Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1914 — HAVE SPEGIAL STUDY [ARTICLE]

HAVE SPEGIAL STUDY

Separate Treatment for “Mentally Unusual Children. .

United Btates Bureau of Education Publishes Conclusions of Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University on the Bubj^ct.

Washington.— That 12 out of every 100 pupils at the threshold ,of the public schools are “mentally unusual” and need special treatment, if possible apart from other children, is the. conclusion reached by Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University, in a publication just issued by the United States bureau of education.

“Take an ordinary kindergarten and first grkde, with a combined enrollment of 100 pupils,” says Doctor Gesell. “Among this number we may expect to find at least one child feebleminded; one child who stutters; two or three)who seriously lisp; another extremely anemic; a badly spoilt child; another babyish— a year or two retarded in mental or moral growth; and still another morally weak. There will be one ‘negative’ child —passive, colorless; one over-sensitive, nervous child; one superficially precocious chijd; another distinctly superior—eager, ardent, imaginative, sociable.

“For some of these children there Is no better disposition than prompt assignment to a special class, the special class method having been put into successful operation for 13 different types of children. But even the special classes —particularly the so-called ungraded classes for backward children that have been established in our large cities—are greatly in need of inventory. ~ ZZ

“The diversity of the ungraded class membership Is often pathetically picturesque. Here is the roll call for one such class in a large eastern city: Twenty-tour boys, 16 girls; nationalities, Norwegian, French, Irish, Armenian, Italian, Austrian, American, Chinese; names range from James Moriarity and Ong Yung to Arcangelo and Nishan Kalehadoarian; ages range from six to eighteen, mentality, from giggling Imbecility to ambitious intelligence; morality, from truancy, c igarette smoking, and thieving to good behavior; parentage, noted in special cases, includes a drunken mother, an Insane father, and in three instances, gypsies; physical condition, from partial blindness and deafness, and spinal trouble and anemia, to vigorous physical health. Think of the problem before this teacher, who may not even have a working definition 8f feeble-minded-ness la- her consciousness to aid her in classification and instruction!” In the opinion of Doctor Gesell, the time is coming when all our large municipal school systems, and perhaps county educational systems as well, will have the equivalent of a department of child classification and special classes. “Child classification is the basis of child hygiene,” he declares, ‘but it is more. The primary school may develop into a sociological clearing agency for the discovery and registration of all children who, when adults, may prove socially dependent, defective, or dangerous. Child classification thus becomes a part of the task of social hygiene as well.”