The Problem of the Special Class
- Author:
Winifred B. Stewart, A.B.,
University of Pennsylvania.
It is only in the last few years that the special class has had a part in the system of public instruction in Philadelphia. Before its advent the regular classes were clogged with children who, either because of mental retardation or environmental causes, were unable to compete on the same basis with the normal children in the class. This situation was ameliorated to a great degree by the special class which has served to rid the regular classes of the retarded children. It is, however, a question in the minds of all whether the special class has really been a solution of the problem. Up until the present time the special class has merely removed the impediment from the regular class without offering the backward child anything better than a place of detention until it is time for him to go to work. It seems that the true function of the special class is to prepare the mentally normal but backward child to go back into a regular grade. The most prevalent situation up until the present time has been that the backward, feebleminded and discipline cases are all in the same class, with the result that the backward and discipline cases are kept down to the level of the feebleminded. The teacher, because of her many and varied responsibilities, is unable to give sufficient time to the reclamation of the only hopeful material in her class, so occupied is she with keeping the feebleminded busy and the discipline cases out of trouble.
During the spring of 1922, three students from the Psychological Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania tested the pupils in the special class of the Schaeffer school. The results of this examination I should say, give a very typical picture of the majority of special classes in this city. In this class one teacher has eighteen children ranging in grade competency from below first to fifth and in age from nine to seventeen. She teaches these children all school subjects according to their needs as well as the very necessary manual training.
Of these eighteen, eight have been diagnosed as feebleminded by the Psychological Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania. Of these, two are idio-imbeciles, one of mongoloid type; four are low grade imbeciles. One is a middle grade imbecile and one a high grade imbecile on the intellectual scale. Of the ten not diagnosed in the clinic, one has just been sent to the House of Detention, a moral imbecile, four are very doubtful cases, whom I would diagnose as feebleminded on the basis of our examination, and five apparently - mentally normal children.
As to the grade competency level of these children, three are not of first grade competency, three not of first grade proficiency, six are of first grade proficiency and six varying from second to fifth grade proficiency. These figures are sufficient to show the varied competency of the children in this class.
It might be interesting to consider some of the individuals in the class.
Frank, for instance, is a typical adolescent. A lanky, overgrown boy of sixteen. He has been in the 0. B. class for several years. He was a bad boy and his teachers just let him sit until finally he was put into the special class. He might have worked back into grade long ago, but he didn’t want to, as he had a bad reputation with the teachers. His early bad behavior may be ascribed to very poor home conditions. His I. Q. is 80.4 and he has seventh grade competency in reading and fifth grade proficiency in arithmetic.
Contrast to him Edward, who is nine and a half, diagnosed as an idio-imbecile of three year performance level whom his teacher must watch continually lest he hit some other child in one of his violent fits of temper.
It is easy to see how Frank’s progress is retarded by Edward. Indeed, Frank was reading in the first reader until I put a seventh reader in his hands and found that he could read and understand it. He has to sit idle in his seat many moments when children like Edward are causing a disturbance. It is beyond the scope of any teacher’s capabilities to do justice to all the grades of intelligence in her class. Unfortunately there are only four of Frank’s type to eight of Edward’s. It seems only just that all of the hopeless cases be sacrificed for four hopeful ones, for it is for the hopeful, but retarded ones that these classes were instituted. The question of what is to be done with the hopelessly feebleminded child has not yet been settled. There are insufficient institutions to care for the feebleminded and perhaps it is better that the 0. B. class be burdened with these than that they run the streets.
From the consideration of these facts, we are forced to conclude that although the special class in a school may ameliorate the condition of the other classes in the school, by removing all the undesirables, yet it is hardly fair to the individual child in the special class if he does not happen to be feebleminded. The only solution to the problem is the O. B. school. I am particularly interested in the work of the John Hancock annex, as this school handles the problem of bringing the child up to grade standard very admirably.
In the first place, there are no feebleminded children in the regular classes. All of the lower grade children are isolated in two separate class rooms where they are taught how to do useful things. All the other children are graded according to their grade proficiency and are given the special training that will eventually pull them up to grade. The work, except for those two groups of very low grade children, is departmental, each teacher specializing in one or two subjects of instruction. This system gives her ample opportunity to study special methods of presenting her work. This method, I think, is also very good for the child, as it gives him opportunity to move around after each period, thus avoiding undue inattention and restlessness so common to that type child. The manual training department in this school is excellent and the children are taught to do very fine work in basket making, weaving, etc. Each child, too, is taught to sew and cook, some little boys being able to make darns far superior to mine. Not by any means least important is the gym work. These children march and do calisthenics almost as well as normal children and their interest in games is quite delightful. Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the school is the excellent order maintained by the teachers in all departments. Most of these children are eventually worked back to normal grade, and those who are hopeless are pushed down into the two low grade classes. I do not think that it is necessary to point out the superiority of this system over the other. The special class in the public school has been relatively successful considering its limitations and it will continue to handle the problem of the deficient child until adequate funds and space are furnished to provide separate schools for special education.
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