The Measurement of Intelligence Part 10

Here is a most pitiful case of the overstimulated backward child in a superior family. Instead of nagging at the boy and urging him on to attempt things which are impossible to his inferior intelligence, his parents should take him out of school and put him at some kind of work which he could do. If the boy had been the son of a common laborer he would probably have left school early and have become a dependable and contented laborer. In a very simple environment he would probably not be considered defective.

_C. P. Boy, age 10-2; mental age 7-11; I Q 78._ Portuguese boy, son of a skilled laborer. One of eleven children, most of whom have about this same grade of intelligence. Has attended school regularly for four years. Is in the third grade, but cannot do the work. Except for extreme stubbornness his social development is fairly normal. Capable in plays and games, but is regarded as impossible in his school work. Like his brother, M. P., the next case to be described, he will doubtless become a fairly reliable laborer at unskilled work and will not be regarded, in his rather simple environment, as a defective. From the psychological point of view, however, his deficiency is real. He will probably never develop beyond the 11- or 12-year level or be able to do satisfactory school work beyond the fifth or sixth grade.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10. WRITING FROM DICTATION. C. P., AGE 10-2; MENTAL AGE 7-11]

_M. P. Boy, age 14; mental age 10-8; I Q 77._ Has been tested four successive years, I Q being always between 75 and 80.

Brother to C. P. above. In school nearly eight years and has been promoted to the fifth grade. At 16 was doing poor work in the sixth grade. Good school advantages, as the father has tried conscientiously to give his children "a good education."

Perfectly normal in appearance and in play activities and is liked by other children. Seems to be thoroughly dependable both in school and in his outside work. Will probably become an excellent laborer and will pa.s.s as perfectly normal, notwithstanding a grade of intelligence which will not develop above 11 or 12 years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11. BALL AND FIELD TEST. M. P., AGE 14; MENTAL AGE 10-8]

What shall we say of cases like the last two which test at high-grade moronity or at border-line, but are well enough endowed in moral and personal traits to pa.s.s as normal in an uncomplicated social environment? According to the cla.s.sical definition of feeble-mindedness such individuals cannot be considered defectives. Hardly any one would think of them as inst.i.tutional cases. Among laboring men and servant girls there are thousands like them. They are the world's "hewers of wood and drawers of water." And yet, as far as intelligence is concerned, the tests have told the truth. These boys are uneducable beyond the merest rudiments of training. No amount of school instruction will ever make them intelligent voters or capable citizens in the true sense of the word. Judged psychologically they cannot be considered normal.

It is interesting to note that M. P. and C. P. represent the level of intelligence which is very, very common among Spanish-Indian and Mexican families of the Southwest and also among negroes. Their dullness seems to be racial, or at least inherent in the family stocks from which they come. The fact that one meets this type with such extraordinary frequency among Indians, Mexicans, and negroes suggests quite forcibly that the whole question of racial differences in mental traits will have to be taken up anew and by experimental methods. The writer predicts that when this is done there will be discovered enormously significant racial differences in general intelligence, differences which cannot be wiped out by any scheme of mental culture.

Children of this group should be segregated in special cla.s.ses and be given instruction which is concrete and practical. They cannot master abstractions, but they can often be made efficient workers, able to look out for themselves. There is no possibility at present of convincing society that they should not be allowed to reproduce, although from a eugenic point of view they const.i.tute a grave problem because of their unusually prolific breeding.

DULL NORMALS (I Q USUALLY 80 TO 90). In this group are included those children who would not, according to any of the commonly accepted social standards, be considered feeble-minded, but who are nevertheless far enough below the actual average of intelligence among races of western European descent that they cannot make ordinary school progress or master other intellectual difficulties which average children are equal to. A few of this cla.s.s test as low as 75 to 80 I Q, but the majority are not far from 85. The unmistakably normal children who go much below this (in California, at least) are usually Mexicans, Indians, or negroes.

_R. G. Negro boy, age 13-5; mental age 10-6; I Q approximately 80._ Normal in appearance and conduct, but very dull. Is attempting fifth-grade work in a special cla.s.s, but is failing.

From a fairly good home and has had ordinary school advantages.

In the examination his intelligence is very even as far as it goes, but stops rather abruptly after the 10-year tests. Will unquestionably pa.s.s as normal among unskilled laborers, but his intelligence will never exceed the 12-year level and he is not likely to advance beyond the seventh grade, if as far.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12. BALL AND FIELD. R. G., AGE 13-5, MENTAL AGE 10-6]

_F. D. Boy, tested at age 10-2; I Q 83, and again at 14-1; I Q 79._ Mental age in the first test was 8-6 and in the second test 11. Son of a barber. Father dead; mother capable; makes a good home, and cares for her children well. At 10 was doing unsatisfactory work in the fourth grade, and at 12 unsatisfactory work in low sixth. Good-looking, normal in appearance and social development, and though occasionally obstinate is usually steady. Any one unacquainted with his poor school work and low I Q would consider him perfectly normal. No physical or moral handicaps of any kind that could possibly account for his r.e.t.a.r.dation. Is simply dull. Needs purely a vocational training, but may be able to complete the eighth grade with low marks by the age of 16 or 17.

_G. G. Girl, age 12-4; mental age 10-10; I Q 82._ From average home. Excellent educational advantages and no physical handicaps. At 12 years was doing very poor work in fifth grade.

Appearance, play life, and att.i.tude toward other children normal. Simply dull. Will probably never go beyond the 12- or 13-year level and is not likely to get as far as the high school.

Those testing 80 and 90 will usually be able to reach the eighth grade, but ordinarily only after from one to three or four failures. They are so very numerous (about 15 per cent of the school enrollment) that it is doubtful whether we can expect soon to have special cla.s.ses enough to accommodate all. The most feasible solution is a differentiated course of study with parallel cla.s.ses in which every child will be allowed to make the best progress of which he is capable, without incurring the risk of failure and non-promotion. The so-called Mannheim system, or something similar to it, is what we need.

AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE (I Q 90 TO 110). It is often said that the schools are made for the average child, but that "the average child does not exist." He does exist, and in very large numbers. About 60 per cent of all school children test between 90 and 110 I Q, and about 40 per cent between 95 and 105. That these children are average is attested by their school records as well as by their I Q's. Our records show that, of more than 200 children below 14 years of age and with I Q between 95 and 105, not one was making much more nor much less than average school progress.

Four were two years r.e.t.a.r.ded, but in each case this was due to late start, illness, or irregular attendance. Children who test close to 90, however, often fail to get along satisfactorily, while those testing near 110 are occasionally able to win an extra promotion.

The children of this average group are seldom school problems, as far as ability to learn is concerned. Nor are they as likely to cause trouble in discipline as the dull and border-line cases. It is therefore hardly necessary to give ill.u.s.trative cases here.

The high school, however, does not fit their grade of intelligence as well as the elementary and grammar schools. High schools probably enroll a disproportionate number of pupils in the I Q range above 100. That is, the average intelligence among high-school pupils is above the average for the population in general. It is probably not far from 110. College students are, of course, a still more selected group, perhaps coming chiefly from the range above 115. The child whose school marks are barely average in the elementary grades, when measured against children in general, will ordinarily earn something less than average marks in high school, and perhaps excessively poor marks in college.

SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (I Q 110 TO 120). Children of this group ordinarily make higher marks and are capable of making somewhat more rapid progress than the strictly average child. Perhaps most of them could complete the eight grades in seven years as easily as the average child does in eight years. They are not usually the best scholars, but on a scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, and failure they will usually rank as good, though of course the degree of application is a factor. It is rare, however, to find a child of this level who is positively indolent in his school work or who dislikes school. In high school they are likely to win about the average mark.

Intelligence of 110 to 120 I Q is approximately five times as common among children of superior social status as among children of inferior social status; the proportion among the former being about 24 per cent of all, and among the latter only 5 per cent of all. The group is made up largely of children of the fairly successful mercantile or professional cla.s.ses.

The total number of children between 110 and 120 is almost exactly the same as the number between 80 and 90; namely, about 15 per cent. The distance between these two groups (say between 85 and 115) is as great as the distance between average intelligence and border-line deficiency, and it would be absurd to suppose that they could be taught to best advantage in the same cla.s.ses. As a matter of fact, pupils between 110 and 120 are usually held back to the rate of progress which the average child can make. They are little encouraged to do their best.

VERY SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (I Q 120 TO 140). Children of this group are better than somewhat above average. They are unusually superior. Not more than 3 out of 100 go as high as 125 I Q, and only about 1 out of 100 as high as 130. In the schools of a city of average population only about 1 child in 250 or 300 tests as high as 140 I Q.

In a series of 476 unselected children there was not a single one reaching 120 whose social cla.s.s was described as "below average."[29] Of the children of superior social status, about 10 per cent reached 120 or better. The 120-140 group is made up almost entirely of children whose parents belong to the professional or very successful business cla.s.ses.

The child of a skilled laborer belongs here occasionally, the child of a common laborer very rarely indeed. At least this is true in the smaller cities of California among populations made up of native-born Americans.

In all probability it would not have been true in the earlier history of the country when ordinary labor was more often than now performed by men of average intelligence, and it would probably not hold true now among certain immigrant populations of good stock, but limited social and educational advantages.

[29] In other investigations, however, we have found even brighter children from very inferior homes. See p. 117 for an example.

What can children of this grade of ability do in school? The question cannot be answered as satisfactorily as one could wish, for the simple reason that such children are rarely permitted to do what they can. What they do accomplish is as follows: Of 54 children (of the 1000 unselected cases) falling in this group, 12 per cent were advanced in the grades two years, approximately 54 per cent were advanced one year, 28 per cent were in the grade where they belonged by chronological age, and three children, or 5 per cent, were actually r.e.t.a.r.ded one year.

But wherever located, such children rarely get anything but the highest marks, and the evidence goes to show that most of them could easily be prepared for high school by the age of 12 years. Serious injury is done them by schools which believe in "putting on the brakes."

The following are ill.u.s.trations of children testing between 130 and 145.

Not all are taken from the 1000 unselected tests. The writer has discovered several children of this grade as a result of lectures before teachers' inst.i.tutes. It is his custom, in such lectures, to ask the teachers to bring in for a demonstration test the "brightest child in the city" (or county, etc.). The I Q resulting from such a test is usually between 130 and 140, occasionally a little higher.

_Examples of very superior intelligence_

_Margaret P. Age 8-10; mental age 11-1; I Q 130._ Father only a skilled laborer (house painter), but a man of unusual intelligence and character for his social cla.s.s. Home care above average. M. P. has attended school a little less than three years and is completing fourth grade. Marks all "excellent."

Health perfect. Social and moral traits of the very best. Is obedient, conscientious, and unusually reliable for her age.

Quiet and confident bearing, but no touch of vanity.

M. P. is known to be related on her father's side to John Wesley, and her maternal grandfather was a highly skilled mechanic and the inventor of an important train-coupling device used on all railroads.

Although she is not yet 9 years old and is completing the fourth grade, she is still about a grade below where she belongs by mental age. She could no doubt easily be made ready for high school by the age of 12.

_J. R. Girl, age 12-9; mental age 16 (average adult); I Q approximately 130._ Daughter of a university professor. In first year of high school. From first grade up her marks have been nearly all of the A rank. For first semester of high school four of six grades were A, the others B. A wonderfully charming, delightful girl in every respect. Play life perfectly normal.

_J. R.'s_ parents have moved about a great deal and she has attended eight different schools. She is two years above grade in school, but of this gain only one-half grade was made in school; _the other grade and a half she gained in a little over a year by staying out of school and working a little each day under the instruction of her mother_. But for this she would doubtless now be in the seventh grade instead of in high school.

As it is she is at least a grade below where she belongs by mental age. Something better than an average college record may be safely predicted for J. R.

_E. B. Girl, age 7-9; mental age 10-2; I Q 130._ E. B. was selected by the teachers of a small California city as the brightest school child in that city (school population about 500). Her parents are said to be unusually intelligent. E. B. is in the third grade, a year advanced, but her mental level shows that she belongs in the fourth. The test was made as a demonstration test in the presence of about 150 teachers, all of whom were charmed by her delightful personality and keen responses. No trace of vanity or queerness of any kind. Health excellent. E. B. ought to be ready for high school at 12; she will really have the intelligence to do high-school work by 11.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 13. BALL AND FIELD TEST. E. B., AGE 7-9; I Q 130]

_L. B. Girl, age 8-6; mental age 11-6; I Q 135._ Tested nearly three years earlier, age 5-11; mental age 7-6; I Q 127. Daughter of a university professor. At age of 8-6 was doing very superior work in the fifth grade. Later, at age of 10-6, is in the seventh grade with all her marks excellent. Has two sisters who test almost as high, both completing the eighth grade at barely 12 years of age. L. B. looks rather delicate, and though a little nervous is ordinarily strong. We have known her since her early childhood. Like both her sisters, she is a favorite with young and old, as nearly perfection as the most charming little girl could be.

_R. S. Boy, age 6-5; mental age 9-6; I Q 148._ When tested at age 5-2 he had a mental age of 7-6, I Q 142. Father a university professor. R. S. entered school at exactly 6 years of age, and at the present writing is 7 years old and is entering the third grade. Leads his cla.s.s in school and takes delight in the work. Is normal in play life and social traits and is dependable and thoughtful beyond his years. Should enter high school not later than 12; could probably be made ready a year earlier, but as he is somewhat nervous this might not be wise.

_T. F. Boy, age 10-6; mental age 14; I Q 133._ At 13-6 tested at "superior adult," and had vocabulary of 13,000 (also "superior adult"). Son of a college professor. Did not go to school till age of 9 years and was not taught to read till 8. At this writing he is 15 years old and is a senior in high school.

He will complete the high-school course in three and one-half years with A to B marks, mostly A. Gets his hardest mathematics lessons in five to ten minutes. Science is his play. When he discovered Hodge's _Nature Study and Life_ at age of 11 years he literally slept with the book till he almost knew it by heart.

Since age 12 he has given much time to magazines on mechanics and electricity. At 13 he installed a wireless apparatus without other aid than his electrical magazines. He has, for a boy of his age, a rather remarkable understanding of the principles underlying electrical applications. He is known by his playmates as "the boy with a hobby." Stamp collections, b.u.t.terfly and moth collections (over 70 different varieties), seash.o.r.e collections, and wireless apparatus all show that the appellation is fully merited. He chooses his hobbies and "rides"

them entirely on his own initiative.

_J. S. Boy, age 8-2; mental age 11-4; I Q 138._ Father was a lawyer, parents now dead. Is in high fourth grade. Leads his cla.s.s. Attractive, healthy, normal-appearing lad. Full of good humor. Is loving and obedient, strongly attached to his foster mother (an aunt). Composes verses and fables for pastime. Here are a couple of verses composed before his eighth birthday. They are reproduced without change of spelling or punctuation:--