The Continuation Girl
- Author:
Elmira Lodor, M.A.,
Kensington High School, Philadelphia.
With the enactment of the law stipulating that minors between the ages of fourteen and sixteen who are employed must attend school for the equivalent of not less than eight hours each week, there was introduced into the school population of Philadelphia a group of students who have brought with them, in addition to those problems arising directly from the fact that their unit of school work is not five days but only one, questions of adjustment much more difficult of solution. These so-called “continuation” pupils appear to differ from the other students not only in their attitude toward school life in general, but also in their approach to any specific school work. Since this differentiation is reported by the teachers in charge of these pupils, it becomes the obligation of the school to investigate whether or not these reported differences are fundamental in character or whether they grow out of hastily drawn generalizations, resulting from the superficial observations of the teacher who, accustomed to the more easily aroused responses of the full-time pupil, views somewhat askance the relatively unresponsive attitude of this newcomer into the school community. If the result of such an investigation points to the presence of differences in those competencies, the existence of which is postulated in the successful performance of school work, and not to differences in efficiencies growing out of unlike training, then the question of school adjustment resolves itself into an inquiry as to what should be the special opportunities offered to these children, whereby the eight hours a week may come to mean the fullest equipment toward an efficient citizenship. These problems confronting all of the Philadelphia high schools were especially pressing in the Kensington High School for Girls because of its location among the mills and factories of a large textile district. The neighborhood offers peculiarly easy access to industry, to the boys and girls of the community; hence there is a relatively large loss from full school work when the age of fourteen is reached.
Because of these facts a preliminary survey of the first year pupils in both the regular full-time classes and in the continuation classes was carried on in the Kensington High School during 1918, in an attempt to find some answer to the questions arising from the presence of the continuation student. As a result of this study a more extended survey of the freshman girls in the two groups is in process during the present year. While it is impossible to present as yet all of the data gathered, nevertheless some of the findings seem to be sufficiently suggestive to warrant their immediate statement, in the hope that they may prove provocative of other investigations tending toward a better understanding of the particular needs of these students.
Any attempt to evaluate the competencies and efficiencies of a group of school children must include not merely an analysis of the individuals as members of the school community, but must consider also the social environment outside of the schoolroom. Obviously the first question to present itself in an analytic study of the continuation girl is, therefore, that of the social stratification of the district involved. Are these continuation pupils to be explained in terms of inherent incapacity for school work as that work is generally presented, or are they workers because of economic necessity alone? Although in the study of the students in the Kensington High School it was impossible to visit all of the homes of all of the girls, a general knowledge of the social and economic condition of the neighborhood was available. This was supplemented by information obtained in part from a questionnaire sent to the home of each student and in part from personal interviews with the students. From these sources the following conclusions were drawn. The community in which the school is located is a homogeneous one from the social point of view. The girls in both the full-time and in the continuation classes are the daughters of shop keepers, tradesmen, artisans, mill operatives, etc. There are few of either the laboring or of the professional classes represented. This similarity in standards is also reflected in the fact that of the older brothers and sisters of the girls in both groups a very small number completed the eighth grade of the elementary schools, and less than one-half of one per cent had attended high school classes.
There is a difference in the size of the families of the two groups. This may be a contributing cause to a difference in economic pressure which may have forced the one group into industry. The average number of children in the families of the full-time students is found to be three, whereas the average number of children in the families of the continuation girls is four.
Racially there is little heterogeneity in the families studied. There are neither Negroes nor Mongolians in the group. The percentage of Jewish girls also is small. These facts are of significance, since they seem to indicate that any differences between the regular full-time students and the continuation pupils are not to be accounted for by marked differences in environment or heredity in so far as that may be determined by a knowledge of race and economic status. The conclusion in regard to the similarity in environment is supported by the results of an examination of the records relating to the place of birth of the students and of their parents. Of 197 regular pupils, 97 per cent are native born, 80 per cent having been born in Philadelphia; and of 125 continuation pupils, 94 per cent are native born, 86 per cent have been born in Philadelphia. The records of the birthplace of the parents of these girls show that 67 per cent of the fathers and 68 per cent of the mothers of the regular students are native born, while 56 per cent of the fathers and 53 per cent of the mothers of the continuation girls are native born. There is a slightly larger number of foreign-born parents among the continuation group, but it must not be forgotten that very few of these families have lived a shorter time in the United States than fifteen or sixteen years. Furthermore, as the records show, 86 per cent of the families of the continuation girls have been in Philadelphia during the entire life time of the girls examined.
The fact that so many of the girls in both groups have lived in Philadelphia during all of their lives suggests that any differences to be found are probably not due to differences in elementary school training. According to the law, all of the girls must complete the first six years of the elementary school before they are permitted to become continuation pupils. A very small number of the continuation girls examined?less than ten out of the whole number?had dropped out of the regular classes in the seventh grade. About ninety per cent of these girls had completed at least the first half of the eighth grade before going to work. Since this is true, the preliminary training of the two groups of girls when they entered the ninth grade, i. e., the first year of high school, was not sufficiently dissimilar to carry any weight in the interpretation of results. There is a difference between the two groups so far as age distribution is concerned. The regular group includes a few thirteenyear-old girls and a still smaller number of girls sixteen years of age in addition to the large number of fourteen- and fifteen-year-old girls. Since the law of Pennsylvania permits continuation work between the fourteenth and sixteenth birthdays only, there are no girls in this group except those of fourteen and fifteen years. If differences are found in the performance levels of the two groups, they may perhaps be accounted for by this difference in age distribution. If, however, and this seems to be true, the differences persist when a comparison of the same age groups is made, then, obviously, chronological age is not the basic factor in producing the dissimilarities of the two groups.
Since there seems to be little or no indication of social or economic differentiation nor wide variations in preliminary training by means of which any pronounced differences in school performance might be explained, the next point of attack on the problem of the dissimilarity of the two groups was made by means of tests, some of which were given individually, some as group tests.
The following tests were selected, not with any thought that they form an infallible index of the mental status of the performers, but merely in the hope that they are sufficiently diversified to furnish some clue to a possible analysis of differentiation of competencies. I. The Witmer Formboard Test.
This test was given individually in a room in which no one was present except the student and the examiner. The method employed was that described by Young.1 The time for the completion of each of the three trials was noted and the degree of general planfulness displayed was scored. The median time score of the regular students on the first trial was 20 seconds, on the second trial, 16 seconds and on the third trial 12 seconds; while the median scores of the continuation students for the three trials were 22 seconds, 18 seconds and 15 seconds. A rating for the planfulness displayed in the performance was given on a three-point scale, viz., good, fair and poor. Of the regular students, 55 per cent received the rating of good, 15 per cent fair, 30 per cent poor, while the records of the continuation students show 50 per cent with a rating of good, 5 per cent fair, 45 per cent poor. A priori there might have been the thought that probably the best performance of the formboard test would be found among the continuation girls. That this is not true is shown by the results, although these results do not indicate any decided difference between the two groups. Because of the relatively simple character of this test it is not being used in the present survey.
The Witmer Cylinders Test.
This test was also an individual performance. The method used was that standardized by Paschall. The test was rated according to the number of seconds necessary for the placing of the cylinders. The median score of the regular students on the first trial was 73 seconds, on the second trial 55 seconds and on the third trial 45 seconds. The scores of the continuation girls for the three trials were 67 seconds, 49 seconds, and 45 seconds. There is a slightly i The Witmer Formboard, Psychological Clinic, June, 1916. greater speed on the part of the continuation girls than that shown by the regular students. Whether this is to be explained as the result of greater competency and prompter adaptation to this particular stimulus or whether it is the outcome of a greater familiarity with the handling of material is open to question. As the two groups reach the same level of performance on the third trial, the latter explanation may prove to be true. The results of the test suggested its repetition. This is being carried on in the present investigation. The same method is being followed for the first trial. Out of 97 regular students taking this test, none failed, but out of 56 continuation students, 2 were unable to complete the test. The median time for the performance was 71 seconds for the regular group and 72 seconds for the continuation pupils, consequently so far as the first trial is concerned there is no difference between the two groups in the second study.
Memory Span for Digits.
This test was given individually according to the method standardized by H. J. Humpstone. The test included three parts: (a) determination of the memory span as evidenced by a repetition in the order presented of the greatest number of digits possible to repeat without error; (b) the memorizing by means of successive presentations, of a group of digits of the next higher series to the memory span; (c) determination of the memory span as evidenced by a repetiton in the reverse order to that in which they were presented, of the greatest number of digits possible to repeat without error. For 121 regular students (records of 1918 and of 1920) the average number of digits in the forward repetition was 6.42, with a mean variation of .86; while for 129 continuation students, the average number of digits was 5.96, with a mean variation of .76. The average number of trials necessary to learn the next higher series was 5.03 for the regular students and 5.63 for the continuation pupils. In the reverse order of repetition, the average number of digits correctly given by the regular students was 4.78, with a mean variation of .80, and for the continuation girls, the average number was 4.66, with a mean variation of .94. IV. Memory Span for Syllables. In 1920 the memory span for digits is being followed by a similar test in which the material presented to the student is a graded series of sentences in which each sentence contains one more sylable than the preceding sentence. The average number of syllables correctly repeated by 88 regular pupils was 21, with a mean variation of 2.00; and the average for 60 continuation students was 19.61, with a mean variation of 2.50. If associability and memory are indexed by these tests and if they play an important part in school performance, does this slight but constant inferiority both in the memory span for digits and in the memory span for syllables on the part of the continuation group indicate that the lack of interest in school which many of these girls frankly confess is due to an inherent incapacity for the easy performance of the usual school work? V. Ball and Field Test.1
This test was given as a group test in November, 1917, with the result that a surprisingly large number of girls failed, viz., 77 per cent out of 177 regular students and 89 per cent of 104 continuation pupils. Inquiry among the girls revealed the fact that the word field carried no meaning for the greater number of them. To determine whether or not this lack of familiarity with the meaning of the word field influenced the results, the following directions were substituted in 1918 for the original ones:
This is a big empty lot. In it you have lost a little ball. You do not know exactly where. You only know that it is lost somewhere in the lot. Take the pencil and mark the path you would follow in order to be sure to find the ball. Begin here (indicating the gap in the circle) and show me what path you would take. Following the same method of rating as that used in 1917, viz., scoring all attempts not superior as failures, the results of the test with the modified directions show that 39.36 per cent of the regular students failed and 75.75 per cent of the continuation students. Using Terman’s method of scoring gives the following results: Of the regular students, 21.21 per cent were scored as failures, 18.15 per cent as inferior; of the continuation students 54.54 per cent were scored as failures and 21.21 per cent as inferior. While the change in the directions resulted in a general improvement in the performance of the test, there is no lessening of the difference shown by the two groups. This difference is also being displayed by the girls in 1920. There is so marked a dissimilarity between the two groups that we question whether this is an indication of a difference in imageability or a difference in comprehension of the directions. 1 Terman’s test from the Stanford revision, placed at ageB VIII and XII.
VI. Hard Directions Test. The material used in this test was Wood worth and Wells Hard Directions Test. It was given both in 1918 and in 1920 as a group test according to the following method. The leaflets were distributed face down to an entire class. The students were instructed to wait for a given signal and when this signal was given they were to turn the sheets over and to follow the printed directions exactly. At a second signal they were told to stop work, even though the test had not been completed. This method, of course, eliminates individual time differences, but it makes possible a scoring in regard to ability to finish the task within a specified time. The papers were scored according to the number of errors made, an error being either an omission or an incorrect insertion. In the case of the incomplete or unfinished papers, the blanks not filled out after the last insertion were counted as errors. By this method the greatest possible number of errors is twenty-three.
Hard Directions Test. Regulars, 1918 Continuation, 1918.. Regulars, 1920 Continuation, 1920.. Time 5 min. 5 ” 3 min. 3 ” No. of Cases 62 62 268 215 % Complete 90.47 72.58 68.28 55.34 Errors Mean 2.6 4.8 4.28 6.66 M. V. 1.8 3.7 3.88 3.06
With the reduction in time from five to three minutes, the regular students were able to perform the test, so far as the number of errors is concerned, as successfully as were the continuation girls in the longer period. Did the two groups differ in the length and kind of school life, these differences in the performance of the directions test might be accounted for by a difference in familiarity with printed instructions. The two groups are so similar in their school history that some other explanation must be sought to determine why the continuation girls are unable to complete the test as successfully as do the regular students.
Vocabulary Test.
The list of words used in this test is the list printed in the record booklet of the Termain revision. The test was given individually, following the ball and field test. Each student was provided with a printed copy of the entire list of 100 words, also a blank paper to cover the list. She was directed to fix the cover sheet so that she uncovers one word at a time down the list. The examiner was also provided with a list. The student was instructed to pronounce the words as she uncovered them and to tell what each word means. She was told to say, “I do not know,” when she read a word, the meaning of which was unfamiliar to her. The examiner wrote on her copy of the list the replies of the student. In scoring, the time of each pupil was recorded, the total number of correct definitions and the entire vocabulary, found by multiplying the number of words defined correctly by 180, were also recorded. These summaries follow:
Total Estimated Vocabulary. No. of Cases Minimum Maximum Median Regulars Continuation. 30 29 2970 1800 9090 7600 6172 4320
For this vocabulary test there has been substituted in 1920 a range of information test which consists of a series of one hundred words. This test was given as a group test to all of the regular students simultaneously in one forty-five-minute period, and to the continuation girls in three smaller groups during the same week. Each of these groups also was limited to a forty-five-minute period for the performance of the test. The printed lists of words were distributed to the pupils, who were asked to write the meaning of the words in their appropriate spaces. The papers were scored according to the following method: a value of 3 was given for each correct definition, 2 for each explanation, 1 for each answer which simpty indicated familiarity with the word.
Range op Information Te3T. No. Tested Age Score. Min. Max. Mean. M. V. Regular. Continuation. 36 77 40 7 48 61 13 14 15 16 14 15 20 18 14 20 150 104 81 54 85 109 55.16 45.12 41.75 38.57 33.25 30.24 13.08 14.50 14.05 8.14 12.54 14.11
Like the vocabulary test, this range of information test demonstrates the difference between the two groups so far as scope of interest is concerned, as well as the difference in ability to use language as a tool.
From a consideration of the results of all of these tests it seems reasonable to conclude that there is a demonstrable difference between the two groups of girls studied. The continuation girls have dropped out of school life, not only because of the lure of the job, but also because the school has failed or possibly has been unable to develop in both groups of girls an equal educability in the intellectual operations required of them in the high school curriculum. Whatever may be the ultimate explanation of this differentiation, it is evident that a curriculum not inferior in quality but different in content and method of presentation should be formulated for the continuation student.
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