J.—PSYCHOLOGY I9I 
of the scale who have the intellect and temperament that fit them for 
professional and administrative work. 
There is no ground for suggesting that the enormous casualty list of 
the post-primary schools is due to poor teaching : indeed, there is distinct 
evidence that teachers are often attempting the impossible and coming 
very near to achieving it. ‘The fault seemsto lie rather in the nature of the 
curriculum, which, though suitable for the upper 20 per cent., is obviously 
quite unsuitable for the middle 60 per cent. It would be interesting to 
know what proportion of the men who sit on Education Committees, men 
who have earned the confidence and respect of their fellow-citizens, can 
pass, or have ever been able to pass, the ordinary School Leaving Certificate 
examination. 
It may be suggested that the mental development of the duller elements 
of the population ceases at the age of twelve or thirteen and that, therefore, 
they have learned all they can learn by that age, whereas the mental develop- 
ment of their more brilliant fellows continues for several years longer. 
This suggestion is probably incorrect. We know that intellect develops 
more slowly in the dull, so that they fall farther and farther behind, but there 
is some ground for thinking that it reaches its maturity at about the same 
age. Further, the suggestion that the dull child has learned all he can 
learn by the age of twelve or thirteen implies a certain confusion of thought. 
Whatever may be the age at which maturity of intellect is reached, and 
whatever may be the level of development reached, it is certain that learn- 
ing does not cease at that age: it can continue until senile decay sets in. 
The age at which maturity is reached has little or nothing to do with the 
age at which training must cease. 
The open school door is a well-established tradition in Scotland : here 
the gifted child has ample opportunities of developing his talents ;_ but 
the practice of pushing all children along the same scholastic course 
studded with hurdles which must be jumped, under penalty of being left 
behind, is one which could be improved upon. As the intelligence-ratio 
seems largely to determine scholastic success, and as it remains approxi- 
mately constant, at any rate during school life, and can be determined early, 
it should be possible to organise education on a basis of natural capacity. 
The early ascertainment of capacity and the provision of courses suitable 
_ for different grades of intellect would do something towards solving the 
problem of the backward child, who is often backward because he has not 
those aptitudes which are needed for success under the existing scholastic 
regime : he struggles to keep up, but ultimately, finding this too much 
for him, he gives up the race, sits by the wayside, and does not use even 
those gifts which he has. It would also make for health and peace of 
mind, for we have sooner or later to learn our limitations, and much 
mischief can be done by assuming that a boy has aptitudes which he does 
not possess. Experience in psychological clinics has brought this out all 
too clearly, for it has shown that many perversities of conduct are due 
solely to social misfits : the dull child of able parents who cannot live up 
to the expectations of his family may run wild, and one who cannot find 
a place in society to suit his talents and training is a potential source of 
mischief. A good deal of distress could be avoided by discovering a 
