Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-15
Warding Off Heartbreak Age

the same, but the older group did
little the best! This one experiment
throws into the scrapheap vast lot OF
bosh about people losing their mental
ability as they grow old.
Another experiment was to put old
people against young ones and against
children in learning languages. People
have believed for ages that childhood
was the Language learning period"
Prof. Thorndike put three groups to
work, each the same number of hours
and under the same teachers, in learn
ing Esperanto. He chose this artificial
language for the reason that probably
no one had ever tried it. The three
groups were aged, respectively, 20 to 25,
26 to "a and IS to 81. Discarding TECH
nicauties, the net result was that there
was almost no difference in the progress
made by the different groups.
However, not satisfied with this, Prof.
Thprndike pitted his Oldest group
those aged from 35 to 57-s=5-5nSC
young men and women who averaged
is years old. These young people were
from a good private school, and there
fore above average in intelligence. The
astounding result was that the oldsters
made twice as much progress as The
youngsters, Notwithstanding the young
sters had over twice as much class study
and (provided they did not shrink
twice as much home study as the older
people But still further, he pitted
his older people against children from
9 to IL, who were mostly children OF
exceptionally high intelligence" 1t
smashes all old-faShioned notions In
this field to find that the younger chill
dren learned the language the slowest
of all.
Prof. Thorndike concludes his &C
count of this experiment with these i'm
preSSive-indeed, educationally revolu-
tionary-words: "All these facts are in
fiat contradiction to the time-honored
notion that childhood is the period in
which one learns most rapidly to read,
write, speak and understand language,
and also the notion that the early
teens are the next most advantageous
period. We are convinced that the
gain made by any group OF any
age from 20 to 40 will be greater than
the gain made by a group aged 8, 10 or
IL Of equal native capacity"
Also Studied Shorthand.
These students also studied the prob
lem of learning shorthand and type
writing. Many a woman of 80 or 40 LETT
without support asks herself, can
learn to be a stenographer?" We can
now answer that you can learn at that
age Just about as well as at any age
below these periods. Prof. Thorndike
states his conclusion of their extensive
experiment in this field as follows:
"The end result is that ages IL to 10
and 20 to "a are indistinguishable in
their ability to learn shorthand ana
typewriting, and ages "a to 80 and over
on the whole learn almost as well AZ
those from II to "a"
AGony T0aOY11a lament that thew cam
not do problems in mental arithmetic
and lay 1t to the fact that they did not
practice this exercise during youth.
Boshl Prof. Thorndike showed that
adult students in seven hours OF practice
with suitable rest periods did two one
fifth times better than at the beginning.
It seems safe to assume that mature
people by practicing 20 minutes day
for 20 days could double their facility
in doing mental problems without haV-
ing to get pencil and piece OF paper
a habit that would bring big returns
every day as long as you live.
Another gratifying experiment was
that of taking right and left handed
people and having them practice writing
with the wrong hand. At the beginning
these adults wrote with the wrong hand
about as well as the average 9-year -old
in school, but after is hours Of practice
with suitable rest periods they wrote as
well as 11-year-olds.
That is, in IS hours practice these
adults, aged "a to Al years. progressed
schools children ordinarily do using
their easiest hand in two years OF
growth and schooling, including over
100 hours of special practice IN hand
writingl
These experiments also made extern
sive tests Of the ability of prisoners In
Sing Sing to learn-the experiments
there being conducted by DR.. j. w.
Triton. Three hundred and seven men
were used, none Of whom had ever
gone beyond the seventh grade. They
were therefore, on the average, pretty
dull men. The men ranged from seven
teen to f1fty-four years old, and al
though pretty stupid and out of practice,
they progressed 81 per cent as fast in
reading. writing, spelling, composition
and arithmetic as average school child
rem notwithstanding school children
have four times as long a school day
and much more practice and study
outside of school hours.
Frof. Thorndike. says here: cit seems
certain that theseN adults learned these
school subjects more rapidly than they
would have learned them at 10 or H."
The entire research by this group of
able psychologists concludes with
statement by Prof. Thorndike that
ought to impress not only all older
persons, but every business employer
in America. After pointing out that
there is probably a decrease in sheer
learning ability after IS of perhaps /
per cent a year up at least to As,
which, he says, is more than Offset
by the enormous amount we forget"
Prof. Thorndike adds:
"n / had to draw a general conclu-
sion, I should say that these results
demonstrate that the ability of adults
to learn Is very close to that Of persons
from II TO 10 years Of age" And still
further, he says, I'VE are led to the
conclusion that the best time to learn
q thing Is just before we need to use
1t, for it Is using it that makes it an
organic part of our education -. They
certainly point to the fact that pro-
vision should be abundantly made for
people to go to school at all periods of
life, and the money that has been
expended in providing for adult educa-
ton has been justified"
Not only did this search show the
gratifying ability of older folk to learn
as long as we live, but 1t took up the
age-old question as to when a person
does his best work. They studied the
achievements Of 331 Of the greatest men
Of history and found that what Thorn
dixie happily calls the masterpiece age"
averaged just about 471a years Among
one special group of 119 great men the
average masterpiece age was ST. In
general the masterpiece age Of scien-
lists ranged around IS and that Of men
Of affairs around So to SIS. II must be
remembered. too, that these are only
averages. Some men made their great
est achievements at so, some at 70 and
a few when they were beyond 80 years
of age.
All this contradicts DR.. William
Osler's famous saying-probably spoken