Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-11-26
Special Classes for Special Children

That IL out of every 100 pupils at the threshold
Of the public schools are mentally unusual and
need special treatment, if possible apart from other
children, is the conclusion reached by DR.. Arnold
GeselL, Of Yale University, in a publication just issued
by the United States Bureau of Education.
"Take an ordinary kindergarten and first grade,
with a combined enrolment of 100 pupils" says
Dr. Gesell. Among this number we may expect to
find at least one child ~feeble-minded; one child who
suffers; two or three who seriously lisp; another
extremely anemic; a badly spoiled child; another
babyish-a year or two retarded in mental Or moral
growth; and still another morally weak. There vii!
be one negative child-passive, colorless; one over
sensitive, nervous child; one specifically precocous
child; another distinctly superor-eager ardent, i'm
%aginatve, sociable.
"For some of these children there is no better
disposition than prompt assignment to a special class,
the special class method having been put into sue
cessful operation for 19 different types Of children.
But even the special classes-particularly the So
called ~ungraded classes for backward children that
have been established in our large cities-are greatly
in need of invntory.
"The diversity of the %ungraded class membership
is often pathetically picturesque. Here is the roll
call for one such class in a large eastern city:
Twentyfour boys, 16 girls; nationalities, Norwegian,
French, Irish, Armenian, Italian, Austrian. American
Chinese; names range from James Moriarity and Ong
Yung to rArcangelo Christiano and Nishan Kalehad-
oarian; ages range from 6 to IS, mentality, from
giggling imbecility to ambitious intelligence; moral.
ity, from truancy, cigarette smoking, and thieving to
good behavior; %parentage, noted in special cases, in
cludess a drunken mother an insane father, and in
three instances, gypsies; physical condition, from
partial blindness and deafness, and spinal trouble and
anemia, to vigorous physical. health. Thing OF the
problem before this teacher, who may not even have
4 working definition Of feeble mindedness in her con.
sciousness Ito aid her in classification and instruc-
toni"
In the opinion of DR.. Gesell, the time is coming
when all our large municipal school systems, and
perhaps county educational systems as we'll, will have
the equivalent Of a department of child classification
and special classes. Child classification is the basis
of child hygiene he declares, but it is more. The
primary school may develop into a sociological clear
Ing agteethey forAthe discovery and registration of al!
children who, when adults, may prove socially de-
pendent. defective, or dangerous. Child classification
thus becomes a part Of the task Of social hygiene,
q WELL
DISPATCHES OF warlike character are being sent
from Brownsville. None Of them appears to invite
the interest Of ex-senator Foraker or ex.President
RooseyeN.
4 New york Judge has decided that 2 school
taacher Who has children OF her. own is quite as de.
sirahle q one whose ideas OF the management ana
Hrectioaao f youth are entirely theoretical.