The sun., 1919-09-07

" in the way he should go Is
= what you can find out to-day
at Public School "a. near Ninth street
and Avenue B.
Three select classes for the excep-
tioDally bright child have put in a
recent appearance here. To fill these
about seventy-five young prodigies
have been detected. measured and
weeded out from the schools 5000
pupils.
They are, according to Miss Elisa
beth Irwin. the psychologist who
picked them, as far above the normal
aS3the feeble minded are below. In
fact these so-called Herman classes"
represent the top per cent of intelli-
sence among the child population in
that very crowded and miscellaneous
neighborhood
Just as it is necessary. because of
their defects, to separate the back
ward children of the public schools into
the "ungraded classes so, says Miss
Irwin, to. develop their gifts 1t now is
necessary to segregate the distinctly
precocious.
Now what may be the mark OF
the precocious?
The only entire to Terman class, It
seems, is the possession of high
: I. Q.
= shows How Smart One IL.
can 1. O., be it known, is a number
that shows just how smart you are.
You get this by taking Prof. Terman's
mental test (the very latest revision
ofsthe famous Binet-Simon scale, and
now used extensively to detect the
feeble minded in the courts, the
schools and the army.
A normal child after answering so
many catch questions. solving 30 many
picture puzzles, counting so many dig
It's backward. &C., should register 100.
A subnormal is anything below rs.
Every one in the Terman class has
an /. Q. of 100 or over. This, says the
psychologists who have graded thou
sands, indicates a definitely superior
mind. A good many little Termans
go much higher. One boy Hyman,
the son Of tailor, has the remarkable
Q. or 1853. Only IL years old, he
already has vocabulary in English
Just paltry 200 short of Mr.. Shake
spears; which is pretty good for Hy-
man considering that he never hears
Or speaks anything but Yiddish at
home.
Having caught the superbright
child the question at once arises how
70 keep him bright.
Danger in Speed.
Don't hurry, rush or skip is the
frst principle. I'VE believe" says
Louis Marks principal Of Public School
81, that there is a danger In pushing
the children through the grades, be
they ever so bright. Reaching high
school at IL or IL they are thrown in
company OF adolescents, which hardly
makes for the most desirable of rela-
tions."
The Terman children, therefore, do
not take their grades at the rate of nine
In two years after the previous and
now corrected manner OF one prodigy
among them. Instead OF learning lit
tie and learning 1t fast, they are
learning more.
Possessing a mentality greater than
does Tom. Dick and Harry of the
average class, they can follow a
broader programme OF study, one that
is richer not only In quantity but in
variety and intensity. Art, music
shop work, nature study and Ian
: Siiasss have been added for tileil Lene-
ut to the ordinary public school rou-
tine. AS the groups are small. moi
more than twenty-five In each, while
the normal is about sixty, II is possible
70 reach and develop Individual talents
In the music hour the children
some OF them under eight, compose
their own songs. write and vary then,
and then work out the rhythms by
dancing. One little girl Exceptionally
bright little girls have been brought
y