Lurton—A Study of Retarded Children. 283. 
as to their values or why they are there, although both have a 
vital hearing, I am sure, upon this question, in its final analy¬ 
sis. It may be dogmatically asserted, however, that it should 
consist of such an amount of work that the average child for 
whom it was prepared could easily master it in the designated 
time, and all but a few could at least meet the minimum re¬ 
quirement in the same time. 
If the average child can just comfortably carry the work 
required by the course of study for a given year then about 
an equal number ought to be able to accomplish more and be¬ 
come advanced. This is the mere expression of a hope, for in 
actual practice they do not, as our figures will show, to any 
great extent, while far more than the fair proportion fail to ac¬ 
complish the required amount of work and drop behind, “re¬ 
peaters” and thereafter retarded so long as they remain in 
school. 
In whole systems of schools scarcely a child is in advance of 
the proper grade for his age. On the other hand, very many 
fail to keep up with their grades, drop back into the next lower 
one, and finally drop out of school, often early in the course, 
discouraged, to swell the great army of untrained workers who 
struggle from end to end of life for the means to maintain de¬ 
cent existence. From the school standpoint that is the very 
thing education hopes to prevent or at least mitigate. 
It is with these sub-average children that we are concerned 
at this moment, and with the conditions that have to do with 
determining their unfortunate status. There are, of course, 
many factors that must be taken into consideration in any at¬ 
tempt to study the elusive problems of repeating and retarda¬ 
tion, their cause, significance, and possible remedies. 
Asa preliminary matter, it is well to study some of the feat¬ 
ures of school organization and practice in Minnesota. Di¬ 
versity or uniformity in these matters will affect our study and 
interpretation of retardation statistics. In order to make cer¬ 
tain that the practices governing the entrance and promotion of 
children were fairly uniform some questions were addressed 
to the superintendents who furnished the data on which much 
of this thesis is based, and their answers are summarized below® 
