The Connecticut labor news., 1924-08-09
SCHOOL TESTS WOULD REVIVE
 CASTE SYSTEM


 declares the Chicago federation ot la bor. Opposition to the "platoon' sys- tenn and the Junior high" schools IS also recorded.
 In opposing the Intelligence tests, ," the unionists refer to a report on this subject issued by the local board of education:
 "The results of the test given i'll the army dictate that the amount of men tai ability required for the various vo- cations, highest to lowest, is as fol lows: Professional and business, cleri- cal, skilled trades, semi-skilled trades, unskilled labor"
 "The' alleged mental levels," repre- senting natural ability, it will be seen, correspond in a most startling way to the social levels of the group named, y the trade unionists say.
 'It is as though the relative social positions of each group are determined by an irresistible natural law. The re- port is evidently designed to furnish evidence of the existence of such nat ural law. The report asserts that the intelligence tests applied to pupils in the Chicago high schools show that the pupils of higher mental ability select the more difficult courses in school, while the pupils of lower mental ability select the echnica1 and commercial courses, and those selecting the two year vocational course show lowest abi- lity.'
 "The selection of courses Is natural 1y determined very largely by the so- cia1 and economic status of the pupil The boy whose family requires his ser vices as a wage earner at the age of 16 will, probably, select two-year commercial or industrial course. The girl whose family can afford to keep her in school until she is approximately IS years of age, will most likely select a four-year commercial course, while mits will prepare to enter a college or university. Here again the so-called mental level,' ascertained by the "in- telligence tests correspond in an as founding exactness with the social and economic status of the family.
 Has a new natural law been dis covered which binds each individual to place in society and against which protest or struggle is hopeless? Are the intelligence testers offering some thing new?
 "The fact is that they have brought into America the ancient doctrine of caste and are advancing, under the authority of public school boards, pre- cisely the same philosophy of life as governs the Hindu caste system, under which, by alleged divine or natural law, the people are organized according to the ocupations for which they are SUD- posed to be htted-the merchant in the merchant caste, the teamster in the caste of the teamster, the carpenter in the carpenters caste, and son on through the long list of vacations. Thus they are challenging the political phil osophy of the American nation and de- flying the basic principles of every re- ligion of the western world. Do they know what they are doing? The ans wer may be found in the following quo tation from a statement by Dr. c. B. Cutten, president, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York:
 "'It may be interesting to speculate concerning the effect of mental tests upon the problem of democracy Those of high intelligence will be, directed in to lines of occupation which call for leadership. Those persons will natur- ally be placed in the professions, and in leading positions in industry, com merce and politics. Each person will then be directed on scale of inte1li- gence down to those whose work IS of the most routine character of which an imecile is capable, But what effect will this have on our so-called democracy? :? It must inevitably destroy universal adult suffrage by cutting off at least Z5 per cent. of the adu1ts-those whose intelligence IS so low as to be incap- able of comprehending the significance of the ballot On the other hand, it will throw the burden and responsibility of the government where it belongs, those of high intelligence, and we come back again to the rule of the aristoc- racy-this time the real and total aris- tocracy. For its own salvation the state must assume the obligation and respon- sibility of selecting this intellectual ar istocracy, and, having selected it, see that 1t IS properly trained
 Thus it is apparent" continues the Chicago federation of labor, "that the principles of the Hindu caste system are consciously and deliberately being urged for application in American life