One Hundred Non-Conformed Boys
The Psychological Clinic Copyright, 1926, by Lightner Witnufr, Editor Vol. XVI, Nos. 5-6. / May-June, 1925 :Author: Selinda McCaulley, B.S.
In the most ancient records there is a history of individuals who have refused to conform to the standards of behavior that society demands of them. Sometimes their non-conformity was beneficial to the race; sometimes the contrary. To the group of non-conformists belong the people who amount to most, and the people who amount to the least?the geniuses and the leaders, the mentally inferior and the criminals. They stand at either extreme of any large group of people. Between the two extremes are those who form the law abiding or conformed group?the group who admire and follow the leaders, and try to suppress the criminals.
Generally speaking, the main difference between the two extreme groups, in the present age, may be measured by the amount of success the members of each group have attained. The nonconformists who have been successful in maintaining their position in society are the leaders; the unsuccessful non-conformists belong to the lower or inferior group. To the latter group belong the delinquents and criminals. It is a generally accepted fact that most members of the latter group begin their career in the pre-adolescent or adolescent period. To one who is interested in studying the problem of delinquency, therefore, it would seem that the logical time to begin such a study would be during this period. Therefore the group chosen for this study consists for the most part of adolescent boys who have been so non-conformed in their behavior that they have forfeited their right to remain in their natural social group. Some responsible, conformed member of society, such as a teacher, a principal, a district superintendent, a probation officer or a judge, had seen fit to remove these non-conformists from their group, and to form a new, special group under strict discipline and special supervision. In Philadelphia these boys attend either the W. A. Lee or the R. H. Lee Public Schools?Disciplinary Centers?or Elliott House, a home for truants and runaways, to which the boys are committed by the Judge of the Juvenile Court. The boys are sent to the disciplinary centers upon the written recommendation of the principal and upon the approval of the district superintendent. There is a great difference of opinion among the various principals as to what sort of offense warrants a removal to one of these schools. At the present time there is no definite standard of ‘’ what is a disciplinary boy.’’ The study of these non-conformed boys was made with several purposes in view:
1. To obtain a better understanding of the individuals who compose this group. 2. To ascertain standard tests which might aid in discovering the individual delinquent. 3. To determine whether some common standards of “what is a disciplinary boy” might be obtained.
In every case an individual examination was given, which required from two to three hours. In order to have a standard of comparison familiar to almost everyone, the starred tests of The Terman Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale were used. From this scale it is possible to obtain a mental age, or, to quote Dr L. Witmer, “a performance age level,” and an intelligence quotient, or an “index of proficiency.” Because a high score in these tests is dependent in a high degree upon language ability, and upon memory span, in the tabulated results special columns were assigned to them in order that light might be thrown upon the I.Q. In addition to this test which is chiefly a test of the individual’s intellectual ability, performance tests were chosen for analysis. The first performance test given was the “Witmer Form Board. Although this test is far below the level of this group, so far as the testing of intelligence is concerned, it is valuable in judging the individual’s performance from the qualitative side. * His powers of recognition, discrimination, distribution of attention, memory, co-ordination, ability to learn, his rate of movement, and his planfulness, are a few of the items observed from the individual’s performance. It was also chosen because there was little possibility that any of the boys would fail on the test. It makes a good introductory test. The boys are not afraid to try it because they know they can succeed. In other words, it forms a good warming-up test. This was followed by the Witmer Cylinder Test. Although again below the level of the majority of the group, in so far as an intelligence test is concerned, it affords an opportunity for observing and judging the performance from the qualitative side. For the same reason, the Healy Construction Test, Form A, was used. In this test, however, the subject’s ability to work out a new solution of a problem is taxed, as the results of the test show; 16% of the entire group failed to solve the test within three minutes. The number of boys failing would have been even greater, had not many of the group already worked with the same test at the House of Detention. In eases where it was known that the boys had previously taken this test, a similar test?the Knox Diamond Test was used. The next test, the Dearborn Form Board 1 C, was a test that none had had before. This really tested their ability to solve new problems. It not only is a good intelligence test for the individual but it is also an excellent test for the use of the examiner. More than almost any other performance test, it gives the examiner an insight into the way the child’s mind works.
Another test which is high in diagnostic value is the Healy Pictorial Completion Test II. The individual’s apperceptive abilities, or his ability correctly to put two and two together is observed. The problem is a visual one, it belongs to the non-language series. It chiefly tests the subject’s ability to observe, to analyze, and to rationalize.
Memory span seems to be fundamentally related to the educational development of the individual. The auditory and visual memory span for digits forward and the reverse span for digits were therefore included in the selection of tests. Proficiency tests in reading and arithmetic were given in order to determine at what grade level the child was able to work efficiently. In addition, the “Woodworth and Wells Written Directions Test #27223, was given to determine the child’s ability to comprehend and to carry out written directions. To obtain further information upon his language ability the Opposites Test, #74051 (Pyles Manual) and the Trabue Language Scale B, were used. At any time during the examination that the opportunity presented itself, an attempt to gain the boy’s story was made. Sometimes during the vocabulary test or the free association test, a chance remark would give the examiner a clue to the past history of the child. The boy was then led on to tell of his home, his family, his friends, his pastimes, his interests, ambitions, and escapades. If such an opportunity did not occur, a few questions as to why he had been sent to this particular school, generally brought forth the required information about his past behavior. The conversation was very informal; no attempt whatever was made to moralize or instruct. After the interview the main facts of his story were verified by the office record of each boy. A general criticism of this method is that the boys do not tell the truth, or the whole truth. In a very few cases such a criticism is justified, but if the examiner is at all experienced, he can usually detect the “embroidered” tale. In the majority of eases, the boys are frank and truthful. Results. The results can best be presented in tabular terms:
Name Chronological Age Yr. Mo Mental Age Yr. Mo. I.Q. Formboard (sees.) Cylinders (sees.) first al best rial first trial best trial Healy Construction A (sees.) first trial best trial Dearborn I.C. (sees.) first trial trial Healy Pic torial Completion II School ProfiMemory Aud. Via. Reverse Voc. Complaint Age Level 1 Alfred S 2 Elmer W. 3 Henry R 4 Philip C 5 Thomas D Walter J Robert W Walter R Bill K 10 Frank M 11 Edwin W 12 Edward G 13 Ralph R 14 Leon B 15 Harry S 16 Jim V 55 42 3.5 71 33 33 45 42 16.5 57.5 48.5 76 47 57.5 27 46.5 46.5 1A Disobedient Truant Truant 8 Truant 10 (Truant | Stealing C Truant j Runaway ‘ Stealing (Truant (Runaway Truant (Truant (Stealing (Truant | Runaway | Truant (Runaway (Truant ( Disobedient 10 Truant 10 (Truant 1 Stealing (Truant ( Runaway (Truant (Runaway ONE HUNDRED NON-CONFORMED BOYS 145 17 Jerry W 11 18 Joe H 19 Russell T 20 Albert W 21 Frank G 22 George L 23 Nathaniel D 24 Leslie G 25 Rob L (Chinese) 26 WillS (Negro) 27 Clement T 28 Sam L 29 Fred P 30 Tom F Funzi D 32 John W (Negro) 33 Edward W 34 Tony A 35 Martin D 36 Horace V 37 Edward K 38 Charles S 39 William F 40 Joe M 11 10 10
85 | 30 24 55 55 | F 6 390 120 10 F F F 2A 2B 6 7 4 10 (Truant I Dependent 74 40 15 90 63 F 13 290 93 19.5 12 4 12 3A 3B 6 6 3 7 (Truant | Runaway 92 26 20 69 60 10 7 308 110 69.5 F F F 3A 3A 5 5 F 10 jStealing (Truant 90 20 16 63 57 15 10 157 43 41.5 17 8 17 5A 5A 6 7 4 10 Traunt 97 25 20 63 55 F 5 270 75 32.5 13 8 12 4A 3A 6 7 3 10 Truant 93 33 20 77 50 95 8 173 90 40 17 16 15 5A 5A 5 6 3 12 (Truant ( Dependent 110 32 20 60 52 8 8 160 85 38 20 8 11 3B 3B 5 6 5 12 Tmant 101 18 14 88 38 25 7 65 50 42.5 18 13 18 5A 5A 5 7 4 10 Truant 66 35 23 127 54 F 11 F 180 45 F F F 2A 4B 5 7 4 F (Truant ( Defiant 25 23 78 67 90 8 540 119 74 18 8 15 4B 4B 6 8 4 10 Disobedient 29 21 78 54 39 8 181 169 - 4 F F F IB 2B 6 8 4 8 (Disobedient j Truant ‘ Stealing 33 25 257 75 F 8 F 85 42 F 6 F 2B 2B 6 5 F 8 Truant 15 14 62 42 8 4 55 35 63.5 13 10 15 5A 5A 5 6 3 10 Truant 38 20 71 55 8 5 171 153 50.5 FFF2A3B 5 5 3 8 (Truant 1 Stealing 50 18 58 50 195 8 230 119 56 11 6 F 4A 2B 6 7 F F j Disorderly Disobedient 22 17 55 55 75 8 105 105 37.5 11 8 13 2B 2B 5 6 F 10 (Truant (Mischievous 22 17 55 55 75 8 105 105 37.5 11 8 13 2B 2B 5 6 F 10 Truant 20 17 50 43 25 9 213 83 53.5 18 12 17 5A 5A 5 5 4 8 Truant 16 14 46 46 18 9 59 59 37 20 12 20 5A 5A 8 8 5 14 Truant 28 20 63 62 14 14 F 412 28 15 6 16 4A 3B 6 7 5 10 Truant 20 15 53 53 40 14 296 45 61.5 17 10 18 4A 4A 6 7 5 10 Truant 25 10 45 45 50 8 300 155 42 16 15 19 5A 5A 6 5 4 14 (Truant ( Stealing 29 19 64 63 F 9 339 130 31.5 FFF0 2A4 5 F 8 Truant 17 14 65 40 F 13 333 121 45.5 7 8 13 4A 3A 5 6 F 10 Disobedient 146 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC Name 41 Alec T 42 Bert P 43 Fred T 44 Angelo M 45 Charles T 46 Bill K 47 JohnB (Negro) 48 Jamea B (Negro) 49 Martin H 50 Albert M 51 William F 52 Francis D Joe 0 Sam 0 55 Arthur S 56 Tom V 57 Olin K (Negro) 58 William L 59 Merritt W 60 Alfred G 61 Bill L Chronological Age Yr. Mental Age Mo. 10} I.Q. 105 Formboard first trial 25 30 25 20 31 30 44 23 27 21 19 27 38 33 20 30 20 23 16 15 22 best trial 17 19 19 16 27 16 16 20 Cylinders (sees.) first trial best trial 29 49 31 47 33 52 46 Healy Construction A (sees.) first trial best trial 20 Dearborn I.C. (sees.) first best trial trial 82 121 71 75 65 123 63 155 80 40 60 135 65 194 97 157 Healy Pictorial Completion II 50.6 16 31.5 65 52 57 12 45 50.5 56.5 40.5 51.5 25 64 50 22 54.5 65 63 79.5 78.5 10 ?? School Proficiency Memory Span digits Aud. 5 Vis. Reverse Voc. Complaint Age Level 10 Truant 10 Truant 10 f Truant (Stealing Defiant Truant {Stealing Truant 10 Disobedient 10 (Disobedient | Truant J Truant (Stealing 10 Truant Truant 10 f Truant (Stealing ( Disobedient (Stealing 12 Truant Stealing 14 Defiant Truant 10 fDefiant (Stealing 12 Truant 14 Truant 12 (Truant ( Stealing (Truant ( Disobedient ONE HUNDRED NON-CONFORMED BOYS 147 62 Irvin B 63 Tim H 64 George W 65 John Mc B 66 Jim C George C (Negro) Harry 0 69 Joe C 70 Daniel L 71 John M (Negro) 72 Dominic B 73 William D 74 James L 75 Jack 0 76 BillS 77 Ivan P (Negro) 78 John R 79 Joe A 80 Dominic F 81 William H 82 Ralph M 83 Nicholas G 84 Paul B (Negro) 32 I 31 I 6 6 99 35 59 12 6 15 4A 4A 6 6 3 10 ( Truant (Defiant 40 12 248 70 52.5 20 14 20 4B 4B 6 8 4 10 (Truant (Stealing 105 25 326 60 27 F 6 F IB 3A 4 5 F 8 (Truant (Disobedient 5 15 141 35 46.5 18 9 17 5A 5A 6 6 F 12 Truant 13 13 253 48 86 20 12 17 5A 5A 7 8 5 12 (Truant Stealing (Mischievous 140 10 315 75 44 F 8 2 3A 4B 5 6 4 8 Truant / 18 18 227 95 59 17 8 13 5A 5A 6 7 4 10 J Disobedient (Stealing 11 7 314 116 19 19 8 15 4B 4B 6 7 F 10 (Truant (Stealing 11 7 314 116 19 19 8 15 4B 4B 6 7 F 10 Truant 42 4 157 70 45 17 12 17 4B 4B 6 7 4 12 (Defiant (Disorderly 25 8 117 46 35.5 16 8 9 5A 6A 5 5 F 10 Incorrigible F 8 128 71 41 F 8 16 3A 4A 5 7 5 10 Truant 15 8 237 52 51.5 19 8 12 5A 5A 5 7 5 10 Truant 111 48 68 19 6 12 6A 6A 6 7 4 10 (Truant } Runaway 25 7 266 88 66.5 F F F 1A 2A 3 4 F 10 Truant F 6 210 85 67.5 20 6 20 4B 4B 5 6 F 10 /”Truant < Disobedient (stealing 20 20 225 130 47.5 20 12 19 4A 5A 5 6 5 10 Disobedient 105 6 260 100 59 18 11 15 5A 5A 6 8 6 12 (Truant Disorderly 62 7 225 57 11.5 6 6 13 4B 4B 6 8 4 8 (Truant (Troublesome F 6 373 65 69.5 1 7 12 12 7A 7A 5 6 4 12 Truant F 7 168 168 30 F F F 0 3A 4 5 4 10 Troublesome 30 10 150 70 0 14 12 F 4B 4B 7 8 6 8 (Truant (Defiant 90 8 260 240 65 19 12 15 5A 5A 6 8 5 14 (Defiant Disorderly 148 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC Name 85 Pete P Louia C 87 Jamea L Bob H George H 90 Karl M Bernard M 92 Michael M 93 John S 94 Joe R Geo. P 96 Albert P (Negro) 97 Dominic Ben M Charlea M 100 Leroy J (Negro) Chronological Age Mental Age I.Q. Mo. Formboard (sees.) first trial 26 17 36 21 15 25 best trial 14 16 21 17 12 11 Cylinders (sees.) first trial best trial 35 35 57 47 37 40 Healy Construction A (sees.) first trial beat trial Dearborn I.C. (sees.) first trial 221 135 258 106 114 225 98 173 206 508 best trial Healy Pictorial Completion 55.5 59.5 53.5 42.5 48.5 58.5 49 62.5 17 48 30 34 13.5 53.5 41.5 18.5 10 School Proficiency Memory Voc. Complaint Age digits Level Aud. Via. Reverse 4 10 Troublesome 4 10 Truant F 10 J Truant (Runaway 4 10 Truant 6 14 Disorderly F 12 (Truant “( Runaway ‘ Stealing (Stealing j Truant ^ Disobedient 4 14 J Disobedient (Truant 5 10 J Disorderly (Truant 4 10 J Disobedient (Truant 4 12 JTruant (Defiant 3 10 J Truant 1 Defiant 4 8 J Truant (Defiant 5 12 J Disagreeable IImpudent 4 10 Truant F 10 Defiant
Discussion
Binet-Simon Tests:
The value of the Binet-Simon Scale as a standardized test and as a convenient standard of comparison must be fully acknowledged. From the qualitative viewpoint the test is a valuable one. It is only when one adheres rigidly to the quantitative viewpoint? to the so called mental age and the I.Q.?that the test becomes almost a menace in the hands of some examiners. If one were to take Terman’s statement that any individual who has an I.Q. below 70 is definitely feeble-minded, as absolutely invulnerable, and therefore were to brand everyone with such an I.Q. as feeble-minded, many injustices would be done. The fact that these tests measure intellect far more than they measure intelligence cannot be too much stressed.
J. E. Wallace Wallin, in his book Problems of Subnomiality* puts the case very clearly:
The limit of feeblemindedness is not determined primarily by the mere fact of the accuracy of a measuring scale of intelligence, but by social criteria: the degree of intelligence required by a person to make his living and to conform to the laws and conventions of the social milieu in which he finds himself. But a person’s social and industrial competency is by no means solely dependent upon his degree of intelligence, or mental development. Nevertheless, in so far as it is dependent upon ‘’mental age,” the minimum mental age level requisite to the minimum socio-industrial competency needed for acceptable participation in the activities of the community, can only be determined by practical socio-industrial tests, that is, by criteria external to the measuring scale of intelligence itself where shall we place the upper boundary of feeblemindedness? Personally I have been quite dubious of the propriety of attempting to draw an inflexible line at any fixed age, because a degree of mental enfeeblement which might be regarded as feeblemindedness in one person, might possibly be regarded with equal propriety, only as backwardness or borderlinity in another person. The diagnosis would depend more or less upon attendant complications.”
Case #100 of the present study illustrates this point. Le Roy, fittingly nicknamed “Sleepy,” is a large colored boy who recently came from South Carolina. Of the entire group he has the lowest I.Q. and the only I.Q. below 60. With a chronological age of 16 years and 2 months, and a mental age of 9 years, 2 months, his I.Q. is 57. Before he came North, he attended school a very short time. Most of the time he had worked as a farm hand. At the present time he is able to do 4 B school work?or in other words, he is able to read and to comprehend simple material, and to cipher enough to manage his own money transactions. After school he earns money by selling newspapers. During last summer’s vacation he worked as a helper on a laundry truck. He earned twenty dollars a week. He learned to drive the truck, and his work was so satisfactory that his former employer is willing to hire him as a regular driver when he leaves school. He will receive a regular salary and a commission on new customers besides. It is possible for regular drivers to make from fifty to one hundred dollars a week. It therefore is evident that he will have no trouble to make a living. What about his social conformity? Le Roy’s past record shows that he played truant and was impudent and defiant. When one considers what the life of a strapping big negro boy must have been in a regular 4 A grade, one cannot wonder that he misbehaved or played truant. His present school record is a satisfactory one. There is no evidence that he will become an undesirable member of society. Therefore, even though his I.Q. is considerably below 70 there is no reason why he should be called feeble-minded.
On the other hand, six of the boys who have I.Q.’s ranging between 90 and 100, and who would therefore fall in the normal or average intelligence group, are so emotionally unstable, so easily led, and so suggestible that they cannot be considered socially normal.
The I.Q. must be weighted with many other factors?emotional stability, social conformity, habits of industry and so forth, before any diagnosis of normality or feeblemindedness can be fairly made. It is not always the individual with the highest I.Q. who is the best member of society. Consider the following two cases: Harry has an I.Q. of 106. He does well on all performance tests and is in the proper grade for his age. On the other hand, he has a fiery temper which he is utterly unable to control, he is moody, sulky, difficult to manage, and constantly at war with everyone in his environment. He never will become as desirable a member of society as Bill?a boy with an I.Q. of 76?a much duller boy, but a much more stable one, a boy capable of entering life’s competition and of succeeding well enough to become a selfsupporting, stolid member of society. Terman* states that mental deficiency plays a “fearful role in the production of vice, crime and delinquency,” explaining that ‘’ when the adult body, with its adult instincts, is coupled with the undeveloped intelligence and weak inhibitory powers of a ten-yearold child, the only possible outcome, except in those cases where constant guardianship is exercised by relatives or friends, is some form of delinquency.”
Simon, in an address delivered before the Eugenics Educational Society, defined a feebleminded person (debile) as “an individual whose intellectual level, while superior to that of a child of seven years, is nevertheless below the average development of an adult. The latter degree of development …. is still inadequately determined. Provisionally it might be proposed to fix at nine years the upper limit of mental debility …. a development equivalent to the normal average at nine years of age is the minimum below which the individual is capable of getting along without tutelage in the conditions of modern life. …”
The explanation of delinquent tendencies is something other than intellectual status alone. It is true that we find among the murderers, robbers, and thieves (who have been apprehended) mental ages as low as ten years, but on the other hand, we find men of the same mental level among the successful farmers, laborers or even business men.
A study of the I.Q.’s of these delinquent boys shows that they range from 57 to 117. Even using the strict Terman Classification, 16% fall in the definitely feebleminded group, 26% in the doubtful or borderline group, 24% in the dull group, 32% in the normal group, and 2% in the superior group. Although the larger part of the group fall in the dull or borderline sections, this fact alone, does not explain their non-conformed behavior. In contrast to this group are the many groups of backward children who are in the Philadelphia Public Schools, in “O.B.” Centers. Here we have groups of dull children who can and do follow the standards of behavior set up for them. In choosing a satisfactory standard for comparison purposes, Dr R. Learning’s study** of the fifteen-year-old performance level * Terman, The Measurement of Intelligence, Chapter I. **” Tests and Norms for Vocational Guidance at the Fifteen-year-old Performance Level,” The Psychological Clinic, Vol. XIV, No. 7, Dec. 1922.
seems a satisfactory one, particularly her norms for the “jobhunting” and “job-holding” groups, for many of the boys in the present study are part of such a group. (Boys over fourteen years of age may hold part-time working certificates, which entitle them to attend school during the morning and to work durng the afternoon and on Saturday). Other boys work after school which dismisses at two-thirty). In the job-hunting group the I.Q. range from 50 to 117, with a median I.Q. of 88. In the job-holding group the I.Q.’s range from 60 to 119, with a median I.Q. of 95. In the group under consideration the I.Q.’s range from 57 to 117, with a median I.Q. of 84. So far as the I.Q.’s are concerned, the latter group fits in well with the two former ones, and in studying the norms for the performance tests, it also seems fair to compare them with this group. A study of the memory span results show that for the auditory memory span, the median and the mode are 6 digits. In the visual memory span the median and the mode are 7 digits. While this is one digit less, in both cases, than that of the job-hunters and jobholders, it is nevertheless an adequate forward span, since it was concluded from results obtained at the Psychological Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania, that an auditory and visual memory span of at least 5 digits, at the 15-year-old level, is necessary to maintain a place as a normal member of society.
A study of the results of the reverse memory span are most interesting; of the entire group, 6% were able to reverse 6 digits, 16% could reverse 5 digits, 38% could reverse 4 digits, 13% succeeded in reversing only 3 digits, and 26% could reverse only 2 digits. It would therefore seem that this group as a whole, lack that sort of mental control which correlates highly with intellectual ability.
Another test in which the group as a whole did poorly was the vocabulary test. Only 14% of the entire group were able to pass the test at their age level, while 34% of the boys passed the test 5 or more years below their age level. This failure, together with their failure to give digits in reverse order explain why many boys failed to obtain higher I.Q.’s. Performance Tests:
The performance tests on the other hand afford a good opportunity for observation of the individual’s intelligence. Whether the test actually presents a new problem for the individual to solve, or not, it enables the examiner to study the subject’s behavior under certain uniform conditions. From his performance he is able to rate his comprehension, his rate of movement, his muscular coordination, his ability to plan, his learning ability, his ability to analyze and to form deductions, his initiative, his alertness, his power to observe, and so on.
F orm Board:
A comparison of the completion time results of the present group with the 15-year-old results obtained by Young,* show that only 36% of the group fall in the best 50% of his group. Only 4% were able to do as well as the upper 10% of this group while 25% did work comparable to that of the lower 10% of his group. A study of the results obtained from the Witmer Cylinders, show that the median is 63,” as compared with 60” for the job hunters, and 55” for the job holders. The entire range is from 32” to 259” plus 2 failures, in comparison with 22” to 236” plus 3 failures, for the job hunters, and 32” to 158” for the job holders. In the Healy Construction Test A, the time ranges from 5” to 195” plus 16 failures, with a median of 40.” The average time to complete the test was 41.1.”
In the Dearborn IC, the time ranges from 55” to 640” plus 4 failures, as compared with a range of 45” to 510” plus 5 failures for the job hunters and 24” to 579” plus 3 failures for the job holders. The median is 225” as compared with 160” for the job hunters and 118” for the job holders.
It will therefore be noticed that the group as a whole require a longer time to complete the tests than either of the other two groups.
Healy Pictorial Completion Test II:
Only 20% of the group passed the test as well as they should have done in order to equal their age norm. Of these 20, 14 made a score equal to the adult norm. In each of the 20 cases the boys Passed with a higher score than that required for their age level. The scores for the entire group range from minus 13.5 to 86. While only a small percentage made many absurd errors, the larger part of the group failed in comprehending the entire situation. For instance, in the first picture, the clock would be placed, but, it would register 4.30 instead of 8.30?the correct time for the boy to be starting to school. This error was not because they could not tell time, but because of an inability to grasp the essential point in the situation.
The results of the Written Directions Test show that there is a high correlation with the boys’ reading proficiency. A study of the results of the Trabue Language Test and the Opposites Test merely emphasize the fact that the majority of these boys have poor vocabularies and poor language ability. On the whole they are a non-intellectual group. They are not interested in abstract subjects because they lack intellectual ability. Most of the boys showed great interest in the performance tests. They showed good persistence in working out the problems involved, which was in great contrast to their work on the written tests. Many of the boys showed good manual ability and are planning, when they leave school, to put this ability to good account. Of the entire group, only 5 boys are in the normal grade for their age, but considering that the majority of the group are chronic truants and runaways, the retardation in school work can be partly explained. In addition to this fact, comparatively few of the boys are genuinely interested in school work. They do not belong to the intellectual group. Even the boys who have reading proficiency rarely read a book of their own initiative. Their interests lie in the street activities. Almost the entire group have enough ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide simple numbers. Those who fail in abstract work have little trouble if their work in arithmetic is presented in terms of dollars and cents.
The majority of these boys are socially well oriented. They have lived most of their life on the street and they excel in street education. In this, they are far superior to other children of their same age, in fact they could give information to many adults. For the most part their non-conformity consists in playing “hookey” and in being defiant of school room authority. Sometimes they are guilty of both offenses. On the whole, seventy boys were considered chronic truants, and thirty were considered impossible to handle in the regular class room. The chronic truants are more or less troublesome when they do attend school. Many of these boys have House of Detention records, chiefly because of poor school attendance. In addition 32 boys have been arrested for malicious mischief and petty thieving. An arrest for any of these ofONE HUNDRED NON-CONFORMED BOYS 155 fenses does not necessitate the boy’s removal to a disciplinary school.
Some of the most interesting of the boys’ stories will be given below in order that the reader may obtain some understanding of the type of boy found in these centers, and of the many reasons for which they were sent.
Karl M., age 15 years, 6 months, has a mental age of 12 years, 2 months, and an I.Q. of 78. Karl is an illegitimate child, who, when a baby, was deserted by his mother. He was taken into the home of his maternal grandparents, who are now quite old and feeble. He grew entirely beyond their control and became a chronic truant and runaway. His dislike of school began when he was teased because of his high pitched voice and a speech defect. He has always been too great a coward to command their respect or to make them stop. Much to his tormentors’ delight, he would fly into ineffectual rages. Unable to cope with the situation he chose the easiest way out?and evaded his tormentors entirely. He was arrested as a runaway and committed to Children’s Aid Society. When taken to a clinic, he escaped from the worker and ran away again.
Karl has gained extensive knowledge of the city on his many wanderings. He has also made friends with many drivers of teams and trucks. He has little difficulty in finding some friend to give him a ride. Some days he chose a milkman. In return for his services the man allowed him as much milk as he wanted to drink. In the same way he obtained bread and rolls from the baker’s man. A travelling salesman of his acquaintance took him on all day trips to New York or to New Jersey towns. Thus Karl always had a pleasant way to spend his time. He remarked that he grew to know the city so well that he used to pick out drivers of automobiles with out of town licenses and offer his services as a guide through the city. In this way he was able to make money.
When no better ways of amusing himself arose, he wandered around the busy down-town section, and made a tour of the department stores?the mecca of almost all truants. In these stores he found ample opportunity for acquiring many trinkets, such as knives, fountain pens and pencils, without ever having had to purchase them. His object in taking them was for his own use; he never tried to sell them.
One day he entered the office of a tailor and succeeded in acquiring a bundle of letters which had just been delivered. He took them to a nearby public lavoratory and systematically went through all of them. In one he obtained a check. This he kept; all the letters he destroyed by throwing them down the toilet. He forged a signature on the check and then went to a bank and attempted to have it cashed. The Teller grew suspicious and phoned to the owner of the check, with the result that Karl was arrested and again taken to the House of Detention.
In consideration of the boy’s past record, and of the fact that he was beyond the control of his grandparents, he was placed in Elliott House. Although he has been under careful supervision for a long time, he cannot yet be trusted. Several times he has broken parole and run away, only to be returned, very repentant, and full of promises to do better the next time.
Karl is a hard child to deal with because of his emotional instability. He really means to do well, but he has not the moral stamina to resist temptation. He is a great coward and will never face any difficult situation if he possibly can avoid it. It had been thought that Karl had developed a feeling of inferiority because of his speech defect, and that his running away was entirely due to this. An attempt was therefore made to correct this defect by definite speech training. Although outwardly cooperative Karl chose his visits to the clinic as an opportunity to run away again, and his speech training had to be deferred. While this defect may have been the cause of his original truancy, he has now acquired such a liking for an easy, care-free existence that it is this, more than the former cause, which now leads him on to his adventures on the road.
In contrast to this case is another one?that of John Mc B.? who also became a truant because of a speech defect which resulted in making him a target of his classmates’ ridicule. John is a very large boy, 14 years, 9 months of age. His mental age is 13 years, 91/2 months and his I.Q. is 94. He is six feet tall and weighs 215 pounds. This excessive weight is due to a pituitary disturbance. Imagine the effect when this man-sized boy begins to talk in a soft voice with a decided lisp! With childish cruelty his classmates made life miserable for him. He is a big, easy-going, sensitive boy, and in his efforts to avoid a painful situation, he too, removed himself from the scenes of his troubles. In this case, howONE HUNDRED NON-CONFORMED BOYS 157 ever, since his mother worked all day in order to earn a living for herself and her two sons, and the house was empty, the boy simply stayed at home and read. After he had been absent 132 sessions, a disciplinary form was made out for him on the basis that he was a chronic truant. He was sent to one of the “O.D.” Centers, where, after some difficulties of the same sort, he was made to feel that the school was definitely interested in him and required his daily attendance. He has given little trouble since he has been at this Center.
Charles P., age 15 years, 10 months, is a dull, normal boy with a mental age of 12 years on the Binet Scale. His I.Q. is 76. His work on the performance tests was excellent. He worked quickly and well, and made few false movements. During the examination he was friendly and cooperative, interested and inquisitive. He was inclined to be a trifle grandiose, but was likeable and rather pathetic. He has good commonsense information; his social orientation is good. He told a straightforward, pathetic story of his home life.
His father, a tailor by trade, is out of work because of poor health. He had a store which he recently sold, and he is now living on the money thus obtained. His step-mother, a gay young woman, is out all the time. According to Charles, ‘’ all she wants is money, money, money. When she doesn’t get it she flies into rages and scratches and hits anyone who happens to be near. She curses “somethin’ awful.” She and his father are constantly fighting. Charles sells papers until two o’clock in the morning. He gives all of the money he makes to his step-mother and does not seem to resent doing this, although he does confess that when he has made a little extra money, which he is sure his mother won’t suspect him to have, he keeps this for himself. Is it any wonder that a boy living in such an atmosphere of strife, and working until so late at night that he does not get his proper sleep, comes to the “O.D.” Center with the record of being disagreeable and impudent in school? Or is it any wonder that when things ‘’ get too bad on his nerves” as he expresses it, that he simply runs away from home for a few days? The wonder is that he doesn’t stay longer. Probably one of the reasons that he does return is his affection for his younger brothers and sisters. He tells with great pride of his younger brother who is in the seventh grade and who hopes to go to high school and then to college. When asked if he thought this were possible, he gravely answered that he thought it was, since he would soon be working and therefore would be able to help “put him through.”
Although Charles is still sullen and morose at times, he is a very likeable fellow. When the teacher has a knowledge of his background she is sympathetic, and when she finds him in an ugly humor, instead of aggravating the situation, she is able to handle it in an intelligent fashion.
The next boy, John M., is an illustration of what happens when problems of discipline are not handled intelligently or sympathetically. John is a small attractive colored boy, 14 years, 11 months old. He came to the Center with the following record?”Struck teacher for reproving him for pushing on the fire-escape?struck at principal; used abusive language?troublesome at times.” John is a normal boy with a mental age of 12 years, 10y2 months, and an I.Q. of 86. On the performance tests he worked quickly, planning his work and making few errors. He showed good ability to analyze. He has excellent initiative and energy. He has a great deal of common sense. His sense of fair play and of justice is very well developed, and it was this that got him into trouble.
The story as he tells it is very interesting because of the decided contrast and chasm between the child’s point of view and that of those in authority. It seems that at dismissal time, while the lines were passing down the fire-escape, and while the teacher’s back was turned, some boy gave John a push. John retaliated in like fashion, only he was caught in the act. He was taken out of line and as soon as dismissal was over, taken to the principal. The principal decided that he deserved a whipping. “Now,” John told me, “I did not mind taking that whipping, only I told her that if she whipped me she had to whip Bill too, ‘cause he pushed me first. Well, she said she didn’t care what Bill did, I pushed, so I had to take a licking. I wasn’t going to let her lick me without licking Bill, so I fought. She got some other teachers to come and hold me, but I fought harder. I got pushed up against the coat hook and got cut on the face. Here’s the scar (pointing to a mark on his cheek, for evidence). What happened next? Why, I got sent down here.’’
Since John has attended the Center he has given very little trouble. He is well liked and has a good record.
His family history is interesting. The mother and father are hard working, thrifty people. The father owns two trucks; one is fixed as a moving lnnch wagon. Every evening the mother and father go to Baldwin’s and to different taxi stands and sell coffee and sandwiches. The other truck is used for moving and hauling. On Fridays the father sells fish from door to door. He also has a large paper route, which the boys help him to handle. All of the children, even the 13-months-old baby, have savings accounts. At the present time John has about fifteen dollars in the bank. His account was slightly depleted since he had just bought a suit, a cap and shoes with his own money.
Bill is another troublesome boy?troublesome because of maladjustment, and misunderstanding. Bill is a cherub-faced boy with a pink and white complexion. He is the sort of boy over whom, at first sight, one is apt to exclaim, “What is this nice little fellow doing down here at the disciplinary school?” When the examiner entered the office Bill was having an interview with the principal, in an effort to explain why he had been away from school without adequate reason. Bill was very sullen and obstinate, and not at all cooperative. One could understand why the record read: “Continued disobedience?stubborn?curses and swears at the teachers?walks out of school?refuses to obey principal.” The point was, why did he behave in this fashion ?
Although 13 years, 11 months old, Bill’s mental age is 10 years, and his I.Q. is 72. A note was made that it was quite possible that this was not a valid I.Q. since it seemed that Bill was not attempting to do his best work. Everytime anything even remotely resembling school work was given to him, one could almost feel him stiffen in his attempt to resist it. When given the performance tests, he worked as if he enjoyed them. He smiled, whistled quietly while working on a difficult problem, and showed good ability to work persistently, so long as his interest was caught. He asked intelligent and interested questions about the tests and seemed to take great satisfaction in his ability to solve them. The one specific defect that he showed was that of poor visual imagery. His auditory imagery was good.
When asked to read some simple material he flushed, then immediately grew sullen, and mumbled that he didn’t want to. The simple material was changed to still simpler material, in fact to that requiring first grade reading proficiency, and he was again urged to read. His eye caught a few familiar words and so he made an attempt?only an attempt however?for he stumbled painfully along. An attempt was made to teach him a few simple phonics, and these were combined with a few simple sight words, in order to form new words. He responded well to such teaching, but was uneasy, and often on the verge of becoming openly hostile. It was only by very careful treatment and by choosing words that it was quite evident he could not fail to sound, that the lesson continued. A mental note was made of his attitude toward reading, and the examination proceeded.
When given arithmetic he fairly beamed, and volunteered the information that he liked arithmetic and he had a nice teacher. She marked your paper every day and the fellow that had the best marks for the whole week got a nickle (five-cent) pencil, with a rubber on the end. He didn’t mind going to that room. Questioning then brought the fact that he did mind going to the room where he was taught reading. He just hated that room. Every day when eleven o’clock came (time for reading) he just felt that he couldn’t go into that room, and so he either ran out of school or came to the office for punishment, rather than go into the reading class.
He is keen enough to realize his deficiency, and attempts to cover this up by his ugly behavior, and refusal to read at all in the hopes that this refusal will be interpreted as a disinclination rather than a disability on his part.
By judicious flattery the principal has begun to win him and he is now allowing himself to be taught how to read. It is a long and difficult process, however, because of Bill’s emotional reaction. Bill repeatedly claimed that he hates school and gives as his reason that he “guesses it’s his enemy.” One wonders whether there is not some truth in this statement, for Bill’s school history is one of successive quarrels with school authorities. He frankly tells of his past difficulties. One day he was playing with a ring which another boy had lent, to him. The ring belonged to the boy’s sister and he had it without her knowledge. As a punishment for playing with it during the wrong time the teacher attempted to take it from him. Bill refused to give it to her because, as he states, it wasn’t his, and he was afraid she wouldn’t give it back and then the boy would get into trouble. To avoid giving it to her he ran out of school. Another time the teacher slapped him and he threw a book at her. There were many similar incidents showing a lack of respect for authority on Bill’s part, and often a lack of tact on the teacher’s part.
Bill is fond of working and after school has a job as a helper on a Bulletin truck. Last summer he earned six dollars a week as a huckster’s helper. He is a member of a gang?The Norris Street Bums?most of whom are older fellows. Their chief pastime seems to be playing craps and stud poker, and in being chased by a policeman. Jim is a typical imp?the sort over whom you laugh heartily if you see him on the screen?but over whom you shake your head in sad perplexity if it falls to your lot to direct him. He is a fairhaired, laughing-eyed, freckled faced boy who simply refuses to take the world seriously. He has good mentality (I.Q. 97). He is active, alert, inquisitive, and mischievous. This added to the fact that he has a well developed sense of humor, explains why he is always up to some trick. He is utterly uninterested in school work, and avoids school as much as possible. There is no one at home to look after him, in fact he is housekeeper, since his mother is dead. His father and two older brothers work, so it falls upon Jim to do the cooking and as much cleaning as is done. When questioned he told what sort of meals he cooked and how he cooked them. He does have a knowledge of plain cooking. The laundry is sent to a rough dry laundry, and so comes home unironed. The clothes are worn just as they are returned. The mending is done by the father.
The father is a heavy drinker and a man of uneven temperament. At times he is over-indulgent, at times he beats Jim with whatever he can lay his hands on. Jim complained of a headache which he had had for two days?ever since his father had hit him over the head with a big stick.
Is it surprising that Jim is a runaway? What is there in such a home to attract him? Sometimes he has run away to one or another of his aunts who live out in the Tinicum section and who keep piggeries. Unfortunately he is always the center of some disturbance. One time, to use his own words, “just ‘cause a sow bit a boar on the ear I got blamed for it,’’ and another time he rode his aunt’s mule without her permission, and it got stuck in the mud. Another time, he was sitting on a fence when a colored woman, in a lavender dress went by. He grabbed some blackberries and threw them at her, spoiling her dress. He doesn’t know why he did it except that he didn’t like the color of her dress. Later he added that he was just a little kid and knew no better. This was the last straw, however, and the aunts sent him home, with explicit orders not to return.
Bill K. is another active, mischievous lad who has not found the proper sort of outlet for his surplus energy. Bill is 11 years, 4 months, (mental age, 11 years, 10y2 months; I.Q., 104). His mother, too, is dead, and he lived with his father and two brothers in a boarding house situated in a rather poor neighborhood. His father works all day and there is no one to supervise the three boys. As a result they do much as they please?go to school when they like, and stay home when they like. Their lunch money given them by their father, is often spent for a ‘’ movie’’ ticket and candy or cake. On their many wanderings about the neighborhood they became acquainted with a bad gang of older fellows, who taught them how to steal. Bill’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he told dramatically how he crouched down behind a barrel, then reached his hand over the top and pulled out apples which he passed along to the other fellows. He also told how he was able to steal things from the store counters, by cutting a hole in his coat pocket and putting his hand through this hole and grabbing things from the counter. The seriousness of the deed never even occured to him? it was all an exciting game. But he claims he doesn’t steal fruit anymore because he is now the policeman’s assistant. Evidently there is a very wise policeman on that beat. He has the cooperation of the smaller boys by making them his assistants, and they are now trying to enforce the law instead of trying to break it. Bill has never been caught stealing and has played truant judiciously, so that he has not been caught. The blow came from another direction. A boy, seeking revenge, told his father on him, and his father in great consternation, packed Bill, bag and baggage, to the House of Detention and asked that he be placed where he would have adequate enough supervision so that he would go straight. Bill was so placed and he has made an excellent record. He is happy and content; as he himself says, “This place is next best after your home sweet home.”
Pete came to the Center with the record of being “an insolent, uncontrollable street gamin.” He is one of the most amusing adolescents that I have ever met. He is very mature and well poised which may in part be due to his association with older men. He is an amateur light weight prize-fighter, and has earned as much as fifty dollars in one evening in following his profession. Since he is an attractive fellow the men make much of him and shower him with gifts. One man in the sporting goods business, presented Pete with his card and told him to come to see him. Pete went, and, when told that he might choose from the stock a present for himself, chose a wicked looking revolver. This he often carries loaded with two blanks and then with real bullets. He explains that if he is ever called upon to use this weapon, the two blanks will give him a chance to scare off his opponents, before he actually has to use his revolver in earnest. Pete is planning to become a fighter as soon as he is able to leave school, and already has a manager and promoter. In addition, he is learning in the afternoons the machinist trade, so, as he explains, he will have a good trade to fall back on if his fighting does not come to anything. He is already entertaining thoughts of marriage, and talked frankly of his “steady” girl. She is blond, very attractive, but has a bad temper. When asked what he thought of having a girl with such a temper, he said he liked them that way because he liked to calm them down. The girl’s father will not permit him to come to the house to see her, so he meets her on the corner and they go on long rides on the back seat of a trolley car. “Why the back seat?” he was asked, to which he replied, with a knowing wink, ‘’ Oh, you know.”
He also tells of having a second best girl, whom he takes out once a week and ‘’ loves up’’ only a little bit. The purpose of having this one is to make his “steady” jealous. Pete is a well oriented, socially competent boy, in spite of the fact that he has a mental age of ten years and eight months and an I.Q. of 70. He is not an intellectual type and is absolutely uninterested in school work. He is simply marking time until the day when he becomes sixteen years old. Then he will leave school without a regret, and take his place among the wage earners. Many cases of truancy are due to the boy’s own reaction against school work or the school authorities. Several cases of another sort have come to our attention. They are worth considering in order that the child may have just treatment. These cases have not been fully verified. It is too difficult and too delicate a task?but there is evidence that there are more than a few grains of truth in them.
The first child, Quentin, a tall colored boy from the South, came to the Center, “unamenable to class room discipline, truant, influence detrimental.” His own story is as follows: He is the oldest of nine children. In the morning his mother is very busy and he must help her before he goes to school. He makes the beds, helps with the dishes, and helps to dress the younger children. One day he was so late in getting through his work that he did not have time to change his soiled blouse before attending school; if he did he would be late. He therefore put on his overcoat and kept it on when he entered the classroom. When his teacher told him to remove it he refused. He was therefore sent to the office and then sent home because of his defiance. He was told not to come back without his father. His father was working and could ill afford to lose time, so his mother went to school in his stead. The principal refused to admit Quentin until his father came. The father refused to come. For two months the boy worked illegally while the disagreement continued. Then he was sent to the Center on the charge of being a “truant and unamenable.” At the Center he has a record of being ‘’ an influence for the good,’’ and is a quiet, well-mannered chap.
Another boy, Domenick, a rough little Italian, had a somewhat similar experience. He used to go to school every day with his blouse open at the neck and with no necktie. His teacher, in her efforts to raise the standard of personal cleanliness and tidiness, sent him home every day to get a necktie. Now it happened that he really had no necktie and his mother refused to buy him one because he earned plenty of money which he spent for the “movies” and which she felt he should spend on a tie, if he wanted one. But what boy is willing to spend his perfectly good “movie” money on a tie, especially if the tie means that he must stay in school instead of roaming the streets? Day after day Domenick went tie-less, and day after day he was sent home. Finally because of his “truancy” and his defiant attitude he was sent to the O.D. Center.
There are among these boys a few who are very definitely “sick” boys. One boy has a history of epidemic encephalitis. Several show signs of definite glandular disturbance and three boys are very definitely “mental” cases.
One of them, Jim, a big, stout, colored boy?age 14 years, 2 months, (mental age, 11 years, 4y2 months, I.Q. 80) insists that he hears voices talking to him?telling him to steal and saying sex words. He also tells how at home when he is in bed the people in the pictures come and talk to him and move all around the room. He insists that he does not imagine it, but that it actually happens. He is afraid of the dark because he sees ghosts and apes. At night he becomes so terrified that he has to go to bed with his father and mother. Jim was operated on for appendicitis about a year ago, and has never been the same since, according to the principal’s report. Before this time he was active and mischievous; now he is slow and sleepy and very sluggish in his reactions.
These boys have been referred to the proper hospitals for treatment, but definite reports cannot yet be made. Many more cases could be cited but they would only re-enforce the conclusions gained from these, namely, that there are very few really “bad” boys. A study of the boys’ non-conformed actions often reveal a lack of understanding of the boy and an inability to get the boy’s point of view. It is not sufficient to know that the boy is truant, or that he is defiant of authority, or that he steals. It is absolutely necessary to know WHY he does it, in order that he may be helped to overcome his bad habits. In too many cases the discipline slips have gone through the hands of those in authority in a routine manner. No investigation of the case was ever made. This is neither fair to the teacher nor to the child. Much is being done by those in authority at the O.D. Centers to understand the child in order to help him make an adjustment, but they need more help. A 11 co-ordinator” who could bring a picture of the child’s home to the principal, and who could take suggestions from the principal to the parents, who could spend his entire time making friends with the boys, and studying how best an adjustment could be made, would be of inestimable value. In conclusion, it is felt that every disciplinary boy is an individual problem, and that his case must be studied by itself. How widely these boys vary in intellectual ability, in mechanical ability, and in general intelligence is indicated in the tests’ results. Although these tests were very helpful in understanding the boys, there is no special one which would aid in discovering the fact that the boy is non-conformed. Many personality traits were evidenced, but they were not unfavorable traits. The examiner met the boy under only favorable conditions. He was made the center of interest and he enjoyed it. So the final test needed in deciding whether or not a boy is a disciplinary problem is the test which life makes. It is necessary to know how he behaves in his social group. If his behavior is so non-conformed in his group that the morale of the group is threatened, for the good of the group, he should be removed from their midst. For the boy’s own good, he should be placed in whatever environment it is felt will be helpful in developing him and in helping him to make a better adjustment toward life.
Summary of Results Min. 20% Median 80% Max. Chronological Age.. I.Q. Memory Span Auditory Visual Reverse Form Board Cylinders Healy A Dearborn Healy P. C. 11 9yr. 4mo. 57 3 4 2 15” 32” 5” 55” -13.5 llyr. llmo. 78 5 5 2 19” 48” 15” 135” 31.5 14yr. 2mo. 85 6 7 4 25” 63” 40” 225” 47.5 15yr. 2mo. 95 6 8 5 30” 93” 160” 314” 59 16yr. 2mo. 117 9 6 50” 259 “+lf 195”+16f 640 “+?
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