Follow-Up Investigation of Five Hundred Children who Previously Attended Classes for the Physically Handicapped
The Psychological Clinic Copyright, 1929, by Lightner Witmer, Editor vol. xviii, Nos. 1-2 March-April, 1929
Jessie M. Lightfoot, Supervisar of Mental Examinations, Department of Special Education, Philadelphia Public Schools Of the many types of classes provided for the handicapped children in the Philadelphia Public School System the present survey covers the orthopedic, sight-saving, deaf, and nutrition-tuberculous. This work is under the supervision of Dr Gladys G. Ide, Director of Special Education. The aim of this investigation is to show to what extent the physical handicap interferes with ability to earn a living, into what type of work the “handicapped” drifts, and to what degree any personality difficulties may affect success or failure in industry.
Children wTho are physically incapacitated (unable to walk or use trolley-cars) due to infantile paralysis, birth palsies, glandular dystrophy, muscular atrophy, tubercular joints, and injuries resulting in the loss of limbs, are, upon the advice of the Department of Medical Inspection, placed in orthopedic classes. These children are transported to and from school free of charge in buses maintained by the Board of Public Education. A matron who serves in the capacity of a nurse, chaperone, and mild disciplinarian, accompanies the bus and renders necessary physical assistance upon their arrival at the school. The orthopedic classes are always on the ground floor of a building, (the second and third floors being utilized for other types of classes). The orthopedic class likewise cares for certain types of cardiac cases. When a child is reported by the physician to be unable to use the stairs because of a heart condition he is admitted to an orthopedic class and is also given free transportation. The children must remain in this special group until they have reached compulsory school age (some stay longer) or until their condition improves to such a degree that in the opinion of the medical supervisor they may safely at2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC tend a regular class. Regular grade work is taught and upon a child’s completing the 8th grade he is then sent to high school provided he wishes to remain in school and has the mental ability to function at this level. The bus transports them to the high school and since these buildings are equipped with elevators the children succeed fairly well in getting about with the aid of crutches, braces and wheeling-chairs. But few, however, complete the 8th grade. Most of them leave school at sixteen, having completed approximately 5th or 6th grade.
Following is a summary of the facts found concerning those who have left the orthopedic classes. A total of 189 cases were visited; it was impossible to locate 55, and 23 had died. Institution or Hospital 10 Newsboy No Job 38 Farm Regular Grade 24 Seamstress Married 1 Draughtsman Domestic Work 2 Knitting (at home) Owns store or business 3 Truck helper Factory 11 Chauffeur Office Work 6 Waitress Lithographer 1 Ticket Taker Paper Hanger 1 Telegrapher Auto mechanic 1 Soda Clerk Horologist 2
The high percentage of unemployment is due to the strong tendency of this group always to wait for some one to help rather than making any actual effort on their own part. They are strongly inclined to feel that the world owes them a living. Jobs are accepted as their due though the applicant may be anything but an efficient workman. Most of the orthopedics are short on energy output, fatigue very readily and therefore cannot work under any speed pressure. It is true that some jobs are closed to them because of their physical handicap, but the primary cause of unemployment is inertia. One boy worked two weeks as a bookkeeper for $20.00 a week and quit because he felt that he was worth much more. Since that time he has done nothing. Another boy likewise was given business training but has never attempted to find work. Both these boys belong to families that are not well off and that can ill afford to support them. The families, however, accept the dependence as a matter of course. Two girls whose handicaps would not prevent them from entering the industrial field and who have received trade training, prefer to stay at home and help about the house in preference to seeking jobs in a competitive field. One boy in addition to being crippled as a result of infantile paralysis later developed epidemic encephalitis. He is now reported to be evidencing the typical post-encephalitic nonconformity and will eventually have to be hospitalized.
While these results show a high death rate it must be taken into consideration that the group contains a fairly high proportion of heart cases, in fact, of the twenty-three reported as deceased, ten were cardiac cases and had been placed with the orthopedic group on this basis rather than because of any orthopedic condition. Three others developed acute heart conditions which resulted in their deaths. Two boys died as a result of tuberculosis. Both of these boys had attended orthopedic classes because of tubercular hip conditions. Previous to one girl’s death, she had been in the State School for the Feebleminded. It was impossible to determine the cause of seven deaths.
Of the nine who have been committed to institutions, one girl was sent to Sleight on Farms (a reform school) because of incorrigibility, staying out nights, and being involved in several affairs with sailors. Four have been sent to institutions for the feebleminded. Three have been placed in hospitals for permanent institutional care because of non-educability and social dependency. Three of the unemployed group are awaiting entrance to institutions for custodial care. One boy of sixteen who functions mentally at about the four year level, is a great problem in the home because of his physical handicap and poor mentality, but his mother refuses to consider institutional placement. Eighteen are now attending Senior High School, and of this group all but three are reported by the school authorities to be doing a very satisfactory grade of work. One girl who is slow but of a most persistent plodding type, is getting very good grades. She wanted to become a teacher of Home Economics but has since changed her mind and is now planning to become a pharmacist. The teaching profession is out of the question for her. She wears heavy braces on both legs and gets around only with the greatest difficulty. Pharmacy is really of too complex and abstract a nature for a girl with her mental limitations, but by dint of her very great persistence she may be able to acquire the necessary training. One boy who is not doing well at present in High School was strongly advised against entering. Though seventeen years of age his general performance level was about eleven. The two others who are not doing passing work are likewise of mediocre mental ability. One of them is further handicapped by a personality defect. Only two of those in the High School group are taking an academic course. One is a girl of very good mentality and capable of taking further intellectual training while the other has good mentality but is not of the professional type. All the others are in mechanical arts or commercial courses. Four are attending Junior High Schools and two are enrolled in business colleges.
An analysis of the positions held discloses the fact that of the eleven factory jobs, all are of a simple routine repetitive type. None of this group are foremen or supervisors. The ones working on piecework make a minimum wage and in some cases do not earn a self-supporting amount. The highest wage paid was $15.00 a week. The boy receiving this is a packer. He has asthma and a rather bad heart. One girl of eighteen earns $11.50 as a shifter in a rope factory. She wears braces but gets about quite easily. Another boy with endocarditis earns $10.00 a week doing mechanical dentistry work. One boy earns $8.00 making artificial flowers. Ten dollars is considered a good wage by a 19 year old boy who is working on leather handbags. Another girl is satisfied with $6.00 a week packing macaroni though her family think she should be more ambitious and should try to operate a power machine. The ones employed in the garment industry are doing the simple unskilled processes.
One boy, whose right leg is paralyzed, began working as a helper to an auto mechanic, receiving $3.00 a week. After three years’ experience he is now earning $12.00 and is well satisfied. One boy is much happier repairing clocks at $6.00 a week than he was when he earned $10.00 working in a paper box factory. Another boy who graduated from the College of Horology is earning $15.00 a week doing repair work with a reputable firm. Following a course in telegraphy a twenty year old boy with paralysis of both legs is now working for Postal Telegraph for $65.00 a month. He obtained the job on his own initiative. A fine, good-looking boy who walked with but a slight limp worked with a lithographer for a time but was laid off during a dull season. Since that time (6 months) he had one short laboring job which he had to give up because the work was too heavy for him. He previously was quite ambitious but has now become a corner lounger and makes no effort to work. The boy receiving the highest salary among the orthopedics is employed as a draughtsman at $25.00 a week. He has bought a second hand Ford and since his one short leg has been partially corrected by a special shoe, he is able to drive the car.
One of the boys who owns a small store has moved to another city and in the written report he sent, he made no mention of what his approximate income was, but stated that he was doing well. The other boy who has a store is quite enthusiastic about his progress. He attended a Junior High School for two years and then his brother started him in business. Another boy is proud of his shoe-shining stand.
Ten dollars a week plus about five dollars in tips is made by a girl who is a waitress. She has chronic endocarditis and frequently loses time from work because of this condition. A boy of 19, despite his partial paralysis, is earning $50.00 a month and maintenance, as a chauffeur in a hospital for mental diseases. He is very well liked by the organization, and is really interested in the job. The two who are acting in the capacity of office boys earn $9.00 and $10.00 a week. One boy does general office work and one is learning filing. Two girls are doing stenographic work, one earning $16.00 a week and the other one $14.00. Both obtained their positions through the business school they attended. One nonconformed boy of very poor mentality suffering from spastic paraplegia is selling newspapers.
Deaf Group
Children who are so hard of hearing that they are unable to participate in regular classroom activities, are, upon the advice of the medical inspector, placed in a particularized special group. While some are totally deaf, others have partial hearing but the lack in both cases is so acute as to make normal school progress impossible. Persistent inability to hear leads to inability to interpret. This further stimulates constant misunderstanding of people and things. Therefore a strong tendency towards the development of feelings of inferiority and consequent antisocial behavior ensues. Socialization is then essentially the biggest factor to be considered in the education of the deaf group. To what extent these children have profited by this type of training is manifested in the following results. A total of 80 cases were visited. It was impossible to locate 27, and 2 had died.
Hospital or Institutions 5 Errand No Job 11 Carpentry Apprentice Regular Grade 4 Bowling Alley Married 1 Shoe Shining Domestic Work 1 Printing Owns Store or business 2 Radio Factory 20 Truck Helper One twenty-one year old boy was placed in a feebleminded institution while two others are in the State School for the Deaf. One is mentally dull and will probably never be socially competent while the other one is of much better mentality and is learning to be a printer.
Of the two dead, one was killed in an automobile accident, while the other one died of an infectious disease. One girl of twenty-two has always stayed at home. She is totally unable to read or write. Another girl of the same age presents a striking contrast. She is pleasant and tries to be sociable despite her handicap. However, she lacks confidence and despite her ability to read lips and her fairly intelligible speech, she is unwilling even to try to get a job, but is perfectly content to remain at home, assisting in the work of the house. This was likewise true of another twenty year old girl, who despite the training she received for a number of years at the State School for the Deaf, has never attempted to get a job. The family of a nineteen year old girl is anxious to have her work in a commercial field, and to mix thus with the normal social group. However, they have not taken any steps towards giving her training along this line, nor have they made any effort to try to get her a job of any type. This condition also held true with two boys, neither of whom have ever earned any money. A third boy of twenty worked for a year in an oil-cloth factory earning $20.00 a week, but since he was laid off seventeen months ago, he has made no further attempt to secure employment. His attitude is that he is willing to work provided someone finds him a job and makes all necessary arrangements. One nineteen year old boy (almost mute) has made an effort to get work. When in school he was a decided behavior problem and participated in a considerable amount of malicious mischief. He at that time evidenced the typical psychosis of the untrained deaf. He is now reported to be conforming fairly well in the home though he and a shell-shocked brother sometimes have altercations. One hard of hearing boy worked for a short time spraying boxes in a radio plant but his father considered this type of work injurious to the boy’s health and insisted upon his leaving. Since that time the boy has made no effort to obtain any other job. Two girls are unemployed and this condition is very largely traceable to their personality difficulties. One of them has very good mentality but has drifted from one job to another, staying but a short time in each place. She is over-sensitive and very much introverted. Two are attending Senior High School. Both boys are taking work in the Industrial Department and are reported to be doing well. One girl is enrolled in Trade School. She is nineteen and has good mentality as well as being socially well adjusted. Formerly she attended the State School for the Deaf. The Trade School reports that she is doing an excellent grade work in the dressmaking course.
A totally deaf girl of twenty-one is a millinery apprentice, while another who had training in this trade became disgusted with the apprenticeship necessary and is now working in a leather factory. A boy of twenty is attending the State School learning carpentry while another boy is employed as an automobile mechanic helper. A twenty-three year old boy was earning $11.00 a week with a reputable printing firm, but left because he was sure the men were ridiculing him. After staying at home for some time, he took a trip to Indiana and by working on the sympathies of autoists begged rides, food and sleeping quarters. He returned with money in his pocket, despite the fact that he had started out with but 75 cents. Since his return he has sold pretzels, though he has never obtained a vendor’s license, and consequently is in frequent conflict with the police. A boy of nineteen began working for $3.00 a week in a metal-polish factory and is now getting $10.00 after three years’ work. A boy of eighteen is employed with his father who has a magazine and news-stand on a busy corner. Five are employed in the garment industry. One is a cutter, one a power operator and one a folder and packer. The one who is a cutter tries hard to pass as not being deaf and strongly resents any reference to this defect. In a tailoring establishment one boy is an operator on suits and one girl bastes men’s coats. The boy is earning from $18.00 to $25.00 a week (piecework) and feels there is very definite opportunity for advancement. A mute girl doing piecework on radio assembling is quite successful and compares favorably with the rest of the group in her output of work. She is earning enough to be self-supporting, whereas a mute boy earns but $5.00 a week shining shoes in a barber shop and is thus partially dependent. A nineteen year old boy is working in a hosiery mill and though he is earning but $6.00 a week there is a chance of advancement and he is interested in the job as well as being well adjusted socially. Another nineteen year old boy has been packing cakes for three years. His father who owns a delicatessen store wants him to give up the job and help in the store, but it is probable that he is much better off if he stays where he is as he does not have a pleasing personality and would not do well meeting people or selling in the store. A mother of a four year child works with her husband in a shoe factory while her mother cares for the child who likewise is almost totally deaf. A nineteen year old boy earns $28.00 to $30.00 a week doing piecework with an automobile stabilizer concern. One father obtained employment in the same place where he works for his son (who is almost totally deaf) as a press operator on a newspaper at $23.00 a week. A deaf mute girl keeps house for her father and three brothers. One boy who has recently left school is earning $12.00 a week making handbags. Though he is definitely hard of hearing his mother insists that he is not. A boy of twenty is earning $16.80 a week in an electric storage battery plant. He lacks initiative and is quite unsocial in his attitudes but contrives to keep the job as his uncle who is employed in the same factory endeavors to smooth the way for him and supervises him whenever possible. A girl of rather poor mentality is making $10.00 a week as a hand finisher on sweaters. It is the only job she has ever had and she probably never would have obtained the work had her employer not been a neighbor who became interested in her.
Sight-Saving Group
The totally blind are not under consideration in this group. Such cases are referred to state institutions. The medical inspector admits to sight-saving classes those children who because of defective vision are encountering difficulty in doing the regular grade work and those who because of eye disorders of a progressive type are endangering the vision they have by strain. Some of the most common causes for admission to this type of class are corneal opacities, nystagmus, progressive myopia, choroiditis and albinism. As in the case of the deaf, carfare is provided by the Board of Public Education for those who live sixteen blocks or more from the school. When the child is young or the defect is so serious as to require escort to and from school, the escort likewise is given carfare as well as $1.00 a week for service.
This group does not need the same degree of socialization as the deaf as it is not thrown back upon itself to the same extent and hence there is less danger of introversion. Perhaps there is no group more unprepossessing to the casual glance than the sightsaving. Thick, heavy, dark-tinted glasses conceal the happy expectant look so apparent in the facial expression of youth. Industrially and economically the same limitations maintain for this group as for the other “handicapped” ones.
A total of 98 cases of this group were visited; 36 could not be located and 3 were dead. The following table gives the findings for this group. Hospitals or institutions 9 Office cleaning 2 No Job 6 Store Manager 1 Regular Grade 5 Packer 3 Married 5 Bus girl Domestic Work 2 Office boy Factory 16 Fisherman Elevator Operator 1 Tile setting Grocery Clerk 2 Radio repair Teamster 1 Child’s nurse
One boy attending the Overbrook School for the Blind is caning chairs and hopes to save enough money to buy a small cigar and magazine store so that he can be independent. Three are at present attending the Adjunct Class maintained by the Overbrook School. They have poor mentality and it is extremely doubtful whether they can ever become more than partially independent. One boy of very good mentality whose infancy and early childhood were spent in the most deplorable conditions, responded unusually well when placed in a foster home. Though he was very late in walking and talking the cause was clearly one of deprivation. Under normal living conditions he thrived physically and mentally and at fourteen he was prepared to enter Senior High School. A change to a foster home outside the city resulted very unfortunately. His discontent ended in running away and other behavior difficulties. The social organization under whose charge he had been placed reports that he is now in Glen Mills Reform School. Two girls have likewise been sent to correctional institutions. Of the five who are married, four have children. The girl who does not have any children claims that she is very nervous and is ill a great deal. At the time of the investigation she seemingly was in good physical condition and gave no evidence of nervous instability. One girl eloped. Her husband is not employed regularly and at present there is an insufficient income to support the couple and their year-old baby. Another girl who was married four years ago has had three children all of whom died in infancy. She works part-time doing whatever type of work she can obtain. Her husband has always refused to work. But one of the five worked before she was married. She was employed for a short time as a packer.
One boy of nineteen was most insistent that he attend High School. He is mentally low and utterly incapable of functioning at a high school level, even though he were not further handicapped by his very poor vision. Despite advice and a protest from this Department, he was admitted. The investigator called a week after his admission only to find that he was hopelessly lost. Aside from being totally unable to do the necessary reading and other close work, he could not even follow his roster, but was entirely dependent upon following other members in the class. He is still anxious to get further academic training and refuses to consider working at the type of job for which he is mentally and physically adapted.
A girl in the academic course was reported to the school counsellor because of her poor work. Unfortunately the high school authorities had no knowledge that for several years she had been attending a Sight Saving Class. She entered the academic course, planned to go to Normal School with the view of becoming a teacher of semi-sighted children. Unfortunately no one had pointed out to her that such a plan was not at all feasible inasmuch as a teacher in this type of class needed good eyesight in order to prepare work that would help to conserve the sight of the children. Fortunately the girl understood the situation when it was explained to her and immediately began making plans for becoming a cashier in a relative’s restaurant.
One boy is making out quite well in High School. He has an older sister who reads most of his lessons to him. A seventeen year old albino girl is reported to be doing well in the junior year in High School. The others who are in regular grades are attending Junior High School and are reported to be getting along fairly satisfactorily.
Unfortunately several of the people are employed in jobs not adapted to their physical handicap. One girl is earning $15.00 a week as an examiner in a shirt factory. Another is employed in a type of mechanical dentistry work that requires the almost constant use of her eyes. One is earning $11.00 a week as a power operator in a uniform factory. Another trims threads and puts buckles on belts for $10.00 a week. Previous to this job she put pins in buttons for a badge concern. A boy of nineteen while learning to be a glazier is earning $12.00. Formerly he worked in a dental supply house but left because he felt there was no future in the job. A boy of nineteen claims that he was barred from factory work by his poor eyesight and so got a job as a teamster. On the other hand a boy whose eyesight is no better that that of the teamster’s, refuses to admit any eye defect. He is earning $15.00 as an office helper. Three are packers, one girl earning $13.00 a week in a grocery warehouse, and a boy is making $18.00 a week working in the packing room of a large department store. One boy left the job of truck driver to become a packer for $20.00 a week. Two are employed in chain grocery stores with salaries of $9.00 and $10.00, while one is a manager of a chain store. The three employed in paper box factories are working on processes requiring but comparatively little eyestrain. They were said to be earning from $7.00 to $10.00 a week. A girl, the oldest of seven children, no others of whom are working, cuts up vegetables in a large soup plant. She makes 30 cents an hour and is employed regularly. A nineteen year old girl was most anxious to learn dressmaking. Despite her acute myopic condition she obtained work as a learner in an establishment but soon had to leave as the strain was entirely too great. At present she is earning $8.00 a week as a child’s nurse.
Nutrition-Tubercular
From the behavior standpoint these are interesting children. They are usually the spoiled ones of the family. They tax the ingenuity of all who are in contact with them to overcome their whims and caprices, their “cans” and their “can’ts,” their “wills” and their “won’ts” and to start them on the road to health?the primary interest and aim of their class. Qualifications for admission to these classes are suspicious cases of tuberculosis and possible contacts. Any material decrease in weight, afternoon temperature, coughing or any other active signs of the disease disqualifies the child for retention in the group and leads to hospitalization. Educational progress is secondary to physical wellbeing. The day’s routine includes proper feeding, periods of rest and relaxation, and instruction, all of which transpires in open-air class rooms.
Following is a summary of the present status of this group. The number of cases visited was 133; 50 could not be located, and 10 had died.
Hospitals or Institutions 4 Navy 1 No Job 12 Filling station 1 Regular Grade 13 Paper hanger 1 Married 7 Cashier 1 Domestic Work 3 Office work 4 Factory 13 Department Store 4 Truck Driver 1 Salesman 3 Ward maid 1 Messenger 1 Elevator Operator 1 Fruit 1 Pantry girl 1
Of the ten who were reported dead, six apparently died of active tuberculosis. One died from an infectious disease, another from endocarditis. Families were unable to report the causes of the other two deaths?”they just got sick and died.” Three are in Tuberculosis Sanitariums with active cases of tuberculosis, while one has been committed to an institution for the feebleminded.
Among the unemployed group most of the cases are traceable to indifference toward obtaining employment rather than to any actual inability to get a job because of poor physical condition or to lack of openings in the industrial field. Questioning disclosed the fact that of the twelve unemployed seven had made no effort to obtain work. One unemployed boy married a girl who was working and she has kept her job though he has made no effort to contribute to the family income. One boy had a mill job at $12.00 a week for about two months immediately after leaving school, but he was laid off during a slack season and since then has made no effort to get another job. A girl of eighteen announced that she was too ill to work and so was going to be married the week following the investigators’ visit. At the time of the visit she was running a temperature and was having night sweats.
When a child improves to a point where he is in good physical condition and in the opinion of the physician no longer needs the special training accorded him in the tuberculous class, he is permitted to return to a regular grade. Four boys and one girl are attending Senior High School. Last year the girl was granted a scholarship. One boy who is most anxious to get a West Point appointment is markedly underweight. When he left the Nutrition Tubercular class he was normal weight for height. Though ambitions and of normal mentality, he belongs to the non-intellectual group and even though he succeeded in passing the entrance physical examination, he would undoubtedly be unable to maintain a satisfactory academic standard. One boy who at seventeen is in the first year of High School fully intends to stay the four years and to attend the College of Pharmacy. He works as an errand boy after school hours. A family is making great sacrifices to keep their mentally dull boy in High School because “he’s sickly and not able to do hard work so he’ll need a swell education.” Two boys are reported to be doing well in the National Farm School. The other four returned to regular classes are attending Junior High School.
Six of the girls who married have children. With the possible exception of one, all are in rather desperate straitened circumstances. One girl married a sailor by whom she had had a child previous to the ceremony. Her husband left the navy and since that time has been only irregularly employed as a truck driver. They are living with her mother who has a large family and a most inadequate income. Another girl who came from a shiftless poorly managed home is having an unhappy struggle making both ends meet. She has always had a difficult personality, is not at all adaptable and it will probably be only a matter of time before the home will be broken up and the two children placed. An eighteen-year old girl married a drunken corner lounger whom she has been compelled to support until recently when she left him. Her two-year old child is living now with her mother and the girl is working part-time.
One boy is an elevator operator, earning $22.00 a week in a seashore hotel. At fourteen this boy was very tall and physically well developed. As a result he passed as eighteen and for a long time was illegally employed during school time. A boy of twenty is driving a newspaper truck at night. A well-conformed girl who in addition to having a tendency towards pulmonary tuberculosis also has a tubercular hip has been employed as a domestic for three years. She apparently is quite happy and satisfied. Another girl has been employed as a ward maid in a hospital since she was a patient there four years ago. A twenty-year old boy who for years had been a behavior problem and constantly in difficulty with the police, finally joined the navy. Apparently he is now adjusting himself and conforming much better. Two girls are keeping house for members of their families who are employed. A boy who formerly was a disciplinary problem has been regularly employed at a gasoline filling station at $15.00 a week. One boy is employed with a paper-hanger. His mentality and personality make-up are too poor to make it possible for him ever to be anything more than an inefficient helper in such a trade. One of the two who are employed in a food factory, wraps cakes, while the other is a helper around the ovens of a cracker factory. One girl employed at $12.00 a week packing cigars, is badly in need of medical care but cannot afford it. Her family is desperately poor and her earnings are needed. Another who is working in a plush factory, obviously has an active case of tuberculosis, though no medical attention is being given. One girl from a very poor but hard-working family attended a business school for a short time and contrived to get a job as a typist at $12.00 a week. She is not mentally alert but she is a thoroughly dependable, conscientious though slow worker. The boy typist attended a Junior High School and then a business college for a year. He is earning $14.00 a week and hopes eventually to give the job up and to become a violin teacher. He does not have any unusual talent in music but is a plodder. Two girls are employed at $10.00 a week as messengers in a large department store. One is selling at the notion counter of the same store. One girl who has a most charming personality and fairly good mentality is working as a clerk in the auditing department of a large store. A boy who comes from a very dirty shiftless home is making good as a bookkeeper. Throughout his school career he was always very clean and well-groomed though the rest of the children in the family came to school dirty and ill-kempt. One boy is earning $25.00 a week in a storage battery place. A messenger for a jewelry firm resents the fact that he is earning but $10 a week. He has changed jobs frequently but never betters himself by so doing. One girl, after a year’s experience, is earning $18.00 a week as a power operator with a tailoring firm. One boy is earning $25.00 a week as a bottle salesman. He is interested in the job and seemingly is in line for promotion.
SUMMARY OF FIVE HUNDRED CASES VISITED Type of Class Attended Number Visited ab le to Locate No Job Dead Institutions or Hospitals Regular Grade Married Employed Domestic Service Own Store Business Factory Jobs Other Jobs Orthopedic Deaf Sightsaving Nutrition Tubercular Totals 189 80 133 500 36 50 168 16 16
Conclusions
1. With the possible exception of the orthopedic cases, the physical handicap was not a deterrent factor. Even in the case of the crippled, failure to hold a job was due not so much to the acuteness of the defect as to inertia and the emotional attitude toward work. Though the usual complaint is, “I can’t get a job”; further questioning almost invariably discloses the fact that no effort had been exerted. They are content to sit around the house or hang around the comer cigar store. Though the families are not well off and can ill afford to support any extra dependent, they apparently accept this unemployed one as a matter of course. 2. Most of the jobs held are of an unskilled or semi-skilled type. Only one was in charge of other workmen. All others were employed at routine repetitive jobs involving comparatively little competition.
Energy output is low, fatigue comes readily, and as a result they cannot work under any great pressure or speed.
4. Jobs were obtained not on the basis of any special aptitude towards that work, but were obtained largely through friends, and friends of friends. Jobs were accepted as their rightful due though the applicant might be anything but an efficient workman.
5. It was impossible to trace a very large percentage though effort was made to obtain new addresses from neighbors, corner stores, mailmen, etc. Frequently information obtained through, these sources proved to be wrong.
6. Emotional responses and disturbances are largely traceable to attitudes encouraged in the home and school attended. 7. The general mental level of the group was comparatively low. Not more than five belonged to the intellectual group.
8. The children who entered High School upon the recommendation of this Department are doing well; but those who were admitted despite the fact that this Department rated them as poor High School material, are with few exceptions reported to be failing.
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