The Detroit times., 1915-01-13
ONLY FOUR OF
100 CHILDREN
EXCEL IN SCHOOL
Twenty-Four Out of Same Mum
Der Are Entitled to "Good
Rating
FORTY-FOUR MEDIUM.
"a SUB-MEDIUM
Four Failures Complete List, as
Found in Average
Practice

There are few things in our public
school system which cause more trou
BILE, not only to the children them
selves but to their teachers and par
ents, than the grading OF pupils &C
corcing 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 because they feel they have
been given grade lower than that
TO (which they are entitled.
Prominent educators who have
been investigating the matter mo
that the giving grades TO pupils Is too
valuable a means to certain ENDS 10
think OF dispensing with II. The grad
ing should, however, be much more
carefully, intelligently and uniformly
done than Is usually the case.
Psychology suggests method OF
grading which ought to be generally
adopted. According to well-known
principle, when sufficiently large num-
bers of persons are considered, their
ability I'm general or in any particular
line Is distributed in the form or a
bell-shaped curve technically known
as the probability curve.
Letting the base line OF this curve
represent the five degrees OF abiilty
from poorest to best and the vertical
lines the numbers of persons possess
ing each degree of ability, II is clear
that there Is but a small number OF
students with excellent ability, larg-
er Eumber with good ability. a relative
ly large number with medium or aver
age ability, q smaller number with
sub-medium but passing ability, and
n still smaller number with distinctly
unsatisfactory ability.
There are. of course. no sharp divid-
ing lines between these different
groups, and any such lines that are
drawn are arbitrary. But when the
base line is divided into FIVE equal
steps, representing therefore five ap-
proximately equal steps OF ability. the
numbers Of each 100 students that fail
into each group are approximately as
follows.
Excellent (A), 4: good OBJ, "a; me
dunn (C). A; sub-medium CD, "A;
failure (E), 4.
In grading 100 children the teacher
who uses this Misunderstanding the
four best as excellent" the "a next
best as good" and so on--wiil attain
a very close approximation OF perfect
Justice.
or course this principle holds only
in the long run. In any particular
class, especially small class, the
percentages in the various groups
might be slightly different from those
given. A teacher cannot apply this
principle mechanically. but must learn
how to recognize excellent ability,
good ability. and so on.
when grading is incorrectly done
the educational equilibrium Of the
school Is disturbed and injustice is
done to the earnest and conscientious
student. The less serious the students
are the more they tend TO gravitate to-
ward the teachers that give the high
err grades. and the injustice tends to
work upon the conscientious student
when II comes to ne awarding OF hon.
ors and the recommending for posi-
tons Is obvious The giving OF many
high grades. furthermore, gives many
students false and exaggerated no.
ton OF their ability.