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MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



[Vol. XV, 



Cases recalled unnecessarily would be observed, whereas cases missed who should have been 

 recalled would not be noted. The tendency would be therefore to urge lowering of the stand- 

 ard for recall perhaps quite unwarrantedly. 



When, on the other hand, a selected beta group was found to show a rating approximating 

 the level of the remainder of the camp, with the majority of cases raising their ratings above 

 those obtained by alpha, there was legitimate ground for suspicion that beta was proving 

 overlenient, unless it be admitted that alpha was hopelessly unsatisfactory at the lower por- 

 tion of the scale. An obvious point of practical importance arose when it was remembered 

 that only men standing lowest in alpha had the opportunity to raise their scores in beta. Accord- 

 ingly men making C— or more and in many camps men making D had no opportunity to 

 improve their ratings, while those rating as low as E might raise their grades even to an A or B. 



Further light was thrown on the discrepant results reported from different camps by 

 noting the difference between "beta-only" groups and " beta-f rom-alpha " groups. The former 

 contain in largest numbers the foreign and entirely illiterate; the latter consist largely of 

 English-speaking men of at least some schooling, who considered themselves able to take alpha 

 but who had failed in alpha. On theoretical grounds it might be assumed that the former 

 would profit most by the opportunity furnished by beta, since they might include all types of 

 cases from bright to dull from among those who were handicapped either by language dif- 

 ficulty or by absolute lack of educational opportunity. The beta-from-alpha groups, repre- 

 senting mainly those of some literacy and little or no language difficulty, who, nevertheless, 

 had failed in alpha, would seem likely to have been fairly low-grade groups. However, these 

 groups made a consistently better showing in beta than was made by beta-only groups. 



The illustrations below are typical. While the groups from the two camps differ from one 

 another in general level the beta-only group is in both instances lower than the recalled group. 



Percentages making given grades in beta. 



It was observed further that all camps which reported distributions as showing extreme 

 instances of severity on the part of beta were reporting mainly beta-only groups. In most 

 cases, owing to special conditions, they had been so overwhelmed with the examining of cases 

 ehminated from alpha that they had not been able to handle any recalls and thus did not have 

 these in mind. Impression regarding overleniency of beta came on the other hand from camps 

 where a considerable amount of recall was possible. 



Section 2. — Special study of group from Gamp Custer. 



To throw further light on the above problem, data on beta examinations as given in the 

 regular course of camp routine were studied. Since the results of this study were suggestive 

 and pointed the need for further information, results on one camp (Custer) will be s umm arized 

 briefly. 



As an aid to interpretation a distinction was made between white men born in English- 

 speaking countries and those born in non-English-speaking countries. It is probable that 

 while the former may be counted on as practically free from language difficulty, the latter, 

 while containing the men of the group who are handicapped in this way, would also contain 

 some men who had no appreciable difficulty of this sort. We shall, however, in the absence 

 of more complete information, use the two groups as representative of those handicapped by 



