The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-02-06
TheCherry
" Where with our
we tell the truth
about many things. sometimes pro-
foundly, sometimes hippantly,
sometimes recklessly. ........

sometimes recklessly. .......
Nothing has come bringing so
much glee in long time as a couple
of socks to the jaw just recently de-
livered to our old friend the intelli-
gence test.
It's called an intelligence test by
its sponsors. It's their baby and they
named it, but there are now some
rather healthy signs that the cog
nomen may be misnomer, or some
thing of that sort.
DIR. A. A. Brill, eminent psychia-
trist, is one of the growing number of
swatters of the intelligence test. He
pokes Mr.. |. @. smack on the beak.
DR.. Brill cites one youth who said,
after test, that he wrote foolish an
swers on purpose. What do they ex-
pect in answer to lot of foolish
questions 2" the boy asked, showing
thereby real intelligence This author
ity says there are cases where paper
and pencil tests may be misleading
and even harmful. And as for teach
ers, he tells them that if they don't
know their crowd at the end of a
week no test will help them.
DR.. Brill is almost furious in his
assault.
DR.. Kenneth d. Blackfan, chairman
OF the committee on growth and de-
velopment, of the White House Con-
ference on Child Health and Protec-
ton, is no more of a word-mincer than
is DR.. Brill. "No intelligence test
samples the entire range of mental
abilities" says this critic. And also,
says DR.. Blackfan, the first inherent
danger in an uncritical use of intelli-
gence tests lies in the elusive nature
of intelligence itself.
And that there has been uncritical
use and will continue to be, goes
without saying. The dear fad hunters
grab fad, use it to the limit and
swear by it.
Returning to DR.. Brill, it is worth
pointing out that he makes his heav-
lest score by pointing out that the
testers must ignore the emotions and
human beings are emotional beings
He declares that the emotional side
of person is the most important
side.
DR.. Carl Van Doren, editor and
critic, holds that the judgment of any
bright young person is as good as the
verdict of battery of intelligence
testers. He is probably right.
The intelligence testers tend to put
children-and elders-in classifica-
tions and keep them there. They la
bel boy as good for a farm and
that puts that boy where he belongs,
whether he belongs there or not If
they guess wrong that's just too bad.
They label a girl as capable of
working in a laundry and that tickets
her for that kind of work and no
other. Whether she hates laundries
and finds later that she can run a
bank is beside the point to the test
ers. Like other doctors they can't ad-
nit mistakes.
The intelligence testers got their
big chance during the war. They la
beled out labels for young men by the
thousands. 1t is not of record that
they picked single congressional
Medal of Honor man in advance. 1t
would be of interest to see the record
of promotions as compared to the /. @.
ratings previously given. Strangely,
nothing Of the kind seems to have
been printed.
The world produces fads prolifcally.
Great numbers of people live by vir-
tue of fads. They grab the fads, pro-
mote them, put pink ribbons on them
and get big regulations or wads of
money or both.
But those things that tend to put
human beings in fixed classes had
better be regarded with awe and sus-
picion, if not with outright hostility.
1t is good to see scientific men take
hot shots at the intellipence testing