A£at 16, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



755 



others, prove the latter conclusion all too •on- 

 vincingly. 



But among the educable none who has had 

 practical experience with the problem is likely 

 to espouse the older tenet. Limitations and 

 inequalities are obvious conditions, not for 

 the schools alone, but for every vocation or 

 avocation of human life. Now, in theory, all 

 this has been quietly ignored. We have 

 framed our curricula, whether of kindergarten, 

 school or college, on the older assumption. 

 There have been radicals at work on the cur- 

 ricula of schools for delinquents and imbe- 

 ciles, and the latter view of human nature has 

 been unhesitatingly accepted as settled. But 

 not so in the schools for normal and subnor- 

 mal children. Here we still adhere to the 

 older assumption; and while the dunce-cap or 

 the rod may have passed as an index of our 

 inherent faith in our creed, still there are 

 other evidences of the integrity of our creedal 

 loyalty! And how has it worked out in prac- 

 tise? The answer, at least in part, is simple 

 and obvious. Scholarly standards have been 

 made to suit averages. While a large propor- 

 tion are capable of successfully achieving the 

 general average, a considerable proportion 

 could just as easily attain the highest rank of 

 efficiency. But first consideration has been 

 given to the mediocre or average class. The 

 pupil of fine ability, of potential genius, has 

 been allowed to drift, to loaf after the easy 

 task of the average has been met in an indif- 

 ferent way! And what of the backward or 

 low grade pupil? Here too has there been the 

 same ill-directed mechanical ideals; he has 

 been abused, hectored, discouraged and al- 

 lowed to become a part of the flotsam of ne'er- 

 do-wells. 



Vital statistics comprising such data as Dr. 

 Taylor suggests, among which are baby records 

 of growth, development, physical and physio- 

 logical peculiarities, etc., including also data 

 of early childhood and its distinctive traits 

 and idiosyncrasies, would furnish a first dis- 

 criminative basis for educational outlook. 

 Following this up with similar data of kinder- 

 garten and grade schools, in connection with 

 such devices for testing mental quality as the 



Binet Scale, the intelligent teacher has at 

 command a ready means for differentiating 

 the school work so as to insure from it a de- 

 gree of eificiency which in the past has been 

 quite out of the question. Such school sta- 

 tistics, made a part of the permanent records 

 of the school, are at once available, not only 

 as they relate to school pedigrees, but might 

 readily become part of the vital statistics of 

 the city, the state or the nation. 



But the dijficulties involved! To be sure 

 there will be some difficulty in securing such 

 statistics, and considerable labor as well. But 

 they are not insuperable; they are not so diffi- 

 cult as may be supposed. Such data are al- 

 ready available in many schools. I have di- 

 rect information as to the existence of such 

 data in the schools of Pittsburgh, Rochester, 

 New York City and others, where for several 

 years these facts have been critically compiled 

 and filed as a part of the records of the 

 schools, just as are data of grades, etc. One 

 condition which greatly lessens the supposed 

 difficulty of such vital records is that of med- 

 ical school inspection. This has now become 

 a recognized part of all progressive school di- 

 rection. And while as yet it may be chiefly 

 concerned with such physical problems as 

 teeth, tonsils, nose, eyes, ears, etc., yet there 

 is no good reason why it may not include some 

 note of mental traits, idiosyncrasies, etc. 

 But further, it is now well known that in 

 some of the better schools there are already 

 provided child-study laboratories equipped 

 with all necessary facilities for critically 

 measuring mental qualities, among which are 

 inquiries into heredity and antecedents. 



Now to revert to the question of educa- 

 tional betterment. Let it be recognized at 

 once that education is not creator, but guide. 

 Educability is largely a question of innate 

 mental constitution, which fundamentally is 

 determined by brain structure and its correla- 

 tions. Hitherto our only means of forming 

 an estimate of educability has been that of 

 experiment. Try out the subject by a dozen 

 years of school life; then pass him on to the 

 college; possibly what the schools failed to do 

 some academic legerdemain of a college pro- 



