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mankind reach the limit of development between fourteen and twenty- 
one. A mind that never gets beyond thirteen is just able to make a living. 
Above eight and below thirteen comes the moron, a person between normal 
and imbecile. He can be taught routine tasks, lay bricks, make parts of 
shoes, do tailoring, farm work, ete., as well as any one, provided some 
one else does the directing and planning; he never gets beyond twelve 
years old. True imbeciles never develop beyond seven. The mind of an 
idiot closes before three. 
When the brain stops developing—and it may occur as early as the 
third year—the time is practically past when it is possible to give a 
training that will help the chitd to earn a living. 
Any one who deals with a large number of persons realizes how in- 
telligence varies from those with practically none to the very gifted, and 
that responsibility varies according to the intelligence. Some of these 
persons, under simple environment, seem to function normally; but when 
placed where the environment becomes too complex normal functioning 
becomes impossible. 
Among a number of misfit pupils observed in grade Classes and re- 
cently tested, were two, thirteen years old, who had made no real progress 
for five years; two, eleven years old who had lost four years; a girl of 
thirteen who had made ho real progress for six years; but all had been 
promoted, though the work accomplished had been, at best, mere rote 
work, with no more real intelligence than that of a parrot taught to say 
a rhyme. Two girls of seven years were mentally less than three. 
To attend a class where normal children are receiving instruction 
does not help the undeveloped child. ‘Learning can not penetrate like a 
cold storage chill.” “Mind building is like house building; there must be 
a foundation on which it rests.” 
Undoubtedly all intelligent persons agree that, no matter what a 
child’s lack of mentality, the hopelessly idiotic and imbecile types should 
be trained in the schools the States maintain for their segregation and 
care. These most deficient children comprise only a very small per cent. 
of the school membership (3 of 1%). Often the most troublesome public 
school cases are pupils of the borderland types: those just between normal 
and subnormal. 
Since the compulsory education law exempts children, mentally and 
physically disabled from its operation, these pupils, and those of lower 
6—4966 
