Evening star., 1933-03-16
MIND TESTS GAIN
| VIDE POPULARITY
Parents Should Not Worry if
Child Brings Home
: Odd Questions.
By the Associated Press.

BY In6 hSSOCldteu EIcSo.
NEW YORK. March 16.-1f Kinder
garten Peggy comes home talking about
pretty elephants" and Junior High
Dick asks what is the opposite of
if?" don't be worried.
They've been having Intelligence"
or mental ability" tests, and by and
by you may learn that Peggy might, be
much better off If she were, placed in
the second grade, and that Dick is
better fitted for the ninth-or. pos
sibly, the seventh-than he is for the
eighth grade.
search Committee on social trends says
the use of mental tests and measure
ments has been greatly increasing A
leading publisher. it states, sold less
than 100000 intelligence tests in 1920
1921, but more than 100000 10 years
later.
Mental tests for the lower grades
are composed largely of pictures. For
instance. to test common observation"
the child may be asked to indicate,
from pictures of coffee pot. thread,
tea, kettle, needle, thimble, frying pan
and cup. what objects a mother uses
in sewing an apron.
OR, to tests "esthetic differences" he
may be asked to choose from pictures
Of elephants, dancers, girls and houses
the prettiest in each group.
Or, he may be given two minutes to
draw line from mouse in one maze
TO piece of cheese in another.
He may be asked to indicate whether
north" and south" and courage"
aad bravery" have the same or oppo-
ste meanings. And. to test his COM
mon sense" he may be asked whether
men raise their hats when they meet
wpmen they know because they
learned to do it when they were boys"
OF 'it is considered polite" or Ito
show their hair is brushed"
Tests for higher grades continue
along much the same line. A pupil of
grades to II may be asked, for in
stance, whether the guillotine causes
death, disease, fever or sickness, and
whether "one swallow does not make
Summer" means swallows come back
for the Summer. or "a single sign is
NOT sufficient proof" or many birds
add to the pleasure of Summer"
To test his ability to grasp the mean
ing of sentence, he may be asked
whether or not social contact tends to
reduce eccentricities or to state whcth-
er, rearranged, such a sentence as Ger
tain always death of cause kinds sick
ness" makes a true or false statement.
One examination for AL literate
persons" as we'll as for grades 5 to IL
tests ability to understand complicated
language by presenting such problems
as Write the letter which is midway
between K and O in the alphabet"
In testing comprehension of relation
ships, one of the problems is "'Evolu-
tion' is to revolution as crawl is to
(baby, floor, stand, run, hands and
knees
One authority. on intelligence tests
says the rapid increase in their use is
due to the conviction on the part of
thousands of teachers that the results
obtained enable them to teach more
easily and efficiently.
They can ascertain which pupils have
similar mental abilities, he explains
and by placing them in one group can
help make sure of an even progress.
When pupils of different abilities are
taught in the same Glass;" he says
there is tendency for some pupils
who understand the teacher quickly to
waste time while the teacher makes
further explanation to others.
And there is tendency for SLOW
thinking pupils to become discouraged
when they find their classmates forging
ahead when they themselves cannot
understand what is going on