THE Public Schools and the Abnormal Childe
By K. J. Hoke
Second Assistant Superintendent Public Schools, Richmond, Va. One of the criticisms which is often leveled against the public school system of the United States is that the instruction is too mechanical; that the public schools tend to treat all children as if they were alike, both physically and mentally. The tendency in modern education to reach the individual needs of the children should meet this objection. The administrators of our public schools are demanding that the instruction in the class-room be made more and more individual, that the teacher shall plan her instruction to reach the individual child instead of planning it to be presented to a large number of children at once, and assuming that all will profit alike from it.
In following out this principle of instruction, one of the natural consequences has been that students of education are beginning to know more of the individual abilities of children and are planning instruction to train them accordingly. In this movement the psychologists are leading the way and are providing much information that serves as a basis for more scientific treatment of children. This information shows the wide range of abilities existing among children of the same class in spite of the fact that they have been so placed on the assumption that they were of the same ability. The following figures show the wide range in ability to add correctly in eight minutes a certain number of addition examples in a 4A grade in the public schools of the city of Richmond: No. children. No. examples right.
2 9 1 7 1 G 1 5 2 4 0 3 1 2 2 1 3 0
A further illustration of this principle is shown by the following figures which give the different mental ages according to the BinetSimon Scale in a 3B grade of the same school system: * A report to the Virginia State Board of Charities and Corrections for submission to the General Assembly of 1916. No. children. Mental ages. 3 8 5 9 20 10 8 11 1 12 Since this wide range of ability exists among children of a single class, manifestly it is the function of the public schools to determine its extent. If a school system attempts this problem, what means are available for its solution?
In the first place, the grade and the chronological age of the child should always be available. When this information is arranged in a table form, it enables the teacher to locate the child who has fallen behind his grade. The following table is given to illustrate this point: Chronological Ages Gradf, 9 j 10 1A. G IB. 1 2 2A. 213. 3A. 3B. The normal ages for the different grades are as follows: 1A and IB grades, 7 years; 2A and 2B grades, 8 years; 3A and 3B grades, 9 years. All of these children are above these ages.
After the child is located in the grade, the next source of information is the cumulative record which gives his progress in school. If a child is promoted at the end of each term, he would complete the elementary schools in seven years, and his progress will be shown by the accompanying record card which is the history of a child’s progress in the Richmond Public Schools (see No. 1). This child entered the 1A grade in September, 1906. In February, 1907, he was promoted to the IB grade, and so on throughout his entire school life. If a child is not promoted each term, his record card will show a different progress. The accompanying No. 1. record shows that the child spent 8 terms or 4 years in the 1A grade and 3 terms or 13/2 years in the IB grade, when he was taken into the ungraded class. At that time he was 15 years and 9 months old, had been in school 5}^ years, and had completed the work of one year only (see No. 2). J- / Aqsa. No. 2.
The progress of still another child is given to illustrate further the fact that there are certain children who cannot profit by the instruction given to the normal child. This child spent 3 terms or l}/2 years in the 1A grade, 4 terms or 2 years in the IB grade, 3 terms or }/2 years in the 2A grade, and was still in the 2B grade at the age of 15 years. He had been in school 53^ years and had completed only l/2 years of work: ?7 Feb. 19 l? o^ oj ot 2L aC a A a <L C C? (cL J ‘{3^1/ZjL CLQJL a % A a 3 J AAA/. JA (o 0 (X. A A CUulL jj. 3 Ji ! o O O O O O /3 Cu & t>/3 Form 30-7-27-U?5 M. s-t CLYI jB A-A /3 A jz/3sG CU OU No. 3. From these records the following points should be observed: 1. The constant repetition of the same grade kills a child’s interest.
2. Instruction for children who cannot profit from it is not economical and business-like.
3. The presence of such children in a class-room hinders the progress of children who can profit from the instruction of the grade. The next means of determining the mental ability of children is through mental and physical tests. One of these tests which is widely used is the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale. This test, in the hands of a skillful examiner, is a helpful aid in determining a child’s mental ability.
Figure 1 is a graphical representation of the results from the Binet-Simon Scale applied to all the children in the first four years of three fairly representative schools in the city of Richmond. The significant thing shown in this figure is that 19 children or 2.6 per cent were four or more years mentally below their chronological age; and that 103 children or 13.8 per cent were two and three years mentally below their chronological age. It is commonly held that children who test three or more years back are feebleminded. A more liberal classification is used in Richmond, as shown in the above graph. The policy has been to place those who test four or more years back in classes of 15 children each, and those who test two and three years back in classes of 20 children each. It is true, however, that the majority of the 2.6 per cent are or will become permanently mentally arrested, and even some of the 13.8 per cent. Consequently the number of feebleminded children in the public schools is a problem of considerable proportions. As a usual thing, the children of the latter group can profit from the instruction given in the regular class. Most of these children have the normal amount of mentality, but have fallen behind because of late entrance, poor attendance, ill health, etc. All that is needed to place them on their feet is a little individual instruction. That these children do profit by the instruction given to the normal child is shown in figure 2.
At the beginning of the second term, 1914, there were 72 children in four classes. At that time all of these children were too old for the grades in which they were working. By June, 12.5 per cent of them had caught up with their grades. Z1I ~VLtrtss^oJOb CULL X.1 I / I 3 Z y / uyJ “btbrvf I % 5 J OtuarCUjrvoe/ / Ho % ?cjA^ xPnt 13 /?% /f ,4o Qxi-a^cL.cL & tjAA/ ijtLvr 7Z> K /3 2 ?/o I2Q 3 cjA/v tv* 3 I ) 100 II Z.cfo to 1 (> lja/. -5~ y*/. Vyv 3 cjA/. 7j y-> / y^/ / yt/ 2> y/v Figure 1. RESULTS OF BINET-SIMON TESTS OF 743 CHILDREN IN RICHMOND, VA. These classes do not differ much from the regular class except in numbers. In some cases considerable emphasis is placed on industrial work, especially in order to arouse a child’s interest. It is true, however, that some children are placed in these classes who cannot profit from the instruction given to normal children. They are the borderline cases which become permanently arrested and must be provided with instruction of a different nature. In classes of fifteen children each the mentality is much lower, as represented by figure 3, which shows that all the children are four and more years below and are located at the lower extremity of the curve. (Jhjfc cla.cIj.cL J ??> ^ a^AS- ^ ?y’ ?-jJrw.a*u> At..’/ 3^. 7 /ZTZ (,.f 1.4 TV Figure 2. REDUCTION IN OVERAGENESS OF 72 CHILDREN IN 4 SPECIAL CLASSES, FEBRUARY-.; UNE, 1914. ‘’ * ( ‘? t y’ t- 7 : j ;< La/Aj l> * f> 3*jAs. Figure 3. YEARS BELOW NORMAL OF INDIVIDUALS IN ONE CLASS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT CHILDREN IN RICHMOND, VA. Figure 3. YEARS BELOW NORMAL OF INDIVIDUALS IN ONE CLASS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT CHILDREN IN RICHMOND, VA. 244 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. These children can profit very little from the instruction given in the regular class. In fact, few of them can read beyond the second or third reader. Progress is not expected of them from this course. Their work is almost entirely industrial and centers around mat and rug weaving, woodwork, handwork, sewing, cooking and serving meals, crochet work, gardening, etc. Their number-work, language, and reading are based on their industrial work, e. g., number-work is based on estimating the cost of their daily lunch, the amount of material in and cost of their rugs and mats, the cost of planting their garden, etc. Their language work consists in writing the daily menu for the lunch, writing the order for the store, writing advertisements for sale of articles made, etc. Habits of industry, orderliness, and self-control are among the big things to be taught these children. Some skill can be acquired. Interest has been aroused in this work by selling as many of the articles made as possible, and permitting the children to share in the proceeds. During the second term of the session 1914-15, one of these classes, after paying for the supplies, had about $8.00, and another about $12.00, for distribution to the members of the class. At the beginning of the session 1915-16, the Richmond Public School System established a center for handling these children by combining four classes in one building. This plan offers an opportunity for better grading and more practical work. In addition, a psychological examiner has been employed to give a stated amount of time each day to a more exhaustive study of the mental and physical condition of these children. This work will be greatly facilitated by a psychological clinic which has been established by the Medical College of Virginia.
The results from the work with the abnormal children in the city of Richmond seem to indicate that it is economical to have these children removed from the regular classes, to study them so that their mental ability can be known, and to instruct them to the extent that they can receive instruction along lines that will help them most. This policy is based on the principle that it is the inherited right of every child of school age to receive the kind and the amount of training he can profit by. To this end every modern school plant should provide means. Teachers should be trained to give the mental tests; accurate records of the progress of all children should be kept and provision should be made for the instruction of such children in classes of not more than fifteen. The children of low mentality who are passing through the hands of the teacher of today will become the weak-minded, helpless, and dangerous adults of tomorrow. What are the teachers and the administrators doing PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE ABNORMAL CHILD. 245 to prepare themselves to handle this problem? Surely it is a duty which they cannot evade if they are to be educators in a broad and modern interpretation of that word.
But after the public schools have located these children and placed them in ungraded classes and trained them as best they can, their work is left incomplete because the children soon reach an age when the schools can not hold them any longer and there is no other authority to take charge of them. Consequently they go out into society to be preyed upon by and become a prey to society. It is at this point that the State should assume control. A central governing body, acting under special legislation, should take up the work where the schools leave off.
In the light of these facts, then, some such policy as the following seems advisable: 1. It is the duty of the public schools to study the problem presented by the child of low mentality so that the number of feebleminded children in the community can be known. 2. It is the duty of the public schools to provide that kind of instruction for these children which will make them self-supportng citizens if they can profit by it, and so long as the home gives its share of proper supervision.
3. It is the duty of the public schools to provide instruction for feebleminded children of school age in classes of not more than 15 children to a class.
4. It is the duty of the State to take charge of these children who are institutional cases after the public schools have exhausted their means of helping them.
By pursuing such a policy, many wards of the State would be trained to become self-supporting in a community where they are not brought in competition with the normal individual. Many of these people are passing through the hands of teachers today without their actual mental ability ever being known. The menace of the feebleminded reproducing themselves would be cut off at its source.
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