University of Iowa.
The following study is the initial report of an investigation under way in the Iowa City grammar and high schools, which it is hoped may be extended over several years. Its object is to record as accurately as possible the incidence of physiological maturity in each pupil with special reference to proficiency in school tasks and to progress through the grades. All pupils between ten and a half years and seventeen years old are being considered in order to secure the records of the antecedent and the subsequent age-groups, i. e. the immature and the mature, for comparison with the maturing group, as well as to enable us to compare the records made by each individual in these three stages of development. We wish to discover whether, in this group of pupils, there is any difference in school ability and school progress in the three stages of development, whether maturing at a later chronological age than usual is less favorable to the individual than an early or median age, and lastly, whether the physiological age has any observable relation to elimination from school. The present report deals only with the pupils who attended the grammar school during the year 1912-1913. The degree of maturity was estimated by the principal and a discriminating woman teacher, through careful observation of the height and general physical appearance of each individual. No regular physical examinations were possible.1 It is hoped that the remainder of the study can be based upon physical examinations of both sexes. While estimates of the degree of physical maturity made by our method are necessarily subject to some error, we believe that they closely approximate the facts. Our determination to try this method in the absence of a better, was based on the statement made by Dr F. L. Foster2 to the effect that where physical examinations cannot be made, a fairly accurate classification of pupils according to physiological age can be made on the basis of height and general physical appearance. The only studies along the same line as this with which we are familiar are those by Dr Crampton and Dr Foster, which are referred 1 A similar method is reported by Dr C. Ward Crampton in his paper, “The Significance of Physiological Age in Education,” Proceedings of Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, 1913. to in this article. Dr Crampton states that there is a direct relation between physiological maturity and mental ability, the pubescent and mature boys doing better work than the immature; and that early or average pubescence is more favorable than that occurring a year or two later.3 Dr Foster believes, on the basis of experiments in a New York City boys’ high school, that boys who are grouped in classes according to physiological age, rather than according to chronological age, do better work than in classes in which physiological age is ignored.4 The following table (I) shows the distribution of our 271 grammar Ages 136 Boys Immature Maturing Mature 135 Girls Immature Maturing Mature m ii iij 12 12. 12J 13 12 13. 12 13| 19 11 14. 3 l 12 11 14-o 15. 15.’ 16. 163 Totals. G5 55 16 31 62 42
school pupils according to chronological age and estimated degree of physiological development.
2 “Physiological age as a Basis for the Classification of Pupils entering High Schools. Relation of Pubescence to Height.” The Psychological Clinic IV, 83. ‘ “The Influence of Physiological Age upon Scholarship.” The Psychological Clinic, 1,115. 4 Foster, Op. cit.
From this table one may easily see the incidence of maturity for the sexes by half years from ten and a half to seventeen. Table II shows the distribution of the school marks actually received by these pupils, according to age, sex and degree of maturity. In almost every case there are five marks for each pupil, the marks for such subjects as writing, music, manual training and domestic science not being included. Five grades are used in ranking these pupils, Excellent, Good, Medium, Poor, and Failure. In practice the mark of “G” is probably nearer the average of ability in the class than is the mark of “M”. It seems fair, in any case, to group the marks of “E” and “G” together as standing for good to fair work and the marks “M”, “P”, and “F” together as standing for inferior work. The limited number of pupils available for this study ‘ makes this classification of the marks into Good and Poor much more satisfactory than a finer grouping would be. It better reveals the general tendencies and these are all that we can hope to arrive at in any case.
From this table we can see the total number of high and low marks received by each sex for each half-year of chronological age and for each stage of physiological development. By computing the percentages which the high grades are of the total number of grades received by each sex and physiological age, we are able to compare the total standings directly with each other.
PERCENTAGES OF GOOD GRADES. Immature Maturing Mature Boys 68.4 57.8 45.7 Girls 71.0 60.9 56.6 It appears from the above figures that the girls of each physiological age make slightly better showings in their marks than do the boys of corresponding degrees of development; that the prepubescents of both sexes do better than the pubescents, and that the pubescents are superior to the postpubescents.
It is of interest to see how these high and low marks are distributed through the various classes of the grammar school and in table III on page 226 this is shown in percentages, for greater ease of comparison. The table does not throw any great light on the problem in which we are here interested, namely,?the relation of physiological age to school standing and school progress, because chronological age is not considered. Grade 7b, for example, contains immature boys of several different chronological ages.
AGE-MATURITY DISTRIBUTION OP HIGH AND LOW MARKS. (THE UPPER NUMBERS IN EACH SPACE REFER TO THE BOYS AND THE LOWER TO THE GIRLS.) Ages Immature E-G M-F Maturing ! Mature E-G M-F E-G M-F 10*. 30 14 11 18 15 Hi. 42 19 18 6 1 14 12. 28 30 12 10 11 m. 43 16 22 9 9 41 6 19 13. 20 12 16 23 39 22 21 17 13*. 26 4 19 6 49 28 41 27 25 5 15 14. 37 23 23 17 5 29 26 14*. 21 17 19 25 16 20 15. 3 12 12 10 151-17. 11 12 14 Totals. 222 110 104 45 159 189 116 121 35 119 45 91 Age lOV’a means the group from 10H to 11, and so on with each age group.
TABLE III. DISTRIBUTION BY PERCENTAGES OF HIGH AND LOW MARKS ACCORDING TO SCHOOL GRADE, SEX AND PHYSIOLOGICAL AGE. (THE UPPER NUMBERS REFER TO THE BOYS.) Grades Immature Maturing | Mature E-G | M-F 6b. 82 89 18 11 E-G i M-F I E-G 100 M-F 45 54 55 46 50 40 50 60 7b. 78 65 22 35 37 64 63 36 30 60 70 40 7a. 57 65 43 35 50 57 50 43 60 100 40 8b. 76 60 24 40 53 70 47 30 45 52 55 48 70 30 80 65 20 35 85 63 15 37
This group of immature boys is not therefore a homogeneous group, some being normal in their development and others retarded. This lack of homogeneity renders very uncertain any conclusions that one might attempt to draw from class groups alone. The table is presented for its negative rather than for its positive value. On this point of early and late development Boas says in a recent article,6 referring to the investigations of Porter and Crampton, “These observations make it plausible that the assumption which has been made so frequently?that a period of slow development of the body is correlated with a period of rapid development of mental faculties and vice versa?is not correct, but rather that rapid physical and mental development go hand in hand.” And the same authority in another article, “We must not commit the error of identifying physiological development with physiological age, or of considering chronological age as irrelevant… . We must not assume that individuals who exhibit the same stages of physiological development are the same, physiologically speaking, no matter what their actual age may be; on the contrary, the past and prospective physiological changes in their bodies will proceed in different ‘“Growth,” Cyclopedia of Education, II, 189.
manners.”6 The presumption is that the mental development will also be different according as to whether the prepubescent- or the pubescent pupil is young or old in his group, i. e. normal or retarded in his development, as compared with his fellows of the same age in years.
With reference to this point it is fortunately possible, from our data, to compare various age-groups in the different degrees of maturity. Thus we can compare immature boys of thirteen years and under with immature boys of over thirteen. Similar divisions of young and old maturing and mature can be made. The divisions into younger and older groups which is here presented is based in part upon the distribution shown in table i, in connection with the commonly accepted ages of normal pubescence in the two sexes. We thus get,?
TABLE IV. THE RELATION OF GOOD AND POOR GRADES IN THE YOUNGER AND OLDER AGE-GROUPS. Number of Cases 43 22 45 10 9 8 20 11 33 29 34 Immature boys of 13 years or younger.. ” ” over 13 years Maturing ” of 14| years or younger. ” ” over 14? years Mature ” of 15 years or younger.. ” ” over 15 years Immature girls of 12J years or younger. ” ” over 12^ years Maturing ” of 13? years or younger. ” ” over 13| years Mature ” of 15 years or younger. . ” ” over 15 years Actual Percentages Number of High of Grades and Low E-G M-F i E-G M-F 161 61 127 32 24 12 78 32 113 76 98 16 54 75 49 i 56 98 18 21 28 22 23 52 75 64 53 30 78 58 68 69 i 52 67 | 60 24 I 40 25 44 25 36 47 70 22 42 32 48 40 60
It is clear from this table that the younger groups of each physiological age do better work than the older groups. Since the older groups comprise those pupils who are more or less retarded, or at least late in their development, our figures seem to confirm the statements of Boas, quoted above, with reference to the unfavorableness of late development. Our next question was with reference to the relative efficiency of pupils of different degrees of development but of practically the e”The Growth of Children,” Science, N. S., X^XXVI, 817, 1912. same age in years. Only the half year groups between twelve and a half and fourteen and a half contained enough cases of each physiological age to make such a comparison significant. Percentage
TABLE V. of Good Grades , 101 , 1Q /immature 56 lr 8 3 0 yearS Maturing and mature 69 {Immature 60 Maturing and mature 80 f Immature 55.5 Maturing 56 {Immature 58 {Maturing 54 (Immature 53 Maturing 72 Girls 13 to 13 j years Boys 13 to 135 years Boys 13? to 14 years Boys 14 to 141 years
It can be seen from the above table that, age for age, the mature girls do better work than the immature. The boys’ figures show a similar superiority in all but one of the groups.
Thus far we have confined our discussion to the high and low marks in their relation to physiological age. Such marks are only a rough measure of intellectual ability; at least they are only one of the measures. School progress, or advancement in the grades, while dependent upon marks to some extent, is really another measure of ability. It is possible that degree of progress, irrespective of marks received, is a better index of ability of one sort than are the school marks. The latter measure the degree of brightness at a particular time, while school progress shows whether development has been, on the whole, rapid or slow. With this point in mind we may turn to our data with the question,?what is the present degree of progress through the grades of the different physiological age-groups? Are the pubescents, as a class, generally advanced in the grades, or is their distribution more nearly dependent upon age in years? To answer this question the number of maturing pupils in the three lower classes, 6b-7b, was compared, age for age, with those maturing in the three upper classes, 7a-8a. The following figures show this distribution graphically. The maturing pupils are presented according to half-year age-groups; those of each group who are in the lower classes being indicated by white rectangles while those who are of the same age in years, but in the upper classes, are indicated by black rectangles.
These figures show clearly that the maturing age in both sexes is favorable to school progress, for at every age where there are enough cases to be significant, pupils of this degree of development are found in the upper classes in decidedly greater numbers than in the lower classes. This showing is not inconsistent with the comparatively lower standing indicated above for pubescents in the matter of grades. Maturity, in the case of these pupils, does not seem to be a factor in improving the quality of work, but it does seem to be associated with progress through the grades.
It would not be safe to draw dogmatic or sweeping conclusions from this little study. As far as they go, the findings agree with those of Crampton that progress in physiological age is related to school efficiency. It may be that a later and more extended study of these children, based upon a more accurate determination of physiological age, will lead to different results. In one important respect particularly, these results are in accord with previous studies, in that they indicate that over-age individuals in all the three physiological stages are inferior to those of normal development.
No. Cases IS. COMPARISON OF NUMBER OF MATURING PUPILS, AGE BY AGE, IN THE LOWER THREE CLASSES WITH THOSE IN THE UPPER THREE CLASSES. BLACK RETANGLES REPRESENT UPPER CLASSES.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.