Eugene, a Brilliant Boy who Failed in School
- Author:
Lavinia Warner, Ph.D.
State Bureau of Juvenile Research, Columbus, Ohio. The school principal called Eugene’s mother into his office and told her that Eugene would have to be expelled from school. This was the second school principal who had given the mother this information and this was the second time that Eugene had been actually expelled from a school. In each school, the teachers had conferred with one another and had come to the conclusion that the boy was mentally slow, morally unclean and a hopeless disciplinary problem.
The school report stated that he did not get along well with other children, that he was quarrelsome, and that he would both fight and run from a fight. Several times he was observed on the playground doing “dirty tricks” to the boys. “The boys did not seem to have much use for him.” “He really did no real school work.” “He twisted himself into so many shapes, that he often fell out of his seat onto the floor.” One teacher expressed herself by saying, ‘I worried along with him.” Another teacher “absolutely refused to have him in her room.” He chewed pencils, squirmed, and bothered other children. He attended school regularly, but, his mother was responsible for his regularity. Eugene did not like school and consequently he required much persuasion from his mother to keep him in attendance. “He was often tardy and did not care if he was late.” The teachers reported that Eugene did his best work in history and that he did poor work in all other subjects and was especially poor in “hand work.” His grades in deportment were “poor.”
He had failed to be promoted from the fifth grade. He was such a poor student at that time that the teacher wanted to put him back into the fourth grade. He was conditioned the following year into the sixth grade because of a rule that a child should not remain more than two years in the same grade, regardless of whether he was doing the work or not. He was failing in that grade when the principal called the mother into his office. The mother, feeling that something was seriously wrong with her boy, brought him to Dr. E. J. Emerick, Director of the Bureau of Juvenile Research, for a neuropsycliiatric examination. Eugene was 11 years and 11 months old.
Eugene was not a disciplinary problem at home, except when he was told to do his school home work. His mother said “He just wouldn’t do the work.” He was “actually failing.” “He would not try to do anything” with his school subjects.
Eugene had a defect in vision which was due to a high degree of far-sightedness. His vision was first examined when he was five years of age by one of the best of oculists. It had been carefully cared for since that time and had improved a great deal. With the use of glasses, his vision was normal. The oculist advised that the use of his eyes should not be restricted.
Eugene’s mother reported that he was naturally shy and that he was fidgety and nervous. He had had measles, scarlet fever and whooping cough. His general health had always been good. There was nothing unusual in his health or personal history. It was that of a normal child. He read a great deal, was quite active mentally and was interested in the activities of life. He was especially interested in mechanics.
Family History
Eugene’s father was a college graduate. He had received grades of “A” throughout college. Eugene’s mother was a normal school graduate, an intelligent and apparently a stable woman. The paternal grandfather was a physician and had a good practice. The paternal grandmother was a writer of note. Her books were listed among the best one-hundred. The great-grandmother was a recognized writer, also.
The maternal great-grandfather was a “wide awake mechanic,” and the maternal great-grandmother was a school teacher. The maternal grandfather was a graduate of a normal school, had taught school and later established a successful business of his own. The maternal grandmother was a university graduate and had taught elocution and music for a few years before her marriage. There were no subnormal or eccentric individuals in Eugene’s ancestry known to the mother.
Home Situation
The father had been killed in an automobile accident when Eugene was eight years of age. Since that time, Eugene and his mother lived with the maternal grandparents. The grandfather was an active business man and took the attitude that Eugene was a boy to be left alone to work out his own problems, not to be petted or spoiled and that he was not unusual in any way, and should not receive any special privileges. He admired the boy and was fond of him. There was an uncle about twenty years of age in the home, who seemed to take the part of a big brother to Eugene. The mother worked in her father’s office in order that she might have something to occupy her time. She was careful not to let her work interfere with her job of being a mother to her son. The grandmother took the leading part in the care of the home. Eugene helped her with chores about the house and in the garden. The home life situation seemed to be good. Eugene was happy in the home and especially enjoyed the companionship of the twenty year old uncle. He presented no problem except when urged to do his required school home work as heretofore mentioned.
Eugene’s Own Story About His Record in School Eugene said that he caused his teachers trouble in school by “not, minding.” “I did not want to do the stuff they had in school.” “I did not like the teachers or the school work.” “I talked back at the teachers.” ‘’ Oh! I acted smart, made faces at other kids and did different things like that.” ‘’The teacher would send me out in the hall, and always left me there until the others marched out and they all jeered at me.” “Sometimes she sent me down in the basement.”
He said that he failed in the fifth grade because he did not work. In a tone of disgust he said, ‘’ I was the only guy who failed.’’ In speaking of his class room recitations, Eugene said that the teacher in the 3rd and 4th grades was accustomed not to call upon him until the last one, that she gave the other children a chance to answer the questions, and if they could not answer them correctly, then she called upon him. When asked how he felt while the other children were being questioned he said “I felt anxious to get it out for fear the others would tell and I wouldn’t get called on.” “I would get restless waiting. I would get to moving around a lot.”
In tracing his habit of not directly obeying his teachers, Eugene, after much questioning by the clinical psychologist and after much thought on his part, recalled what he thought to be the first incident of his not obeying a teacher. It happened when he was in the 2nd grade. He had found a prize marble and because he prized it, was playing with it in school. The teacher asked him to bring it to her. He did not want to give the marble up, so hesitated to take it to her. While she was talking to another boy, he returned with the marble to his seat and put it with his pencils. He said, “I didn’t want to give it up, and I thought that I would hide it, or put if off long enough so that she would forget it.’’ After much deliberation and confusion, the teacher finally secured the marble and placed it on her desk in a can with others. Eugene was concerned about this marble and evidently gave the incident much attention. He believed that this was the beginning of his disobedience to teachers. Examinations Made at the Bureau of Juvenile Research The pathological and physical examinations made of Eugene were negative and showed him to be in good health. His weight was average and he was well nourished. His general responses observed over a period of time were quick and he had many nervous and purposeless movements which were at first thought to be a congenital characteristic. The mental and educational examinations revealed a startling bit of information. Eugene did not rate below the 7th grade on any educational test. These were given at the time when he was failing in the sixth grade and after he had spent two years doing failing work in the fifth grade. Eugene’s educational age on the Stanford Achievement test was 1 year and 4 months higher than his chronological age. His mental age on the Stanford-Binet test was 17 years and 1 month, when he was 11 years and 11 months old, chronologically. This gave him a test age quotient (I.Q.) of 142 and a ranking of superior mental ability. Other mental and educational test results correlated closely with these tests and showed Eugene to be superior in mental endowment.
During the administration of these tests, Eugene seemed nervous. He would jump at sudden noises, his actions were quick, and his motor control was poor. He easily became self-conscious when he could not answer a question. He showed some indications of instability. His reasoning was logical and good, however. He did not apply himself well to self-administering tests, but when working with the clinical psychologist on the psychometric tests, he showed good application.
After the preliminary testing was completed, Eugene’s mother came to the Bureau to listen to what she expected would be a fatal story. She was all primed, with tears of deep grief in her eyes, to hear the Bureau’s staff tell her that her boy was hopelessly neurotic and mentally handicapped. When she was told that he had a bright mind and that he had been responding perfectly normally to a school situation which was the wrong one for a correct and desirable reaction, her face had a bewildered expression, as though she did not know whether to believe what was being told her or not. The story Avas too different from what she was expecting to hear for her to grasp the significance all at once. She was told of Eugene’s splendid possibilities and her tears of grief became mingled with those of gladness.
Since Eugene had been expelled from his school and because he presented the interesting problem which he did, he was accepted as a day pupil in the School for Psychopathic Children at the Bureau of Juvenile Research.
Eugene’s Behavior in the School for Psychopathic Children The clinical teacher in the school said that she had a problem to keep Eugene busy. “He works so rapidly and has so much energy.” “He soon devours any assignment given him.” “He is very active and wants to be doing something all the time.” “He quickly exhausts a task and is ready for another.” “The clinician feels that nothing has yet been presented him which will tax his powers enough to keep him busy.” “He has ample time to keep ahead of the group and at the same time entertain them. He wiggles constantly in his seat, jingles nails in his pockets, taps on the floor with his feet, in fact, does anything except be quiet.” “He is apparently unconscious of his actions.” He worked very slowly in arithmetic drills and they seemed to be a drag to him. Through a diagnostic study of his individual difficulties in the fundamental processes in arithmetic, it was discovered that Eugene had not learned some of the simplest facts in the processes. He had many irregularities and was not standardized in arithmetic-computation. He made many mistakes in addition and had no method in his work. He would add from the top of an addition column one time and from the bottom at another time. In all the four fundamental processes in arithmetic, Eugene used the trial and error method. He used “brains” in his arithmetic work, but he showed that he had not been taught, or he had not learned, the accredited processes. He commented upon his work by saying, “I do them every way.”
He was a rapid reader and especially enjoyed reading about world facts. He read fiction, but not as much as lie did stories of history facts and world events. He was interested in mechanics and would, undirected, make extensive and complicated drawings of mechanical apparatus.
Eugene was honest and trustworthy. He was left alone in the school room for an hour every day at noon, and at no time did he disturb anything and he never had to be told or cautioned about other people’s personal property. He always offered to “make it up” when asking for permission to leave school early or for a day’s absence.
‘’ The clinician has not yet found him when he has lost his place or failed to give attention.” There were many times, however, when he did not obey the clinical teacher’s instructions or directly follow her programs for his work. This disobedience occurred when he considered the clinical teacher a part of the school. He was always very polite and courteous when he considered her personally.
School Attendance and Achievement
Eugene had an attack of influenza and was absent from the School for Psychopathic Children for six weeks. This was about the middle of the term. His name was on the School’s attendance list for seven months, but his absence of six weeks made his school term a little less than six months. During this time, he was given all regular academic subjects and also practical arts and shop work. At the close of the school term, he was given the same educational and mental tests as had been given him at the beginning of the term. This was done to show how his rating on the tests would compare after he had received the special instruction.
The Stanford Achievement test showed an increase in grade equivalent of exactly one grade and an increase in educational age of 1.1 years. The mental tests showed an increase in mental ages as would be generally expected, with the intelligence quotient remaining constant. The Otis Classification test given at the close of the school gave him a rating in educational age of 17 years and 0 months, and in mental age of above 18 years. This correlated very closely with other test findings and indicated that he had the mental ability to do much higher grade academic work than he was doing.
Psychological Impressions
Why did Eugene, a boy with brilliant mentality, fail in school? Why did he cause the teachers so much trouble? When he was failing in the fifth and sixth grades, he was classified with children whose mentalities averaged around 10 and 11 years, if they were of the type usually found in these grades, and they most likely were. Eugene’s mental level was around 16 and 17 years; that was about G years higher than the average child in those grades. He was high enough mentally to compete with high school, or even with university students. He was well read and had had a good general experience in life. He had traveled and had, up to the time of his school failure, lived in a university community and had lived the life of university people. This, added to his high mentality, made him quite superior to the other children in the school.
No doubt, Eugene grew restless when he was forced to listen to the other children answer questions poorly in the recitations, and in many cases, give mistaken information on subjects which were commonplace to him. This caused him to become anxious to answer the questions and to discuss the subjects himself. When he could not, his restlessness grew into “moving around” in his seat. This grew into a habit, and “nervousness,” or what took the form of nervousness, resulted. It became a habit?a learned condition in him. He also acquired the reaction of not paying attention as a result of the subject material usually being of a quality too familiar to him. This reaction continued to the extent that when some new material with which he was not acquainted was presented, he did not hear what was going on and consequently he did not learn it. This could account for his poor methods in the fundamental processes in arithmetic.
The teachers were not prepared to keep him mentally occupied. Because their time was taken with the average children in the school room, instead of supplying Eugene with work on his own level which would keep him busy, they asked him to be quiet and to pay attention until he grew to dislike them. More trouble would naturally follow. Eugene was punished by being sent out of the room, conspicuously into the hall and sometimes into the basement. He was “shy” and this treatment only made matters worse. This not only interfered with his learning the school subjects, but made him more self-conscious, more different from the other boys, and would cause them to dislike him. All of these items resulted in his disliking the teachers, the school and the school subjects, and was the cause of his tardiness. The fact that Eugene was never a disciplinary problem at home except when school work was concerned, indicates that it was the school work and not Eugene’s personality that was the real cause of his nonsocial reactions in school.
It is possible that the experience of hesitating to sacrifice the cherished marble, mentioned above, to the can on the teacher’s desk, was a contributing factor to the beginning of Eugene’s disobedience to teachers. He hesitated considerably, and afterwards gave the incident much thought. This would make it the beginning of a learning process. He most likely responded in the same way to other similar commands and combined with the fact that the school work did not meet his needs, the responses grew into the habit of not giving attention to his teachers and to the work which they presented to the class. It is most probable that the school work, which was boresome to him, was the greatest factor in causing his misbehavior in school. Eugene never expressed a dislike for the School for Psychopathic Children. He was never tardy, although his attendance necessitated a trip of one hour on the street car, and he was never absent without a legitimate excuse. He never hesitated to come to the school on holidays when the other children in his neighborhood were remaining at home. The School for Psychopathic Children had more of an opportunity to treat Eugene on his own mental level, than did the other schools. It had made a study of his abilities and disabilities, and it gave him material which satisfied his mental urge. He had an opportunity to work and plan for himself, at the same time, the clinical teacher was ever present to help and guide him with an understanding hand. He enjoyed the school and consequently he learned the school subjects. Eugene, because of his superiority, did not have the proper stimulus in the regular fifth and sixth grades to produce in him the proper reaction. The work in these grades was too easy and did not meet his mental needs. The regular grade teachers, trained to teach academic subjects to average children, were not to blame for their mistreatment of the boy. They did not know what was back of his behavior. The school administration is to blame, however, for not supplying a means of making a study of its children. Eugene was physically well and energetic. Because the schools did not occupy his time, he occupied it himself with the material which he had at hand. About the only material which he had was the other children and himself. There was not much left for him to do but to “make fun,” play, tease the other children, squirm in his seat, and the like. These responses were interpreted to be an instability. In fact, Eugene was most stable and dependable.
Recommendations
At the close of his stay of almost six months in the School for Psychopathic Children, Eugene rated in the 8.4 grade equivalent on the Stanford Achievement test. His educational age on this test was 14 years and 4 months. He was then 12 years and 6 months old chronologically. Because of his youth and because the school did not want to deprive him of companionship of children near his own age, it was recommended that Eugene be placed in the seventh grade of the junior high school for the next school year, rather than in the eighth grade as the test results indicated. If there had been a special class for brilliant children, it would have been recommended that Eugene he placed in it, providing it had been made up of children near his age and mental ability.
Placement in a junior high school was recommended rather than a regular seventh grade of an elementary school, because it was believed that the school spirit would be more prominent in a high school than in an elementary school building and that this spirit would be an incentive to Eugene and would give him more mental stimulus and variation.
Because there were no junior high schools in his own city, the mother offered to move any place where the School for Psychopathic Children would recommend and where her son could attend the type of school which would best meet his needs. Eugene’s home life with the grandparents seemed normal and wholesome in every way and more desirable than for him to live alone with his mother. So it seemed best that he remain with them and that he attend a high school in a nearby residential district.
Prognosis
If not rightly treated and classified in school, what would happen to Eugene? Would he continue to be a source of trouble to his teachers and would he continue to fail in his school work? The schools had expelled him, but if they had permitted him to attend, he most likely would have continued in his undesirable manner. He would perhaps have learned to be more cunning in an unconformed way and would have spent his time for other things rather than for school work. He most likely would have continued to dislike school until he had reached high school at least, and perhaps would have continued the dislike through high school. He might have left school as soon as the law permitted and before graduation from high school. It is a fact that he would have lost many opportunities to learn and to acquire the foundation of knowledge which he was so capable of building and also a foundation for good mental habits, had he continued to respond as he was doing.
He might have become more of a truancy problem and would have been in danger of developing further and more serious delinquencies as he grew older through the contacts made on his truancy episodes. His attitude towards life would not be as desirable as was possible for him and it perhaps would have been absolutely detrimental. Many pitfalls?physical, mental, social, and moral are found along the way in which he was directed. His ability would not have been stimulated in the right direction, and even if he had chanced not to go far in the wrong direction, he would not have had his mental and social possibilities utilized to their fullest extent, and society, as well as the boy, would have suffered a loss. What are his chances if he is rightly treated and classified in school? Many brilliant individuals have made a “success” in life in spite of poor opportunities. It is doubtlessly true that these individuals are a few exceptions and that there are hundreds of others equally gifted who have remained undiscovered and not as productive to society as they were capable, due to poor training and to the wrong type of training. Perhaps the successful ones would have made more of a success if they had had better training facilities. Eugene had the opportunity of being one of the very few who make good regardless of poor schooling, or of being one of those probable many who are neglected, undiscovered, and not as productive as their abilities would permit. Eugene’s school history showed that he was quite likely to be one of the undiscovered ones. His teachers believed him to be mentally subnormal. He was failing in school and was learning wrong mental and social habits and his high mental powers were used to disadvantage rather than being developed to give society the best of which they were really capable. Eugene’s ability would make it possible for him to be trained to fill a profession, or a highly skilled occupation, or a high type business, if he received the proper training and treatment. He had the possibilities of construction and invention.
Conclusions
If a child is failing in school or is expressing a dislike for school, is a disciplinary problem either at home or at school, is performing in a nervous manner, or is responding in any unusual way, a specialist in clinical psychology should be consulted. This clinician would make investigations into the mental status of the child, consider how and what he has learned, why he is responding as he is and advise the consultation of whatever specialists in other fields seem to be essential.
Every school system should have access to a ps}rchological and educational guidance clinic. It should make some provision for a study of its children and especially its children who are presenting a problem, either in discipline or in academic subjects. A child is never a problem of any kind without a cause. Eugene’s high mentality was undiscovered because there were inadequate facilities in his school for mental and educational testing and for investigations into children’s problems. His problem looked so big and impossible to the school officials that they expelled him from school, thus depriving themselves of an opportunity of discovering and observing the growth and development of an unusual mind. Small school systems which can not financially afford an elaborate psychological and educational guidance bureau, can not afford not to have at least one worker, a psycliometrist or better, a clinical psychologist, who can administer tests and look into the causes of the problems which individual children are presenting. This would require not much more expense than the cost of two teachers. That is certainly a reasonable proposition, especially so when its returns could be so great. Many brilliant minds are lost to society and many are developed into wrong social channels, because provisions are not made for their discovery. This is surely not socially economical. Apparently, Eugene failed in school; actually, he was failed against. It was the school administration that failed. It failed to make provision for his discovery and for his care. A brief testing program would have indicated that he was not subnormal as the teachers judged him to be, but that he was unusually high in mentality and that he was above the grade work in attainment. Eugene is an example of what many other children are experiencing in our public schools; some of them to a lesser degree, perhaps, and some of them as much as he.
The organization of special classes for brilliant children should be in the minds of every school official. If the school population is too small to supply a large enough number of brilliant children to make up a class of 10 or 15 cases, then the teachers should be instructed in ways and means of caring for the individual children in the regular grades. This is not an impossible task for the well trained teachers who have an interest in and a fair degree of understanding of child life and who have a supply of information in methods of instructing them, and a reasonable amount of equipment and know how to use to advantage the equipment which they have. A brilliant child, such as Eugene, can be fairly well cared for in the regular grades if the teacher knows that he is superior mentally and that he can do more work than average children. She can assign him more work to do, can give him an opportunity to search in wider fields on the subject matter and to read more books on the subjects to be discussed in class. A well trained teacher can do this so tactfully that neither the brilliant child nor the other children will recognize that the one is doing more than the other. The classroom procedure can be organized so that each child in the class can contribute individually to the group discussion, the assignment and contribution depending upon the child’s mental ability and achievement. In this way, the brilliant child will not develop a priggish attitude and the others will not develop a dislike for him because of his attitude or because they feel that he is favored, and they will not become discouraged because they can not do as much or as well as he.
The organization of special classes under the direction of especially trained teachers is the better plan. In these classes, a more varied subject matter can be given, new subjects can be included in the curriculum, the children will be competing with their equals and they will have work which will challenge them. They will have more of a chance for proper mental stimulus so that their mental capabilities will be guided in the right direction. All teachers should receive some training in clinical psychology so that they would be on the outlook for children who need special consideration. “When a child is not responding normally in school, either in behavior or in the school subjects, the teacher in charge should be so trained that she would not be satisfied until his difficulty has been discovered and he is started in the right direction. The teacher should also be capable of helping to unravel the problem and of leading in its correction. It would have been a great achievement for a teacher to have discovered or to have been responsible for the discovery of a child like Eugene.
Subsequent History
Eugene entered the seventh grade of the junior high school at the beginning of the term in September, after the close of his attendance in the School for Psychopathic Children at the Bureau of Juvenile Research in June.
On his first report card, he received grades of C in two subjects, of which arithmetic was one, and grades of B in the other subjects. He “made the first team in football” which he regarded as a great accomplishment. He was now making “passing grades” in “a regular school” and his mother felt that he was beginning to climb. He began to work more on his home work. His mother said, “where he used to dislike his arithmetic and try every way to put it off, now he does it first and refuses any help or suggestions from anyone. He wants to do it alone and he says he likes to do it, which is entirely different from other years.” ” He is trying hard at home in his school work to keep it up to the ‘high standards of ? Junior High School.’ In fact, his most convincing argument is ‘when you go to a school with high standards, you’ve got to?’ get the work done. It delights his mother for when, before he went to the School for Psychopathic Children, did lie care what the school was trying to do?”
“Eugene made a grade of 100 in the mid-term examination in arithmetic?the only one in his class. When his mother hugged him and rejoiced, he gloomily said, ‘Probably I got a bum grade in all the rest of them.’ But it was evident that he was deeply pleased.’’ Eugene displayed some inattentiveness and some nervousness and moving about in his seat during the first few weeks of his attendance in the junior high school, but it was not long before the teachers said they had not noticed him, which “was a sign that he must be over it.”
He received passing grades in all subjects during the first semester and was promoted into the next higher grade. “He made the highest grade in his class in arithmetic?99.”
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