Newark post., 1914-03-18
DEFECTIVE
CHILDREN
The Proper Way OF Caring For
Them

published by request of Civic
Committee, Newark New Cen
tury Club
DR.. Albert Robin of Wilmington
appeared before the men s class OF
Friends First Day School at Fourth
and West streets, on the eighth in.
slant and gave a most instructive
talk upon special training of defec-
tives He pointed out that the most
vital social problem Of the present
time is the care of the defective
child. We are devoting such at
tention to criminology and the cor
recting of wrong doers but none to
the causes which produce criminals.
We see the evil effects Of our pre-
sent social system but not the caus-
es which produce them. A man is
a criminal because he commits a
crime and caught. This is a day of
iconoclasm, Of questioning, we are
not satisfied to accept effects, and
to go on as our grandfathers did in
the same old way, Furnishing the
wrong doer and accepting him as an
unpleasant fact; but we must look
deeper and try to discover the
causes which lead to malefactions.
Following this line Of investiga-
tion we find the child is father of
the criminal; defective child
makes a defective adult; and we
trace the source of delinquency not
only back to the child but to pre-
vious generations; and often find
in heredity the responsibility for a
deformed life. All detectives may
be divided into classes, the congeni-
tai defective and the acquired de-
fective. The acquired defective in
fuenced by environment is some
what under our present control. We
may improve the social atmosphere
and correct much of the evil sur
rounding this class, but for the
congenital defect handed down
from father to son, our only hope
is in guarding the future genera
tions. The science Of eugenics will
have to be solved before there is
radical reform in our social system.
Defective parents are bound to pro-
duce defective children, this has
long been recognized in the breed
ing of animals. The only way So
ciety can save itself is by the regu-
lation of marriage, not by legisla-
ton, but by education to the end
that each individual shall feel the
personal responsibility and the dis
tinction between types. /
In the defective child physical |
ahnormalities may be modified by |
Under our compul- |
sorry education law the child must |
go to school, where they are herded |
together, the bright and the dull
The defective child is never in con-
genial surroundings. From causes
beyond his control he is disciplined,
discouraged, always feeling at a
disadvantage, until smarting with
4 sense of injustice, he finds a con-
genial atmosphere not at school but
on the street, where he holds his
own among his companions, and
5akes refuge in truancy and soon
levelopes delinquency. From the
standpoint of the school, back
ward child is a continuous ballast
interfering with its highest efficien-
~. The other pupils cannot do
their best work the teachers whose
must be directed to the
backward pupil and whose nervous
system is continuously irritated by
the "laggard" cannot do their
best. The result is that lower level
IS maintained by a school which is
unfortunate enough to have back
ward pupils. The chain is as weak
as the weakest link. The loss to the