Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
RY FRANK CODY.

; 1 " II Tile Wiuc ulllCICllCSS dHlOiAS
L people, and Is tending to treat
every case in terms of its par
ticular needs. Thus, for example, the
able insurance salesman uses a method
of attack conSpicuouSly different from
that uSad by the insurance salesman of
few years ago. No longer does he
have favorite policy which he tries to
sell to every one. Instead OF this, he
| learns all that he can about the pros
pect and then helps the prospect select
/ the particular insurance policy which
will fit his needs best.
The 30-year-old mechanic with his
| wife and three small children is dealt
with differently from the unmarried
| stenographer of % with no dependents.
| The competent insurance salesman OBJ
serves the differences among people, and
preScribes for each particular case.
| Another instance in business is the
! case of selling women's hats. Surely
| here, If anywhere, individuality has
! been recognized and adjustment made
/ in so far as possible. What woman
would buy a hat knowing that 10000
others of identically the same pattern
and color were being sold in her city
| that same week?
Craftsmanship Improved.
| Modern business has found that this
/ type of adjustment pays. The inSur-
ance salesman who meets the special
needs of his clients sells more insurance
| than the insurance man who attempts
| to sell the same policy to every one.
The millinery clerk who senses differ
ences in women and who intuitively
suggests the headwear which is just
right for each roman sells more hats
and in the long run receives larger pay
check. Here, as elsewhere, the things
which work tend to become generally
accepted.
Individual differences are not re-
| stricted to the fields of insurance and
| of womens hats. They are found to
exist almost everywhere in the natural
world Not the least obvious Of these
individual differences are those among
children.
Parents See Differences.
Every parent with more than one
child knows from experience how unlike
different children are. How common it
is to hear a parent say. Il just can't
understand why Helen is so different
from Lucille. Lucille is such a quiet,
studious, gracious child. Helen Is as
different from her as day from night.
She refuses to study. She disrupts the
teacher. She is noisy. 1 can't under
stand how we could have two children
so different"
Every one who knows children, whether
it be parent or teacher Of social worker,
is conscious of the wide variation In
their characteristics, abilities and
interests.
What parents find true in the home
teachers find true also in the School.
Of course, children differ in height,
weirht and other physical attributes.
They differ in their mental endow-
ments as we'll Some are by nature
rapid and accurate workers; others by
nature are slow and inaccurate. Fur
Their. children differ in emotional con-
troll. Some are high strung and
nervous in temperament. while others
are calm and even-tempered.
Varied Methods Used.
These three types of differences in
children-phy5ical mental and emo
Torrance of the child Thus. WITHIN
a single class, one child may read at
the rate of 120 words minute, while
another may read at the rate of 24O
words a minute, yet remember as large
a proportion of what he has read as
the first child. AS a consequence OF
these facts and others like them teach
ers generally are dealing differently
with different children, just as parents
have learned to do.
The whole organization OF schools
in the last century is evidence OF the
growing recognition OF lndlvldual ol!-
ferences. The system of grading chill
dren into first, second, third and higher
grades is a device to put together the
Children who are most like each other.
| The inadequacy of the adjustment
through grading alone, however Is
almost incredible to one who has not
. 1 lonlyad into the situation Carefully.
Differences in Glass Cited.
Among schoolmen it is matter of
common knowledge that, for example,
typical fourth-grade class in reading
in practically any city in the country
probably includes a number OF chill
| dren who read no better than average
| third-grade children. several who read
no better than average second-graoe
! children, and occasionally one or two
who are no better readers than ordinary
! first-grade children.
At the same time this fourth-grade
! class probably includes children VINO
read as well as average fifth graders,
| others who read as we'll as average
sixth graders and perhaps one or two
| as high as even eighth or ninth graders.
Thus the class ranges in ability from
! first or second to eighth or ninth
| grade. What is the teacher of such
| class to do? Obviously there is but
one thing. If she is to discharge her
| duties to the maximum she must give
to each child the particular kind OF
| help he needs.
Classified by Grades.
Classification into grades was the
| first step taken in adjusting to indi-
vidual needs The next step, now
being taken in many school systems,
was to classify the children in each
grade into more homogeneous groups.
But even this does not meet the prob
| lem adequately.
| Students of children are coming very
generally to the belief that there are
no natural groups, no hard-and-fast
| pigeonholes into which children can be
placed with assurance. The more we
know of children, the more we realize
! that there are no sharp lines marking
off one group of children from another.
| There is, rather, continuous change
in any given trait.
There are no sharp lines of demarca-
| ton except those which are set arbl-
trarily between tall children and chill
dren of average height or between chill
6ren of average height and short chill
dren. The myth of the type" has been
pretty well exploded in child study as
| well as in most of our other social SCI
| enceS.
Learn Child to Teach Him.
Classification devices have proved to
be helpful in meeting the problem OF
| differences in children, but can scarcely
be said to have solved it. The ten
dency now is to make more basic ad-
justments to individual differences IN
every phase of the teaching process.
Evidently the first task of the school Is
to discover the characteristics and
needs of each individual child.
Ac q cnncnnnance the modern school