Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-04
EQUAL
IN PRISON AND CAMP
Results Of Psychological Tests
Told to Social Workers at At
Iantic City Convention
THREE RS ARE ASSAlLED
By a star Correspondcnt

Atlantic City. June 4.-Drafted men
Of Camp Dix and inmates of New Jer-
sey state prisons were found to show the
same percentage of illiteracy- Burdette
j. Lewis, commissioner Of New Jersey s
institutions and agencies today reported
to the National Conference Of Social
Work.
Application Of army group inteli
Sence tests in New Jersey and Indiana
SHOW he said. that the percenta ge
of illiteracy and grades of ability re
vealed by that test are about the same
among inmates of our state prisons and
our reformatory as among drafted mcn
generally.
Former Lieutenant Edgar A. Doll
Of the psychological unit at Camp Dix.
now Mt Princeton. who has been en-
gagged by the Board of Control of In
stitutions and Agencies to conduct army
group intelligence test among the in
mates in the state correctional insti
tutions. recently submitted prclim 3
mary survey of the most significant re =
suits obtained in the case of the inmates
OF the state prison.
More Than Third Illiterate
The scores obtained BY the 700 pris
onerS tested show that over n third NJ
tho men were illiterate in the sense that
theF could not read sufficiently to an.
SWer questions or to comprehend in =
structions. This percentage of iIlitcracv
according to Lieutenant Doll was about
tne same as that found in the soldiers
OF the draft armies
Doctor Lewis made these observations
IN telling of the defects of the puhlic
schools. He said the school is no more
responsible for the shortcomings Of the
dehnquent than for the shortcomings
OF the average civilian of rcformatorv
age. He said: '''' W
Inc old American school is function
ing improperly because it has never beer
properly organized. 1t is sort of q
crazy quit composite which. until re.
Gently, has never been welded into 8
unlhed system. The old course of stud,
borrowed from the English private schoo
on the one hand and from the wron,
German school by Horace Mann on tn,
other hand has been overloaded witt
what has been called fads.
These fads were more or less th,
result of unintelligent attempts to util
ize new ideas and new systems b,
simply adding to them courses of stud,
which have already been enforced.
The result has been complex o.
confusion which has wrought disastrou!
results in the lives of our children
These results are more serious than tn,
warfare which has been waged botl
within and without educational circle,
over the Importance of the three RS. ;
Three RS Assailed
The three Rs were supposed to b.
the essence of practicality. when as
matter of fact they were but one NOR
expression of the inadequacy of tn
American public school. The one grea
, difficulty of the three RS as a basi
.. of education is that they begin nowher
and end nowhere. They take the chill,
from the home and force him throug
crowded course which leaves him sus
pended in mid air at the conclusion o
, the effort
There is no recognition of the neces
; sity of Co ordinating the work of tn
world with the work of the school s.
that the school may serve as a rea
preparation for life. There is no recog
milton that the child at the period o
adolescence. the most difficult period o
. his life. should be helped rather tha>
. hindered to adjust himself by reason o
his educational experience.
Must Work Together
The school and the children's an
: domestic relations courts cannot func
ton in isolation. They must work to
gether. There is every reason for this
especially in America. where huma
e beings cannot be deprived of thei
liberty except through due process c
! law. Not only must the school func
ton as a probation school for the chill
dren S court. but the children S and do
mestic relations courts must functio
:, as aids to the schools in handling dis
ciplnary and governmental problems
n The school. the children's courts an
o domestic relations court must star
d with certain fundamental facts in tn
!. mind.
'Instead of persisting in our FOOLS
Puritanical policy of suppressing bo
gangs. we should welcome them an
o utilize them for purposes of educatio
and Americanization.
Institutions with barracks like build
) ings surrounded by Chinese walls car
not do its duty to backward childreI
n DR. Hobart II. Todd, president of II
= National Conference of Education
=, backward Children, told the conferen,
,, today. He said
II mo institution can properly fulfil
its responsibilities if ii is handicapp'
> at the outset with a set of building
that are nothing more than barrack
It archaic in appearance. surrounded
(. a wall copied from the Chinese, and Il
whole outfit serving practically the sar
s purpose, that on a smaller scale, L
iron cage does in the circus or the pi
"a pen in the barnyard.
Small Capacity to Estimate
$, When we begin to appreciate tn
a the juvenile offender has little if a
ot capacity to estimate, or comprehend t
u consequences of his misdoings. and til
\ in the great majority of cases. he-is
- misguided but usually otherwise
as normal human being and entitled to
treated as such, then and not until tn
will we realize that reconstruction W
not have much of a chance to be eff6
tive and lasting unless the boy is su
II u.tfh ttpn rnbara that