FOR THE GIFTED CHILD 



Public Schools Are Beginning to Realize the Need of Special Provision for Pupils 



Who Are Above the Average Few Yiake Any Real Study of the 



Capacities of the Unusual Boy or Girl 



H( )PE for Ihc L'U<^cnic advance- 

 ment of the race lies in those 

 members of it who are inherently 

 superior, and eugenists are, 

 therefore, anxious that every gifted 

 child shall be recognized and have a 

 chance to develop to the utmost. 



For some years retarded and defective 

 children have princiimlly occupied the 

 interest of educational reformers, and 

 much has been done to benefit them — 

 almost too much, in fact, for often feel^le- 

 minded children have been painfully 

 nursed up to adult age and have founded 

 families, also often mentally defective; 

 while the sui^erior child has had to 

 support his weaker brothers and sisters, 

 and his chance to establish a family 

 which would have been of more than 

 usual value to society, has thereby been 

 limited. A large mass of literature has 

 been ])ublishcd in regard to the special 

 care and education to be afforded the 

 mentally unfit, while very little has 

 been done to give apjDropriate oppor- 

 tunities to those with excejjtional 

 ability. 



Now, however, educators are begin- 

 ning to realize that while the defective 

 needs a special chance if he is to hold a 

 place in the world, a chance offered the 

 mentally su])erior will enable him to 

 advance far beyond the average sjjhere 

 of intelligence and usefulness. The 

 same time anel money s]Kiit in raising 

 the mentality of the defective will 

 produce a much larger com])arati\e 

 increase in the suiK-rior chilel. 



A questionaire was recently sent by 

 Dr. Islizabeth Woods' to school sui)erin- 

 tendents throughout the United States 

 asking what ])rovision they make for 

 exceptionally gifted children. 



Of the 549 cities answering, 2cS<S are 



making ^cme provision for the mentally 

 superior children, generally in the foim 

 of an elastic promotion, to be made 

 when the chilci is able to take up the 

 advanceel work. In addition to this, 

 167 cities which stated they made no 

 I^rovision for the advanced ])upils were 

 found to be using some elastic promotion 

 system, whereby the mentally sujxiior 

 are really accorded a chance. Further, 

 eighty-three which neglected to answer 

 the question were found to be using a 

 similar system. 



Of the 167 superintendents who 

 reported no such provision in their 

 system, 67^/f, or 111, were emj^hatic in 

 stating that there was virgent need for it. 



VARIOl'S SYSTEMS USED 



\''arious systems have been adopted 

 in an effort to assist the unusually 

 bright chilel in acquiring all the knowl- 

 edge he can assimilate. Many cities 

 report special classes for their gifted 

 pupils; some have summer classes; 

 others divide up the puijils in the grade, 

 without segregation. The subjects 

 taught are usually those of the regular 

 curriculum, but often election of langu- 

 age, science or business courses is 

 allowed. 



In some classes, the mentally bright 

 are allowed to do more intensive work 

 than the average student. Seme segre- 

 gated classes contain both backward and 

 bright students, and the teacher's time 

 is given to heli:)ing the students indi- 

 vidually. Often it is made jjossible for 

 students to pass the last three years' 

 work in two years. 



With but one exce])tion in all the cases 

 reported, the only special training re- 

 quired of teachers is unusually successful 

 teaching experience. In seme instances. 



' Wood.s, Elizabeth L. Provision for the Gift td Child. Edmational Administrnlioumid Super- 

 vision, pn. 1.S9-149, March, 1917. Dr. Woods was formerly in the dei)artnient of i)syehology at 

 Vassar College, hut is now psychologist of the Pasadena (Cal.) city schools. 



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