The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-01
SPORTS USED IN MENTAL TESTS
Children Deficient Who Do Not Know Baseball Rules

Questions about rules of baseball
 and the names of champion athletes are embraced in the system perfected
 by the probation department of tho
 new municipal court and by the Phil | adelphia House of Detention for the
 examination of delinquent children
 particularly those suspected of menta,
 deficiency, says a Philadelphia special
 10 the New York Sun.
 l All children who may be brought be- | fore that court will be put through | scientific test to ascertain their mental and physical conditions, and the in formation thus gained will be used to teach them morality and character The system was carefully worked out | by Dr. Walter S. Cornell, chief medical school inspector with the assistance of Judge James E. German, and the chief probation officer. Thomas c. Paris, "The work at the House of Deten- tion has shown that about D per cent Of the children brought there are actu-
 ally feeble minded and per cent are so backward mentally they may be termed border line cases" said Dr Cornell. The disposition of such cases 5y the judge is difficult unless he is provided with definite information from expert examiners concerning the re- spectability of the child. Under the new system the medical staff will have the assistance of the probation officers, the teachers of the House of Detention and of the psychological laboratory Of that institution in the collection oi Information regarding the intelligence of the children's parents the language spoken at home and the general home conditins, previous schooling of the child, history of truancy and the grad, | attained in school.
 l "One of the features of the menta | examination is the study of the child
 traits, which in turn depend upon hi | emotions and their control This is work which has not been attempted fr I a systematic maner in any other city and it is believed that the study of the records at the end of the year will | show that delinquent boys possess cer- tain traits so frequently that they are more or less characteristic.
 When this information has been ob- tained will be of great assistance to those engaged In the training of chill
 dren, since the possession of certain traits will be looked upon as sugges- systematic efforts naturally will be in st tuted in the way of moral education and discipline of character to over come these peculiarities
 "The scientific work among these children has produced mass of in
 formation not only concerning the mentality of the child but the lack of corrective agencies possessed by the city and state. No doubt there will be a great impetus to the movement to obtain a parental school or to provide d reform school for first offenders apart from reform schools for chronic offenders.
 
 Similarly the institutions for the feeble minded likely will be improved. so that the high grade feeble minded will not be placed in close contact with feeble minded epileptics imbe ciles or idiots. There also will be shown the necessity of institutions for those who are both feeble minded and delinquent. It Is well recognized by the heads of all reform schools that the greatest bar to the reform of chil- dren Is the mixing of feeble minded children with children who are normal mentally and the mixing of first of lenders with children who are more or less hardened in ways of vice"
 Sports, local geography, government and political history and domestic science form the basis of many ques- lions that will be asked of the chil- dren The boy who does not know the ordinary rules of baseball and the names of sprinters, basketball players, football warriors and other athletes will not be considered mentally nor nal