Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-21
Better Adjustment to Their
School Obligations Urged
by Scientist.
STRAINS AT THIS AGE
MAKE SHARP INCREASE
White House Conference Section
on Child Health Given Results
of Observations.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

| the "adoleScent squirt" the accelera-
| ton in growth which comes at about
| the time children enter high school in
! the United States. involves such far
reaching dangers that a change in the
American educational system may be
justified.
Such was the warning of DR.. Charles
B. Davenport director of the genetics
laboratory of the Carnegie Institution
OF Washington, to the medical service
section of the White House Conference
on Child Health and Protection.
At the very time, he said when the
| child'S body is under enormous stress
American society throws upon the or
ganiSm a greatly increased load. Boys
and girls leave the elementary schools,
to the routine of which they have be-
come adjusted over long period of
| lesser physical strain, and are fore ed
to make the difficult adjustment to the
new environment of high school. At
the same time they are thrown into
competitive sports, subjected to stricter
discipline, and begin to enter society.
Would Be More Lenient.
These extra burdens on an already
over-burdened physical machine, DR..
Davenport said, may be in large part
responsible for the bodily breakdowns
in tuberculosis and the mental break
frequent at that age. He urged that
boys and girls at this period of life be
! given greater freedom to follow their
instincts, even in such manifestations
as truancy. The body knows what it
wants" he said, land shouldn't be
forced into what it rebels against"
The English school system, he said
seems better calculated to meet this
situation. There the school grades are
arranged SO that the boy remains in
the same school, with few new bur-
dens. during the 'adolescent squirt" and
is not transferred to the higher school,
until the dangerous period is over
The danger. DR.. Davenport said, is
more apparent from recent biological
studies which show that the cost to the
body of this great acceleration of growth
is far more extensive than had been
supposed. Practically every cell of the
organism is under stress. Growth is
accompanied by a corresponding tear
1ng-down process. Physically this is
manifested by such symptoms as awk-
Wardness and growing pains. But the
mind must make an adjustment to the
changing body and this, DR.. Davenport
said, seems to explain some of the queer
behavior of adolescents which has puz-
zled their elders throughout history
The effort should be, he said, to relieve
the organism of burdens rather than
pile more upon it.
Growth Curves Studied.
Statistical studies of the growth curves
of children, he explained, show that
there is a gradual diminishing of the
rate at birth until about the fourth year
after which there is slow but steady
increment to about the tenth year
Then the speed is much reduced, until il
suddenly increases enormously at about
the thirteenth year in girls and the
fourteenth in boys. With some chill
dren, however, this may come at 10 to
II, and varies somewhat with race and
physical type. This is what he called
the "adolescent squirt"
The diminished growth rate which
precedes it, he explained, is due to
natures recognition of the great burdens
she Is preparing, to throw on the body
1t gives the organism a breathing spell
/, to store up reserves for the hard battle
, ahead
While defending their general useful
ness, care must be exercised in the ad-
ministration and Interpretation OF
mental tests of children, DR.. Douglas
A. Thorn of Boston told the conference
Mental growth" he said, starts
even before birth and continues through
life. 1t may be traced in the earliest
infant"
Young Children Observed.
The possibility of studying the minds
Of very young children through objec-
tive observation of their behavior also
was stressed by DR.. Arnold Gessell OF
Yale University, whose recent expert
mentS. have developed a tentative
technique 1t is based on the concept
of 1.-The mind as having living struc-
ture and as being an organic complex
which manifests itself in behavior
which is expressed in organic patterns.
Even the apparently random activities
Of the infant are considered just az
much manifestations of mind" as the
words it uses when it reaches the talk.
ing stage. BY studying such activitie!
for large numbers of children the in.
vestigatorS are confident that pattern!
for age levels can be established which
can be correlated with rate of growth
of the more abvious expressions of TIT
mind shown afterward. Thus it ma,
be possible to predict vaguely the in
fant's future from shortly after birth
The definition of intelligence mucl
disputed point-upon which the Con
ference Committee proceeded was "abil
of distractions"
ITO measure the intelligence of al
individual" said DR.. Thorn, I'VE mus
rely on tests which give us samples o
the individuals ability in ditferen
types of performance. 1t is not to b.
expected that a given individual viii
make the same score on all the test
now in common use. IneXpert admin
istration of intelligence tests is an am
portant source of error, as is also mis-
Y Interpretation. The test score shoult
l be thought of not as a final verdict bu
:, as a point of departure for further OBJ
SerVation. 1t should be supplemented
by the story of the child's life, tests o
actual accomplishments and careful
consideration OF personality traits"
Heredity Factor Stated.
The Conference Committee took tn
stand that intellectually superior chill
dren are products of heredity, but nur
ture and personality determine in larg
[ measure the extent to which the
achieve. "Systematized effort in behal
of such children must replace the pres
ent general neglect and the ruinou
methods of prodigy-making which hav
been sporadically attempted" DR.. Thon
! ! insisted.
The committee also took its stan
D, on the position that special abilities
such as musical and mathematical, ar
/ hereditary, but "the actual behavior o
! the child depend to as great or create
extent on the degree to which his be
t havior is governed by sound habits.
More mothers die in childbirth in tn
= United States than in any other civil
e lied nation, the conference was told b
Dr.. Palmer Findley, president of tn
! Central Association of Obstetrics ant
Gynecology This is largely due. tn
conference committee concluded, to in
I adequate educational facilities for med
ical students, nurses and graduate ply
sicians. The mortality is less than hall