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CHAPTER IX

NATURAL APTITUDES AND THEIR CONSCIOUS
DIRECTION

THE

HE recognition of individual aptitudes is one of the growing tendencies in modern education. It is rather surprising that so little has been done to evaluate individual abilities and to direct them consciously into proper channels. If psychology in the near future shall enable us to discover means, or invent expedient tests, for the measurement of mental capacities, it will perform a service of inestimable value to the cause of education. There is a growing belief that the measurement of aptitudes is not an impossible undertaking. Schneider in discussing this problem says:

Every individual has certain broad characteristics and every type of work requires certain broad characteristics. The problem, then, is to state the broad characteristics, to devise a rational method to discover these characteristics (or talents) in individuals, to classify the types of jobs by the talents they require and to guide the youth with certain talents into the type of job which requires these talents. This is a big problem, but one possible of measurable solution, or, at worst, possible of a solution immeasurably superior to our present haphazard methods.1

On the pathological side, social demand that the defectives be housed in separate institutions has developed some tests of mental ability. On the other hand, the abnormal as well as the subnormal mind has been studied to some extent. But the individual differences in average mental types have received scanty consideration up to the present time. Little account has been taken of interests and of instinctive and emotional qualities.

1 H. Schneider, "Selecting Young Men for Particular Jobs," Bulletin 7, Nationa Association of Corporation Schools.

Aptitudes are factors in the adaptability of pupils to subject matter in courses of study as a means of qualifying them for congenial vocational endeavors.

Individuality is both a mental and a physical phenomenon. Like mental traits are no more common than like physical traits. Thorndike has repeatedly told us that a typical mind is a fiction. We have long known that there was no physical type. Eunoia, or rightmindedness, is a term designed to convey the idea of high mental normality. The term implies strong will, good memory power, vivid imagination, and logical reasoning. But this type mind is not delegated by nature to groups of individuals. Exact duplication of such a mental type does not actually exist. On the other hand, deviation from, and endless modification of, this hypothetical mental type give individuality to mentality, which is as obvious as individuality in physical life. The change in the point of view in modern psychology from the consideration of the subjective state of mind to that of the study of human behavior has tended to magnify the importance of these individual differences.

The causes of mental variability are not to be ignored in a consideration of the nature and amount of it. In a general way we have recognized that these differences may be traced to heredity, sex, race, age, physical endowments, normal or retarded physical and mental development, and various environmental influences. This knowledge enables the teacher to know what differences are due to causes beyond social control and what differences, on the other hand, are traceable to causes that can be removed or modified if they tend to retard mental development.

An interesting theory is that the mental development of each individual passes through all the stages of idiocy,

imbecility, weak-mindedness, normal intelligence, and even superior mentality, if not arrested by some counteracting influence.1 This is analogous to the old theory of recapitulation and cannot be supported by many substantiating facts. But it deserves further consideration as a source of information relating to the causes of individual differences.

Whatever may be the causes and infinite variability in individual mental differences, we must not overlook the fact that it is important to classify, or group, individuals on the basis of conformity to, or variation from, a relative normality. For purposes of general classification we may consider three groups, as follows:

1. The subnormal or defective group. There is a relatively small group whose mental disabilities outweigh their abilities. These are so deficient in aptitudes that they cannot adjust themselves satisfactorily to environmental conditions. This class is easy to recognize as a rule because variations are so extreme as to make their behavior contrast with the behavior of the more nearly normal types. For purposes of classification we may recognize two subclasses of the defective group: (a) those whose normal behavior is extreme, as in the case of the feeble-minded; (b) those whose behavior is relatively normal except at irregular intervals, as in the case of epileptics. There are many other mental defectives, and the study of abnormal psychology has contributed much to our understanding of the problems and possibilities of the members of this class. Separate institutions in all ages since the beginning of the Christian era have been provided for some of the mental defectives. As we have come to understand the differences in the members 1 See Chancellor, "The Adult Hypermoron," New England Journal of Education, February 14, 1918.

of this group, differentiated institutions have been established for the care of those belonging to this class. Social agencies have not yet recognized the full significance of individual differences existing among those composing this group. Educational methods must be readjusted to the end that any latent aptitudes or abilities that exist may be recognized and made to function properly. We have just begun to understand that many of our mentally defective people have often been misunderstood, neglected, and mistreated. There are undeveloped opportunities for the study of abnormal psychology that should challenge the best intellects of the race in developing and recognizing latent possibilities and potential talents in the mentally defective, many of whom are now being unscientifically grouped with other unfortunate classes where their mental powers are gradually being atrophied.

2. The supernormal class. In recent years educators have been giving attention to the children with exceptional mental endowments-children whose aptitudes far exceed their disabilities. The problem of training this class has been met in various ways—notably by grouping them in segregated classes and giving them superior advantages. This group has been sorely mistreated by the lock-step method of group instruction. Latent aptitudes have been neglected and emerging talents have been submerged in the floods of a pedagogical fiction known as "class average." The contention is not made that the exceptional child possesses a type mind that justifies class grouping. Individual differences should be recognized here as well as in other classes that are grouped according to mental responses. The fact is that superior mentality indicates marked individuality, and group instruction becomes less desirable, on the whole, than in the case of the more nearly normal-minded. It is not only

important to recognize the richly endowed child, but it is equally important to differentiate the talents that are manifested. With due consideration the normal developing of those talents should be recognized and stimulated under the most favorable conditions.

3. The normal-minded. A study of mental processes and reactions (behavior) presents the obvious fact that between these extremes (subnormal and supernormal) we have the mentally efficient whose abilities offset their disabilities by a safe margin. In regard to aptitudes the majority of individuals approximate an average mentality. The number of individuals decreases as we diverge from the average in the direction both of the supernormal and of the subnormal. By "average" is meant those whose mental reactions in the normal affairs of life are such as not to leave the impression of being peculiar or unusual. The public-school teacher is largely concerned with the child that displays no marked idiosyncrasies or obvious mental defects. The organization and the program of study in our public-school systems at present nowhere offer opportunity for any definite study of the aptitudes of the individual child. The average teacher is not impressed with the importance of such a study. Our educational system emphasizes grades based upon responses, either oral or written, to questions based upon subjects selected for another purpose. The teacher is required to preserve these grades in formal records at the end of the year as the child progresses and passes from course to course or from grade to grade. These records consist of more or less inaccurate data, depending on the care and judgment of the teacher who made them. These records have been of little use to the student, his parents, or the college authorities as a means of directing the individual to a choice of professional courses.

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