The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-29


German cities with the M., :.
veloping talents of those VIA =
distinguish themselves in s,,s
or scientific pursuits.
Such children NAV mt
counted good students. but n
show some talent they Ar. :.
examination in their line ~ ~. ~
est by a board OF school o,s ~
and specialists in art, eleetr,s;s
or. whatever the subject ma.
II the result warrants tr,;.,
they are sent to a school for NV.
pupils and given every opport Srs
to blossom out. suug
This certainly looks like c,..
walton of brains. but it is too w
to tell whether it will prove = 10y
investment for the state. Th.t ~r
depend partly on the methoa "'
conducting the schools and ns,, y
on the pupils themselves M
candidates are selected fairly "a. .as
by sensible tests it should h. -. Saa
sible to sort out the best nun,,.
And If the schools do fit the cop, "
to the individual. instead Of follss
ing the accepted rule Of shsr,s.
the child's mind to fit the conr.s
the graduates turned out should /.
superior to the usual stands,
product Of . modern school M
tenn.
1t is well known. however IN,
not all promising children deyelo,
into brilliant men and women an,
when advantages are given them
What is taken for unusual into.
ligence in a child Of II NAV i.
an extra good memory with iitM
sense Of reasoning or judgment
back OF it. This has been Shown
again and again in the child prodi.
gies who are always being explot.
ed. At 6 years they recite Latin
odes and talk half a dozen Ian.
guages. At II they are ready fo-
college and confound gray-haired
professors with their erudition
But at IS you do not hear Of their
being elected to congress or start
ling the world with new Theories
or writing the great American
novel. This difficulty should be-
overcome by the use Of all-aroupd
intelligence tests instead of exam.
aminations which test little beside,
memory.
Small Percentage Gifted.
Judging by the results to date,
the German school officials figure
that about ~ per cent Of the
school population can be counted
on to prove themselves worth the
extra trouble Of special training.
This percentage of our public
school population would be about
100000 children. While the advis-
ability of special schools for these
pupils in our country has not been
considered, scattered attempts are
being made in a few of our cities
to recognize the rights Of the
bright pupil.
Minneapolis has adopted q sys.
tenn of promotion by subjects. 90
that the child who is slow at fig.
ures but can read anything does
not have to spend months on read
ing books, that bore him by their
simple language. Instead. he may
be in the fourth grade in reading,
and only in the third or second In
With this plan. fhe
child who has difficulty with one
or two subjects is less apt to he-
come discouraged. because he does
not have to repeat all the work Of
3 grade in order TO get a full set
Of passing marks. And. of course
the pupil who is bright can be
promoted as rapidly as his work
The objection to thisGf-
sometimes heard. is
that the pupil is apt to neglect the
studies in which he is slow and
get a one-sided education. =
Detroit and some other citiesare
trying a different solution. They
have each class divided into three
sections-the brightest pupils in
one, those Of ordinary mentality in
another. and those who are SLOW
a
in the third. This is said to work
very well. ~
Some such system as this is about
all the public schools can do for
the gifted child so long as he is
kept with the others. He cannot
be given much individual instruc-
ton. The teacher who has Is pu-
pills has an ideal class. and very
Few have so small a number 81
children as that. Forty memhess
in a class is not unusual. and there
sre often more.
The bright child will eventually
be given a chance. Commissioner
Claxton of the bureau of education
is in favor of a branch Of his bu-
reau to study the needs of excep-
tional children. both those who are
gifted and those who are deficient.
Not very much is being done by
the state for either type. but it will
take longer for the gifted child to
gain recognition as being with
rights. He does not present the
same appeal to the sentiment ss
the pitifully stupid child, strug.
Cling to keep up with the work thai
he cannot grasp. But he is WORM