Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-06-18
SHALL COLLEGES USE,
PSYCHOLOGICAL QUIZ?
Important Controversy Is Now Being Waged Over the
Increasing Practice of Employing Examinations
to Try Intelligence of Students.

examined ut the same time. An indi-
vidual pSycholorical examination
viii consume an hour or more, hat
a group Intelligence test can be ad-
ministercd 10 SOC freshmen by one
teacher in nftecu minutes and can
he accurately marked for the same
500 students by twenty-five teachers
in approx imatcly sixty minutes The
apparent ease with which II can he
done is, of course. one "t it's danger
"us features. Literally thousands Of
schools have taken up tests. and at
least one city-bctruit-has estab-
iished Il testing practice that reaches
int" every school in the city-even
the kindergarten.
Leading psychologists themselves
say that work in mental testing has
only Just begun and that many i'm
proVcmcniS are to he looked for
There is general agreement that most
Of the tests so far devised emphasize
linguistic ability. 1t is probable that
this. accounts for tho low rating OF
the Italian children in nearly every
series OF tests that have been made
for in recent inquiry Italian chill
drcn ranked high on tests that called
Cor little understanding OF the lam
guage. but tested intelligence in other
WAYS.
The renl Importance Of the contro-
versy. however. lies not so much
in whether the tests are accurate
but In what use society IL to make
OF the findings. one Of the first uses
made of the results OF tho tests in
New York and elsewhere was to
classify children on tho basis Of their
menta! equipment and allow the diff
f"r"nt groups To do school work at
different rates OF progress according
To their ability. There have been
rapid advancement classes and the
other Kind as we'll. Recently Dean
Holmes. Of Harvard. and others have
come out against too much use Of
this rapid advancement method es-
pccsally in tho elementary school.
Enrichment OF the curriculum is
the thing they ask for boys and girls
found 10 he able from superior men
tally I" do tho regular grade school
work more rapidly than Other chill
drcn.
Tho most Vigorous attack upon
certain implications of III" mental
testing movement has recently come
from Teachers College. Columbia
University. where the movement it
self in large part originated. Pro-
f"ssor William &. BaEley has made
an onslaught upon what he terms
educational dcterminism" pr
Ragley does not primarily assail the
scientific work being done by the
workers In the field OF mental test
ing. hut the tendency on the part of
some Ia rush 10 the conclusion that,
since large numbers OF hoys and
girls are nf lesser mentality than
others as shown by intelligence tests
1t is unnecessary To educate them
beyond certain point-that most OF
the. effort NJ education must he Iii
r"Cted 10 tho few superior bows and
SirlS The rest 10 he sent as eXpe-
ditiously as possible into industry
This conclusion Professor Ragl"y re-
CARDS as a fatal ono for education In
democracy. lilo says:
The dcterminist proposes n throw
overheard tho Democratic IDEAL of
education: to substitute a deceptive
equity OF opportunity for whole
hearted effort 10 bring the masses
OF our children up To a reasona HE
intellectual standard. and Ia devote
educational efforts TO tho training OF
leaders. tho great majority Of whom
under an ignorant electorate. would
fall 10 quick defeat NJ tho hands
of 'hc dcmasoguc and tho political
machine
Grant differences in native men
talitN' Certainly: such differences
ar" inevitable. 1t is no, their cx-
!Stcncc. but their meaning that we
ar" concerned with. The school
cannot increase the sum total OF
mentality. hut IL can and does in
cr"aS" the sum total OF trained and
informed Intelligence. What cduca-
ton has already done Is only fee
bic r"rt"nt of what education can
an" VIII 10 Tor the common man. as
its forces become better organized
and more kccnly alive to their ,re-
mendous possibilities and their ire
- ilnIIs 4. 4 iur