The Interrogation Mark
:Author:Margaret C. Brooke, M.A. Executive Officer of the Psychological Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Mark, a lad of eleven summers, was referred to the Psychological Clinic because of failure to pass a grade and for unsatisfactory school conduct.
His social history revealed that he was the youngest of a motherless Jewish family of four. The balance of the family comprised three sisters and an orthodox father. His medical history was negative; conditions at birth and subsequent babyhood normal. At the time of our contact, he was repeating fifth grade work and incidentally making life miserable for his teacher and principal. The psychological examination resulted in a visual memory span of seven digits; auditory, six, with seven digits on two repetitions. Mark’s mental age was twelve years, eleven months, and his Intelligence Quotient 115. On the performance tests, he demonstrated adequate discrimination, planfulness, and good trainability. The diagnosis was “normal mentality, slightly superior,” and it was recommended that the boy be given clinic teaching with strict discipline at home and school, with sufficient outside interests to occupy his spare time and attention.
A school visit followed the psychological examination and a consultation held with the school principal. He complained that Mark “hasn’t himself under control and does not concentrate.” Although not willing to label Mark as stupid, it was yet evident that he was unwilling to admit the presence of any superior traits. The boy’s grades for the previous school year had been “6’s” almost entirely, and consequently the school was loathe to promote him. However, the father made such a strong plea in behalf of his ?wn son it was decided to grant him a trial in the sixth grade. The work was so unsatisfactory that, at the end of the first month, he was demoted.
Permission was obtained from the principal for Mark’s early dismissal from school once weekly so that he could report to the Clinic for diagnostic teaching. He had come regularly for his special instruction for six weeks when the opportunity came to give him more intensive work three hours daily. Having demonstrated such a real interest in the weekly sessions, arrangements were again made with the home and school whereby he was allowed to report daily to the Clinic for these periods of instruction, severing completely, but temporarily, his public school contacts. For three months, Mark came regularly from nine until twelve, and during the last month, returned three afternoons weekly for additional work in arithmetic. Daily instruction was given him in history, arithmetic, English, and civics.
Three months after his first examination, a re-examination showed an auditory and visual memory span of eight, occasionally nine, probably directly referable to his improved methods of approach. Mark never failed to accomplish well all material labeled sixth grade work, but would lose interest and fail miserably if told ‘’ now this is fifth grade work.’’ If fifth grade material were camouflaged as sixth, he never failed to put forth his best efforts. His “goal idea” was to satisfy the requirements for entrance into seventh grade. This program would enable him to enter Junior High School in a new environment, with a different school personnel, unacquainted with his past history. Anything short of this plan would necessitate enrollment in his old school under what to him was highly undesirable supervision.
To read this report casually, one might be led to believe that the program arranged in behalf of this boy was an easy one, but its drawbacks were many and inexhaustible patience and tact were required to push it to a successful conclusion. For example, Mark learned rules readily and had a working knowledge of them, but was always in too great a hurry for their correct application, and his atrocious spelling and penmanship added further difficulties. He preferred to take a chance on a guess or inspiration. Failure never seemed to discourage him for he persisted in the desire for speed versus accuracy.
Another problem in dealing with Mark was his habit of falsifying, but his clinic teachers stressed the fact that he would always gain more by an honest reply than by ‘’ gilt edged’’ excuses, tinged by the marks of falsehood. After putting this theory into actual practice, there was a noticeable improvement. For instance, if he said, “Yes, I studied the lesson well but must have forgotten it,” he was far more likely to be penalized than when he said, “No, I didn’t study it much.” His teachers were fairly safe on this point for when he had studied, he did not forget. Alibis and falsehoods had become an integral trait of Mark’s makeup, and stubbornly resisted remedial measures. This boy displayed good power of retention, and memorized readily. He could learn a poem of considerable length from one day to the next, and declame it clearly and well, and then without warning, repeat it in four or five days. His poor work in reading was partly attributable to the habit of skipping and skimming over new or difficult words. In the Clinic, reading slowly, clearly and with expression, was emphasized on every occasion and his increased vocabulary and greater comprehension of material read, bore overwhelming evidence of the expediency of the methods. The whole day for Mark seemed to be oriented by the word “hurry,” for he hurried through reading assignments, calling a word almost anything in his urge to finish. He hurried so with Work to be copied from the board he misspelled or failed to finish Writing many of them. In arithmetic, if the answer were apparent, he had to be urged to complete the solution.
It is not hard to picture an over-active, alert boy with these liabilities and assets making a complete failure in a group of fifty, nor does it take much imagination to picture the disciplinary problems facing the teacher of such a boy in a large class. Before school closed in June, at a conference of his clinic teachers, it. was felt that Mark could undoubtedly enter seventh grade, but whether he could do the work satisfactorily depended not on ability but attitude, and it remained to be demonstrated whether his correctional guidance and academic work had progressed pari passu. Consequently, a worker from the Clinic arranged a conference with his former school principal and then with the Junior High School principal. At the latter conference, the fact that he was a behavior problem was not concealed, nor the information that he had been referred to the Clinic because of nonconformed behavior. He was told that the consensus of opinion was that Mark’s chief trouble was carelessness, resulting in inaccurate and incomplete work. The Clinic could report definitely that he had the ability to satisfy seventh grade academic requirements and also that it was thought highly advisable to give him the opportunity of proving this by granting him the privilege of a trial in the new school in the higher grade. The permission was given and Mark left town with his family knowing what was facing him in the Fall. The Clinic next heard of him in September when his sister reported his regular attendance of three weeks in the new school plus the fact that he was monitor and librarian for his class. About one week later, Mark appeared in person, displaying his first report and his very expression, his eyes dancing and the broad grin, were indicative of success.
In spite of the fact that academic requirements were demanded, in this case the real issue was one of correctional guidance and that was the motive underlying the entire program outlined for him. From the first contact it was apparent, to an experienced eye, that Mark’s mental equipment was entirely satisfactory if directed properly and wisely, but that success or failure rested primarily on tact along these lines. It was, of course, impressed upon Mark that academic progress was the outstanding need. Undoubtedly the real advantage in coming to the Clinic lay in the fact that there were no group contacts, making significant behavior departures impossible and likewise making it easier to outline and regulate a clinic program. By stimulating his interest in improving his work and demonstrating to him that it could be done, by applying himself with little extra effort, his interest was challenged so that when he again functioned with the group he had no time to waste if he wished to maintain a passing grade with the advanced class. So without arousing suspicion, the outstanding liabilities were eclipsed by the constructive use of his potential assets. This is no easy task for the teacher of a large group, but it is worth the serious consideration of school authorities in dealing with disciplinary cases, shirking studies and leaving school prematurely when they have the mental endowment for satisfactory progress.
The visiting teacher has done much to bring about friendly relations between the home and the school, but there is still much to be desired in cases where the home is cooperative but the school is so congested that it cannot cope with the many Marks. It all rests on a question of value; that is, whether such cases shall be salvaged to the point of maximum efficiency or allowed to drift in favor of the majority who conform. Rapid strides have been made for the special education of the atypical child, and more and more interest is being manifested in giving the superior child opportunities for rapid advancement, but the field is still fertile for children affiliated with large groups, who need correctional guidance prior or secondary to academic studies.
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.