786 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXrV. No. 1 



retardation among them, in the usual sense of 

 the term, can not be had. Then, again, with 

 the eighth grade once passed, and often 

 earlier, the most retarded pupils, being safely 

 beyond the compelling influence of the truancy 

 law, or of social opinion, quickly drop out of 

 school and the problem of retardation becomes 

 so confused with the problem of elimination 

 as to make the figures of doubtful value. 



A State-wide Study. — The schools studied 

 were well distributed over the state so as to 

 embrace every variety of size, location and 

 environing conditions, and to make the study 

 fairly representative of the entire state, and 

 the results are believed to be an index to the 

 prevailing conditions throughout the state. 



The Ayres Standard for Retardation. — In 

 the Ayres investigations, published by the 

 Russell Sage Foundation, children in the first 

 grade are considered normal if they are under 

 eight years of age. In the second grade ages 

 under nine are normal, and so on through the 

 grades. The reasons for thus allowing an 

 extra year are not given. The text asserts that 

 these are the ages allotted to the grades " by 

 common consent." But certainly it is not in 

 accord with the actual practise in adminis- 

 tering schools in Minnesota, and I doubt if it 

 is anywhere. Its effect is to conceal one 

 year's retardation for every child during his 

 progress through the grades, provided he en- 

 tered at six years of age, and last year only 

 441 children in the schools under considera- 

 tion entered later than six, while very many 

 entered earlier, as they are usually admitted 

 if they are six by the middle of the year. 



A child entering the first grade at six should 

 be in the second grade at seven, the third at 

 eight, and so on. Now suppose he fails to 

 " make grade " while in the second grade and 

 remains there two years, repeating and re- 

 tarded, yet his age, when he enters the third 

 grade would be only nine. By the Ayres 

 method that would be considered normal, and 

 yet he is retarded. By that method it is pos- 

 sible, then, for every child in a school system 

 to be retarded one year after entrance, and yet 

 the system to appear absolutely free from re- 

 tarded pupils. 



The Minnesota Standard for Retardation. 

 — In every school system covered by this in- 

 vestigation the children are admitted at six 

 years of age or younger. We have reckoned 

 the entering age at six. Further, in every one 

 of these schools promotions are made only 

 once a year, in June. Each grade by its very 

 conception means a year's work. Therefore, 

 the child who enters the first grade at six 

 should enter the second at seven, the third at 

 eight, and so on, grade by grade. And 

 further, from the administrative point of 

 view, the state expects to provide the child 

 with only eight years of grade schooling, 

 which is to begin at the age of six. From 

 this point of view the child who waits till he 

 is seven before entering is already behind the 

 schedule. He will get out later and have one 

 year less of economically productive working 

 life, and that is what the state has in view in 

 the education of its children. 



The Tabulated Statistics. — The complete re- 

 sults of the investigation are given in Table 

 A. This gives the - grade-age status of 1Y,279 

 grade children in fifty-five cities and villages 

 of Minnesota. They were gathered in the 

 fall and account for children actually en- 

 rolled. This makes the showing favorable to 

 the schools, for some children who failed to 

 win promotion no doubt dropped out during 

 the summer. 



Retardation is computed upon the Minnesota 

 basis of entering at six, and spending a single 

 year and no more, in each grade. 



TABLE A 



Shows, grade by grade, and by sex, the amount 

 of retardation 



Totall7,279 Averages: 58.9 



