Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-17
NEW TESTS NEEDED
TO MEASURE BOYS
DR.. Furfey Uses "DeveIop'
mental Age" as Factor
in Understanding.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

LA 4hONAfA0 1AL4NR4s
The 14-year-old boy falls violently in
love with the 12-year-old girl down the
alley.
He starts doing extraordinary and in
comprehensive things. He combs his
hair and scrubs out his ears. In de-
f1ance of one Of the most sacred of the
traditions of boyhood, he asks to wear
his best clothes to school. He stops
| playing with the Boy Scouts and mopes
| around the house. He becomes polite
and melancholy. Overnight he changes
from the crudeSt sort of young savage
into a ludicrously amateour little gen.
tleman His mother gets a trifle wor-
ried. She thinks the child may have
had some sort of premonition of death
| and wonders If 1t wouldn't be best to
call a doctor. The father, If he remem-
bers his own boyhood, smiles bit visit
gone springtimes.
The boys conduct is not so extraor-
binary after all. 1t doesn't mean that
he is sick or going crazy. He simply IS
passing through an experience which
is almost universal with the male OF
the species. It is an experience, how
ever, that may have a profound effect
on the development of his character
and personality, because it influences
all his other experiences for time.
Nearly every boy has such an eX-
perience sooner or later, but for the
great majority who develop normally
it comes within year or two of a def
mite age. But 1t may come at almost
any time for some individuals. There
are violent love affairs in the grade
school as well as in the high school.
Normally, however, the calf-love days
probably start between IS and is.
Pass Higher Tests.
Now, it is we'll known that boy
may be 10 years old as his birthdays
are counted, but IL or Is years old in
intelligence-that is, he may be able to
pass tests standardized for the older
children. But the same boy may still
be unable to fall asleep without taking
his woolly bear to bed with him and
may be overwhelmed with night terrors
If he wakes up in the darkness and
finds 1t is not there-the sort Of be-
havior which he should have outgrown
at 5 or 6. Or he may have fallen in
love when he was Z years old, an
almost pathological case.
Besides the mental and chronological
ages, says Rev. DR.. Paul H. Furfey, Of
the department of sociology at Catholic
University, there is a third age which
can be meaSured-the developmental
age. or stage which the individual has
reached in the common experience of
the race. The recognition of this
factor, DR.. Furfey holds, may enable
teachers and psychologists to under
stand children much better than is
possible when only the chronological
and mental ages are considered.
DR.. Furfey has constructed test for
measuring this deveiopmental age, based
upon a study of rs boys In local
boys club This resulted in the
classification of 10 traits characteristic
of different ages. The tests apply only
to boys, but DR.. Furfey holds that a
similar work might be done to adj
vantage with developing girls. The i'm
portance of the test Is illustrated by
DR.. Furfey In cases like the following:
The Case of Donald.
Donald was IA years old and had an
intelligence quotient of LOG. Special
tests showed that he was slightly
brighter than the average boy. He did
good work in school, But he was an
extremely effeminate boy. The other
boys called him sissy" and prosecuted
him to some extent. He never joined
in rough games. He liked to play with
the little girls in his block. The rea-
son showed up quickly enough when
Dr. Furfey's developmental measure
ment was applied. Intelligence and
body were normal, but the child had
developmental quotient Of only 66.
That is. he was about 8 years old in
this respect.
1.-THE adjective most frequently used
to describe Philip by those who knew
him was childish" says DR.. Furfey.
Group intelligence tests showed him to
have very superior intelligence, and
educational tests showed him to be
some four years advanced beyond the
average for his age He was distinctly
taller and heavier than boys of his
age. Yet Philip was distinctly immature
in many Of his way Instead Of playing
the conventional games with other boys
Of his age, he liked to tease them, TAX
ing their hats or calling them names
until they chased him away.
He talked loftily about becoming a