A Study of 100 Retarded Fourth Grade Pupils Tested by the Binet Scale
- Author:
William I. Lacy,
Northwestern University, Evanston, III.
In the spring of 1917, a study was made of all the slow progress children of the fourth grade in the schools of district 75, Evanston, Illinois, as a part of the general movement of the administration of the Evanston schools for a complete survey and analysis of conditions looking toward a higher efficiency in the work of the schools. The present study has to do with the results of the Binet tests given to one hundred of these children. The Stanford Revision of the Binet Scale was used.
The one hundred children who comprise the basis for this study are distributed in an even, and what may be considered a very fair manner, throughout the school system. There has.been taken into consideration the social status of the groups used, and as fair an intermingling and distribution obtained as possible. The one hundred children are selected from four groups, one quarter from each. There are, in this district of Evanston, eight schools. Four of these schools draw almost entirely from the more favored social stratum of the city and have a comparatively small number of colored children. These four schools have been put into Group I. Two schools are so situated that the school population is somewhat mixed, the children coming both from wealthy homes and from the homes of the laboring class. There is found a moderate percentage, though not a preponderance, of colored children, in these two schools. They comprise Group II. The other two groups are from two schools, in each of which the pupils form a group by themselves. In these two schools we find the largest number of retarded children, probably half of all the retarded children in the fourth grade of the district. In both of them, the bulk of the enrolment is from the less favored social stratum and there is also a large percentage of colored children. These are designated Group III and Group IV.
In a study of medians based upon the Intelligence Quotient of these four groups, we find that two groups have a median Intelligence Quotient of 88, one of 90 and one of 91. This would indicate that the study is based on a fairly uniform group of children, despite the fact that they come from these different social conditions. In a comparison of the distribution of the children of the various groups according to their mental state in terms of the Intelligence Quotient, it is found that the children from Group III are more bunched, none of these being found in the lowest or “feebleminded” group, nor any in the superior intelligence class, but that there is a larger number of “border line” cases (I. Q. 71-80) than in any of the other three groups. The other three groups have a fairly uniform distribution, though Group IV presents none who class above normal (I. Q. 91-110).
It must be remembered that all of the children comprising the basis of this study are what are known as “retards;” That is, not that they are, necessarily, over age for the grade in which they are found, but that they have, at one time or other, repeated one or more years of their school work.
In making a comparison of the distribution of the Intelligence Quotient of the 100 pupils, with the probability curve, or normal intelligence distribution, we find in figure I what we would naturally expect to find in a group of retarded children, that the curve inclines to the left. But if we consider those having intelligence quotients of 91 to 110 as normal (Terman’s Standard), we find that the largest per cent of the group come within that class. While almost as many are in the lower group, which may be called the dull group, yet it is a very significant thing that the largest per cent of these children who have been made to repeat one or more years of their school work, have normal intelligence. We find, further, that there are A Comyiairiiott nlc\u)ev?tt Quotients o^. too Rttftviei A-XW G-tftie VLv’A;> u>A:Vv Normal C UT?t/ OuMft^g E.van?to?.-X);?,t 15. FiaUBE I Figure I two children who have superior intelligence (I. Q. 111-120) and one with very superior intelligence (I. Q. 128). In figure II we find that by far the largest per cent of the children have a mental age of nine or ten years. Figuring six as the normal age for entrance to the first grade, nine would be the logical age for a child starting the fourth grade. Nine and ten are usually considered the fourth grade age; so from that standpoint, the greater number of the 100 children in the fourth grade are in the right grade for their mental ability. But sixteen per cent have eleven year intelligence. These, according to normal conditions, should be in the higher fifth or lower sixth grades, but here they are in the fourth grade, all of them having been compelled to repeat at least one year of their school work. Three per cent are of a mental age of twelve, which would naturally put them in the sixth or seventh grades. That is, mentally they are capable of doing sixth or seventh grade work. One even has a mental age of fifteen, which would normally put him in High School. Does this not immediately raise the question as to the method of promotion generally in use?
In order to see the problem here presented more clearly, we have distributed children by half year mental ages (as shown in figure III), into the grades where they would normally be at the corresponding chronological age. We are going on the supposition that a child with a mental age of six years is mentally capable of doing first grade, first semester work; one of six and a half, first grade second semester work; one of seven, second grade first semester work, etc. A child’s chronological age does not necessarily determine his ability to do the work of any particular grade, but a normal child
Figure II of the age specified is mentally capable,?that is, he is intelligent enough, to do the work of the grades as outlined above. Every effort should be made to place each child in the grade where the work is of such difficulty as to fit his intelligence. Figure III shows how widely distributed throughout the grades these 100 children, all of whom are in the fourth grade (or possibly owing to the time of year the tests were given, in the lower fifth grade), ought to be. There are three in the group who are not mentally capable of doing the work of the fourth grade, but they are being kept in the grade, grappling with work which they are mentally unfit to do, with consequent detriment both to themselves and to the other children in the grade, who are having to drag this weight along with them. Twentythree are capable of doing fifth grade, second semester work, but for some reason are being kept in the fourth grade, or the early fifth. Sixteen of the group are mentally capable of doing sixth grade work, but they are being kept back in the fourth grade, thus wasting for them two years of their school lives. One girl with an intelligence quotient of 104 and a mental age of eleven years, thus belonging in grade V, although she was just finishing fourth grade work, was questioned regarding her work and her attitude toward it. She enjoyed her school work, she said, but found the work she was doing very easy, and also rather monotonous. She had changed schools the preceding fall, having completed the work of the fourth grade in the school from which she came. Mentally she was capable of going right on without repeating one year’s work. A boy of twelve, with an intelligence quotient of 128, showed a mental age of fifteen. He was still in the fourth grade, when mentally he was actually capable of doing high school work. His teacher said that he was inattentive in his work, stayed away from school on the least pretext, and therefore did not keep up in his studies. When questioned he said he “hated most of his studies,” but during the test he showed the keenest interest in solving some of the difficult problems in the “superior adult” tests. We are inclined to believe that the chief difficulty in the case of this boy is that the work was not of a sufficient degree of difficulty for his intelligence. Lack of attention and interest are bound to follow if the work is not such as to tax the mind sufficiently to stimulate interest and attention. As Goddard says, “this is the type of child that makes the truant and incorrigible. He takes no interest in his work, because it is below him, and consequently he plays truant, or gets into mischief.” This boy was failing in his studies because he was not interested in the work, and he was not interested because the work was too easy for him, and yet he was being kept back in the grade, which merely aggravated the unfortunate situation.
Of the 100 children, 64 are mentally retarded, for their chronological age. If we take actual half year measurements, 79 are of mental age lower than their chronological age. But allowing for a difference of half a year, either way, which would make a normal condition, there are of these 100, thirty who may be considered normal in intelligence, yet most of whom are over age for their grade. Six of the one hundred are above the normal intelligence for their chronological age, but are not under age for the grade in which they are.
Is there not something in the system of promotion to blame for these conditions? Although we are coming more and more to the idea of the socialization of the curriculum, and letting go our hold on the idea of education as mere formal discipline, yet in the early grades, the subject matter is of comparatively little importance as compared with the development of the child’s intelligence. If a child is intelligent enough to do fifth grade work, is it not of comparatively little importance whether or not he is able to pass an examination in the actual subject matter taught in the fourth grade? Furthermore, having once been over the work of the fourth grade, if he is mentally capable of doing fifth grade work, he will have no difficulty in going on with the work in the fifth grade, although he may have failed in an examination, or failed on daily recitations in the fourth grade work. Besides, as it would be new work, it is probable that it would claim his attention and interest much more readily, which means that he would probably do better work in the fifth grade than he would do in repeating the fourth grade work. Let the child go on as fast as his intellectual development will allow. We believe, then, as a result of this study, that many of these retarded children are being held back in grades, the work of which is below that which the children are capable of doing, and that an injustice is therefore being done to these children. From this we are led to believe that the present system of determining whether or not a child should be promoted is unsatisfactory, and propose that the use of intelligence tests would be a far more scientific method of determining fitness for promotion.
In figure I we see, also, the relation of the intelligence of the white children to that of the colored. Referring back to figure I, in yhich we have separated the white children and the colored children in per cents we find that the distribution of the whites more nearly approximates the normal curve than does that of the whole group, and that the colored children are markedly inferior in intelligence to the group as a whole. The .difference in the distribution of intelligence quotients of the colored children and of the white children is very marked. This bears out the contention of Morse (Comparison of White and Colored Children measured by the Binet Scale of Intelligence, Pop. Sci. 84; 75-9, Ja. ‘14) and of Strong (White and Colored Children measured by the Binet Simon Scale of Intelligence, Ped. Sem. 20:485-516, D. ‘13) who have made comparative studies of whites and colored with the Binet Scale. Distributing the children in groups by their mental age, we find that the median intelligence quotient of the white children is at every age superior to the median intelligence quotient of the colored. This means that the mental age and the chronological age of the white children is less widely separated than that of the colored children.
We see, then, that on the whole, the intelligence of the colored children is inferior to that of the whites. Therefore, where whites and colored are together in school, either they must be grouped together having unequal mental ages, or they must be grouped together with unequal chronological ages. The first is educationally unsound, the other unwise from the social point of view. In elementary schools, children will, as a rule, group themselves together largely according to their ages. So where children of different races are together, having different ages, we shall find not only the race attitude tending to divide them into cliques, but also the age factor. Where the mental age is the same for the children of the two races, the physical age of the colored is apt to be greater and there is often a tendency for the older ones to make it unpleasant for the younger ones. All phases being considered, we believe there should be separate schools for colored children.
As is to be expected, the largest per cent by far, (69%) of these retarded children, have repeated but one year. But when we come to a study of the relation of the amount of retardation to the intelligence of the child, we find certain unexpected facts. One would naturally expect to find that those retarded one year were almost all in the dull group (I.Q. 81-90) or possibly a few in the normal group (I.Q. 91-110). We would naturally expect to find, further, that those who have repeated two years were for the most part in the dull group or lower; those having repeated three years in the border line (I.Q. 71-80) or feebleminded (I.Q. below 70) groups, and those having repeated four years, all in the feebleminded group. Instead, figure IV shows that of those repeating one year, one-seventh are in the border line group, while three out of sixty-nine are of superior or very superior intelligence. Among those who have repeated two years, five out of eighteen, or 28 per cent, are of normal intelligence. More than half of the pupils who have repeated three years are above the border line group, while the children who have repeated four years are all either feebleminded or very nearly so.
TABLE I. DISTRIBUTION BY INTELLIGENCE AND NUMBER OP TEARS REPEATED OF 100 RETARDED FOURTH GRADE PUPILS. EVANSTON, DIST. 75. Feebleminded Border Line Dull Normal Superior Vert Superior Total 4 years. 3 years. 2 years. 18 1 year. 24 33 69 Total. 18 36 39 100 The distribution in table I leads us to a consideration of the problem of these children who have repeated three or four years and are in the feebleminded, or possibly lower section of the border line groups. What is to be done with such children? It is evident that there are in the school system certain children who are being carried on from year to year, who, from the tests given, are of such low stages of intelligence that they are incapable of doing regular school work. The trouble lies, perhaps, in the fact that the teachers do not consider these children necessarily feeble minded; they are to the teacher merely very dull. The Binet test will bring to light these cases of feeblemindedness. All such cases should be removed to special institutions, schools or rooms, according to local conditions, where special provision is made to take care of them. This will be far better not only for the children themselves, but also for the progress of the other children with whom they are now associated. In conclusion, we think, on the evidence from this study, that: First: The systems of promotion generally in vogue in this country are unfair to the child, uneconomic and unscientific; and the use of intelligence tests for promotion should be adopted. Second: Having white and colored children together in the same schools is educationally and socially unwise; separate schools for colored children should therefore be established.
Third: Feeblemindedness should be detected through the use of intelligence tests, and children found to be feebleminded or very nearly so, should be placed in regular institutions, schools, or rooms equipped to take care of them.
Fourth: The Intelligence Quotient should be found for all children, and the subject matter and methods of instruction adapted to the intellectual capacity, rather than the chronological age.
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