Leta S. Hollingworth

“ To maintain every child born into the social order for fourteen to sixteen years without earnings, and to pay from public taxation for his education for eight to ten or more of those years, is an enterprise upon which few societies of any time have ventured. Nevertheless, if democracy is to survive, and especially if it is to improve, as a form of government, universal education on a large scale is basic. Self-government, in the highly complicated environment which has been evolved, depends on literacy and other knowledge, requiring long instruction, even for youth of average ability. ”

“ In general it is true that the provisions in the United States are for deviates so extreme in all capacities that their maladjustment to typical procedure creates a troublesome school problem on the one hand, and on the other a burden to the conscience of those who administer education. Classroom teachers demand that special attention be given to those who are chronically unpromotable and out of order, while educational psychologists insist upon the waste of ability that ensues from allowing gifted children to idle through the curriculum. ”

“ Men of science labor to acquire the knowledge that would give power to alter, at will, the shape of the curve of distribution for mental capacities. Such knowledge might work more changes in the world than have been wrought by knowledge of chemical formulæ or of electricity, but its right use would call for a wisdom and philosophical foresight which men at present probably do not have. The conditions and the theories that confront us in education call on us at present, as a matter of fact, to provide for the whole enormous range of capacities, general and special. ”

“ Yet according to the customs of our country, it is usually the ability of the father that determines the social milieu and the educational tradition to which the children are subject. Thus, the son of a corporation lawyer, who has inherited the intelligence of a stupid but handsome grandmother and the educational traditions of a brilliant father, is in a sorry plight, unless the facts of human nature are expertly and sympathetically understood in his family. ”

“ Not having mastered the mechanics of reading, his eyes move hither and yon at random, seeking, by trial and error methods, to get at the matter before him. Wrong eye-movements can be cured by teaching the child how to read. ”

“ Measurement more or less adequate can now be made of ability to read, spell, draw, write, put mechanical contrivances together, and calculate. This list does not by any means exhaust the possibilities of measurement in particular functions at present, but exemplifies them. Slowly we are approaching the point of being in position to tell not only how a child stands in general intelligence, but also to indicate his status in regard to special abilities. The “picture” of the total relationship among a person’s abilities is called a psychograph. ”

“ The inheritance of intellect does not, therefore, follow the simple formula of unit characters, as does the shape of peas, the color of rabbits’ coats, or eye-color in man. The trait we measure and name as general intelligence is a complex, resulting from the incidence of a great number of functions, acting together in a great number of ways, yet cohering in respect to amounts found in given individuals. ”

“ The great diversity of sensitivity to pitch may, perhaps, be regarded as a token of the range of individual differences in musical sensitivity, especially since pitch is a fundamental capacity. It is probably no exaggeration to say that, in an ordinary class in the elementary school, children are being taught together, some of whom are at least a hundred times as musical as others. If children of the same age differed as much from each other in height as they do in sense of pitch, it would be impossible to teach them in unassorted groups, for some would be two hundred times as tall as others. ”

“ But demonstration of the probability of obtaining a hierarchy of correlations simply from the tossing together by chance of independent factors, as with dice, adds new data for consideration. It might be that non-biological principles of probability are sufficient to explain the hierarchical order of correlations, among many tests administered to a given group, just as they are apparently sufficient to account for the particular form in which ability in any single test is distributed through the human species. ”

“ When we consider that school marks in singing, as in drawing, are given not only for musical capacity, but for a heterogeneity of factors, including effort, attendance, ability to comprehend directions, and so forth, we should at once expect from these figures that by actual test, musical ability would be likely to show marked independence of general intelligence. ”

“ Does it not seem certain that general intelligence is, as indicated by the high coefficients of correlation obtained between reading and intelligence, the chief consideration, in predicting whether or not a child will learn to read? Would it not appear that children of adequate general intelligence, and of normal sensory capacity, learn to read when given intensive training, whatever avenue of approach may be particularly stressed? ”

“ Is it possible for education to prepare the lower half of the distribution curve for self-government? Considering recent discoveries as to the mental capacity which characterizes the lower half of the population when adult, is it possible that education will ever be able to nullify the charlatan influence of demagogues, whose appeal is to prejudice and cupidity? ”

“ Not only is the curriculum not adapted to individual differences in general intelligence, but it is far less adapted to individual differences in special defects and aptitudes. The child who can never learn to sing is compelled nevertheless to pursue singing, even after school hours. The child who cannot learn reading by the method generally used is still treated by that method and no other. The schools were established with an undifferentiated curriculum, which they have tried to force upon intellects of an enormous range of diversity. ”

“ The problems of the son of an eminent man, who fails to inherit superior endowment and is but average in capacity, are especially acute, for he is usually expected to undertake tasks for which he is unqualified by original nature. The miseries of a boy of average ability, expected from babyhood to pass through Harvard or Yale, the distresses of a girl of ordinary intelligence, destined openly from childhood for a college of very high standards, are peculiarly poignant to the person who sees human nature 178in the light of all the facts which we have been recounting. ”

“ Rogers decided as a result of experimental tests of mathematical ability, that “a marked degree of the power to analyze a complex and abstract situation, and to seize upon its implications, is the most indispensable element in mathematical proficiency.” This is the power that makes for proficiency in all life’s difficulties, and he who has it has unusual general intelligence—not mathematical proficiency only. There is certainly slight possibility that a generally stupid individual can ever deal with “higher mathematics.” ”

“ III. THE ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL TALENT Since about the year 1915, psychologists have turned somewhat from the study of the nature of music to the investigation of the musical person. They have raised the questions: In what way does the musician differ from others in his psychophysical equipment? Why are some persons unable to produce or appreciate music?
The pursuit of these questions led immediately to an analysis of musical talent, for it was evident at once that a great variety of subsidiary functions contribute to any kind of musical performance. ”

“ Failure to know the facts concerning the distribution of mental traits, the organization of intellect, and the laws of heredity and variation, leads to much wasted effort on the part of all who deal by profession with people. The most frequent error is that of demanding that others adopt one’s own religious beliefs, standard of living, reaction time, or politics—usually with the idea that they will be greatly benefited thereby. ”

“ However, education in the sense of several years of devotion to learning what men have previously done, thought, and devised, was formerly a private matter. The educated, who could communicate by writing, calculate in large numbers, see the present to some extent in the light of the past, and engage in even more complicated intellectual work, formed a small and highly selected group. They were individuals who loved learning, and their median IQ was doubtless far above 100. ”

“ Distinguished achievement in analytical, symbolic, and interpretative art is probably as incompatible with native stupidity as is distinguished achievement in any other field of technical endeavor. Persons who can draw, but are nevertheless generally dull, should probably not be guided toward the career of designer, architect, cartoonist, or portrait painter.
All persons possess in some amount each and every one of the capacities, which in rare and happy combinations constitute talent in drawing. ”

“ This may be due to the fact that in calculation each individual has a rather definite standard of performance, namely his own ability to calculate. When another goes far beyond him and his friends, in so definite a performance, he can see for himself that the typical has been phenomenally exceeded. The gifted person who exceeds the typical to an equal extent in perception of the fine shades of meaning in words, or in the detection of absurdities and contradictions in demagogy, creates no sensation among his fellow townsmen ”

“ The life success of a human being may be said to depend upon general intelligence, character, health, and opportunity (including the factor of sex) . If any of these factors is reduced to zero, so that the individual is totally lacking in intelligence, character, health, or opportunity there can be no achievement. The order of importance of the various factors is probably that in which they have been mentioned, with general intelligence certainly at the top of the list. Intelligence may create character, opportunity, and even health, but none of these can create intelligence. ”

“ The functions which we herein consider are not exceptions to this principle. Performance in reading, spelling, arithmetic, drawing, music, and so forth, shows children or adults, chosen at random, to be distributed in the given form. Those who have exceptional talents or defects in the function fall within the symmetrical surface of this curve, at its opposite extremes. Nowhere is there a point of demarkation, denoting absolute lack of the trait in a group falling below that point, as there would be if a number of individuals suffering from lesions were introduced into the distribution. ”

“ His is a difficulty of functioning.” “It is characteristic in these losses of functioning that the subject knows how to meet the problem submitted to him; he has the knowledge, but from time to time the power fails him.” This inertia of comprehension is general, and has the effect of lowering the total level of performance, though the particular items of failure and success may vary markedly from occasion to occasion. It is hardly the same thing as actual decay of a structure. ”

“ To the connoisseur of human nature, the suggestion that all children be reduced to similarity is as dreadful as the suggestion to the connoisseur of art that all pictures and intaglios be turned out identical, by a uniform factory process. ”

“ As would be expected, the ability to master the mechanics of reading is more loosely correlated with general intelligence than is ability to comprehend the matter read. The comprehension of meaning is a very large factor in intelligence. It might almost be maintained that intelligence is grasp of meaning. A child who has perfected the mechanics of reading, understands what is read in accordance with his general intelligence, as correlations prove. ”

“ VII. THE PROBABLE REWARDS OF INDIVIDUALIZING EDUCATION Even the money returns from scientifically differentiated education would probably be great, aside from the increase in children’s happiness, in teachers’ enjoyment, and in adults’ satisfaction. The tangible values of individualized training might be nearly as great as its intangible values.
When we reflect closely upon the source of wealth, we see that it comes from the attack of intellect upon the environment. Apes have no wealth. Man has wealth only in so far as he acts upon selective thinking in regard to his environment. ”

“ So far from being irritated by the idiosyncracies of our fellows, we ought to cherish their variety as a thing that makes life worth living. Instead of striving to force all children to learn the same things, at the same time, in the same way, because that would be cheap and convenient, we ought to foster individuality in its socially valuable aspects, so that the charm of human contact may be increased. ”

“ Correlation between general intelligence, as measured by a scale like Stanford-Binet, and reading ability, as measured by a scale like Trabue’s Language Completion, or Thorndike-McCall’s scale for understanding of sentences, reaches as high as .90, and hardly ever in any group falls below .60.
These correlations indicate that general mental maturity is very closely related to learning to read. The very intelligent children are the best readers in by far the majority of cases, while school children who do not learn to read under ordinary instruction, are usually feeble-minded. ”

“ In the United States the theory was adopted that all men are created equal. All children must, therefore, be required to take the same education. Such a system violates individuality even more painfully and wastefully than the despised caste system of the older countries does.
As scientific psychology improves the methods of testing for individual differences in children, it will become possible to educate each one according to his capacity for learning. It will be possible to conserve and develop the special aptitudes of every child, regardless of race, sex, or circumstance. ”

“ A child of superior general intelligence (IQ) is seldom found among retardates. Of children of 120 IQ and over, Terman reports that they are almost invariably at least up to grade. Whatever the vicissitudes of fate—illness, absence, special disability—a child of superior general capacity manages to hold his own, at least.
It is not true, however, that the superior child is allowed, under the undifferentiated curriculum, to make full use of his power. He is compelled to slow down to the typical progress of his group, and to use only a portion of his capacity for learning. ”

“ The invention and standardization of such tests is a matter for further research. At present we have no means of gauging talent in drawing except by grading a finished product on a scale of drawings, like Thorndike’s “Scale for Measuring Achievement in Drawing.” Such a means does not always adequately separate talent from training.
The hope that psychographs of ability to draw may be platted in future does not mean that psychologists expect to find complete similarity among those talented in drawing. Individuality is as intrinsic in drawing as it is in handwriting. ”

“ Bidder, the famous English calculator, is recorded in history because he could perform mental arithmetic perhaps fifty times as well as typical persons. The facts that he also became one of the most successful civil engineers of his time, and made a large fortune, are noted as of merely incidental interest, and would not have given him a place in the history of unusual persons. A man may make fifty times as much money as the average man does, by meeting with fifty times as much acumen and energy the intricate, subtle, and difficult situations offered by modern economic life. ”