Evening star., 1929-11-03
MODERN TEACHING KICKS
CRIME OUT OF SCHOOLS
New Methods and Special Institutions
Are Solving Problem of Present
Day Education.

realizing more and more that mental
ability may be much less important In
the final analysis than emotional ad-
justment; the person with an inferior
mental equipment may have other
qualities which enable him to take such
good advantage of the intelligence he
has that in the long run he wins the
! race over the brilliant but emotionally
unstable genius. 1t is, nevertheless, true
that after many years OF experience III
giving intelligence tests, and after our
study of the results of testing several
million people of all ages, modern psy-
chology has been able to get surpris-
ingly clear picture Of the mental ability
of people as a whole. 1t has learned
that they fall into the following general
classifications:
General Classifications.
The very superior: These comprise
AZ per cent Of our total population.
They are not necessarily geniuses, but
they are capable leaders in whatever
they undertake. If they go to college
they get good grades. Even If fate
places them in some of the occupations
which do not require high academic
education, they exhibit superior quail
ties, such as ingenuity and good judg-
ment in their method of meeting the
problems of life. A carpenter of very
superior mentality for instance, will
probably rise to be q contractor and
builder.
The superior people. Nine per cent
of us fall into this class. Those of this
group who go to college will get through
in a more or less cerditable manner
Many are to be found in the professions.
but they also, with the very superior
group, comprise the leaders in occupa-
tions outside the white-collar class.
The average people. These are usu-
ally classed by psychologists In three
subdivisionS-the high average Q612
per cent?, the average (25 per cent?
high averages, who seldom reach a
mental age of more than II, may get
into college as poor students. They may
make their grades, but it will be hard
pull They are likely to be most un-
happy and frustrated persons. because
they are continually reaching and their
families are continually trying to push
them to accomplishments beyond their
mental ability.
The middle average group, who. 1t
should be noticed. comprise one-fourth
of the total population, are rarely ca
pable of finishing even the high school
course as it now is. The low average.
who are almost as large group co
per cent?, can usually get through the
SCAiOOA, Oub dO AIObAA4lS
The other two large groupings, ac-
cording to mental tests, are:
Inferior mentality us per cent of the
totaD.
Very inferior 90 per cent Of the
totaD.
Now. if Ceven admitting the limita-
tions of the intelligence test as Q COM
plete gauge of ability we examine this
situation in relation to the present cur
- twS - Il
we find? This startling fact: Except for
few forward looking, classes. schools
and movements here and there, the
preparation for college" tradition still
has a strangle hold on education, al
though only 80 per cent Of the total
population are mentally capable Of tax
ing q college education.
Seventy Per Cent Incapable.
Another fact: the curriculum of most
public high schools is based on an aca-
demic standard which almost 10 per
cent of the population are incapable of
reaching: yet when they do not reach
it they are branded as failures and
acquire as a result crippling sense of
inferiority and incapacity.
What is just as bad, they are sent
away from school totally unprepared to
play their part creditably in those sta
OAuAAo ia A4AC w W1llCL bAACl u0AAt4CS WILL
inevitably consign them. It is perhaps
a minor point but one worth consider
ing, that these failing pupils-32.000
year in Philadelphia alone-will be TIE
men and women who. Is years or 50
later, will be called upon to support pub
lie education through taxation!
Though the fault with, most OF our
present-day public school education
harkS back to our inherited ignorance
Of YNSyNhnlOoirol rlripPiYN1eS ard 0rar he
lief that the way to train our children
Is to hold before them standard they
are incapable of reaching, the trouble is
also undoubtedly due in a certain meas
ure to the fact that we are a nation of
snobs. We have a royal family COM
plex. Lacking hereditary nobility of
our own, We borrow the nobility of other
countries, hugging it to our hearts with
all the pathetic eagerneSs of a toyless
child who has been loaned another little
girls doll. We try in our educational
system to make snobs of the lower tenth
and scramble for the white collar Job at
twenty week in preference to the over
all job at sixty. We feel that mechani-
cal skill and skill with the hands is
somehow socially discreditable if it is
used as method of money making.
Many Types of Mind.
Psychologists now realize that there
are many types Of mind and mental
abilities. and that each type, though it.
may be brilliantly successful in its
chosen field, may be miserable failure
II 1t undertakes work in other fields. We
classify people, roughly speaking. as
having social, motor or verbal types of
mind. The classic examples of these
three types are Roosevelt, Edison and
Wilson. 1t is obvious that the last two,
though each a great man in his own
sphere, would have been utterly made
quate II forced to change places. This
fact illustrates the absurdity of suppos-
ing that any one type is superior to an
other, and especially the abSurdity of
the popular notion that the motor type
Is In some way mentally inferior to the
verbal and the social. 1t is true that In
the various branches Of engineering for
instance, which may be claSsed as a mo-
tor type occupation, there is room for
many people with average or even in
ferior mental endowmentS-much rnore
room than in, let us say, the medical
profession. But this does not imply that
those who lead the engineers do not
need to be just as mentally superior as
those who lead the doctors.
The present educational standards Of
most public schools are adjusted 70 the
verbal type of mind. They have little
use for the Lindberghs of this world,
ana little to otter them, as illustrated by
the great airman's own experience,
They fail to realize that success. in the
fnal analysis, consists in doing the
things which give us satisfaction. The
train dispatcher may be a happier and
more efficient man in his job and hence
a greater success as a human being.
than the president of the road.
This, then. was the key to the re-
habilitation of Michael. He demanded
that life give him some sort of satisfac-
ticn and personal recognition. AS
bully he was a thorough SUCCESS a nar