The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03
Why Only Four Out of Every 100 Children Are
 Excellent Students

T HERE are few things In our public school sys
 tenn which cause more trouble. not only to
 the children themselves but to their teach CTS and parents. than the grading of pupils accord ing to the ability they show in their studies.
 In spite of all the care that may be used. great deal of injustice is undoubtedly done under the present methods of grading. and this often has serious results. Many boys and girls leave school long before they should either because they are dis couraged at not attaining passing grade or be. cause they feel they have been given grade lower than that to which they are entitled.
 Prominent educators who have been investigat ing the matter find that the giving of grades to pupils is too valuable a means to certain ends to think of dispensing with it. The grading should. however. be much more carefully. fntelliEenty and uniformly done than is usually the case
 Psychology suggests a method of grading which ought to be generally adopted. According to we'll known principle. when sufficiently large numbers of persons are considered. their ability in general in any particular line is distributed in the form of bellshaped curve technically known as the probability curve.
 Letting the base line of this curve represent she nve degrees of ability from poorest to best end tho vertical lines the numbers of persons posssssine each degree of ability it is clear that there is but a small number of students with excellent ability. larger number with good ability relatively large number with medium or average ability. . sm.ller numoer with submedum but passing ability and still smaller number with distinctly unsatisfac. tory ability.
 There are, of course. sharp dividing lines be tween tnese dinerent groups. and any such Eues that are drawn are arbitrary. But whom the bose nne is divided into i've equal steps, representing Inerefore hve approximately equal steps of ability the numbers of each 100 students that fall into each group are approximately as follows:
 excellent (A). 1: good (B). a.; medium (C) A: sub.medfum (D), 24; failure (E), {.
 In grading 100 children the teacher who uses tnis method-ranking the four best a "excelleut." the 24 next best as good" and 50 on-wl attain . very close approximation of perfect justice
 UT course this principle holds only in the lone run. In any particular class, especially s smaii class. the percentages in the various sroups mirht De slightly different from those given. A teacher cannot apply this principle mechanically but mud learn how to recognize excellent ability, good abil. lty. and 90 on.
 When grading is incorrectly done the educational equilibrium of the school Is disturbed and injustce ls done to the earnest and conscientious studenf The less serious the students are the more they tend to gravitate toward the teachers that give the higher grades. and the injustice that this tends to work upon the conscientious student when 1t comea 10 the awarding of honors and the recommending Tor positions Is obvious Tho giving of many hixh grades. furthermore. gives many students q faiso md exaggerated notion of their ability.