Defective vision and school standing.-The influence of defective vision on school standing is shown in Table XI. It appears that on the average a smaller per cent of the pupils at and above grade have defective sight than those below grade. The fact that the reverse is true during the first two years led to an investigation which gave quite conclusive evidence that the increase in eye defects during the first years of school life is due, in part at least, to school conditions. It will be seen that 8 and 9 year old pupils who have made the best advancement have the greater per cent of eye defects. On investigation it was found that the more advanced pupils in this case had on the whole started to school younger, and this longer time at school is believed to account for both the advanced standing and the increased number of those who are subnormal in visual acuity. Hearing was tested by means of the audiometer invented by Prof. C. E. Seashore, of the Iowa State University, and described fully by him in Studies in Psychology, Volume II, issued from that university. This is a piece of electric apparatus so constructed that the operator can vary the current at will, producing clicks of different degrees of loudness in the telephone receiver held at the subject's ear. The intensities of the current, and hence intensities of the sound vibrations, are graded arbitrarily along the scale from 1 to 40. The threshold of hearing is determined by producing a click loud enough to be heard clearly by the subject and then passing gradually down the scale until the click becomes so slight that the subject can not hear it. The figures on the scale at the point producing the slightest sound that can be heard is taken to represent the subject's acuteness of hearing. Because the click is inade in direct contact with the ear of the subject, external noises are less confusing than is the case with most tests of hearing; nevertheless, these sounds do interfere somewhat, and on this account the quietest room in the building was always selected for these tests. Table XIII is based on tests on 5,706 pupils. There seems to be no decided sex difference in the matter of hearing. The girls, on the whole, are found to have about 1 per cent less of defective ears than the boys. Table XIII, on hearing defects and school life, bears a striking resemblance to the corresponding one on sight, in that the number of defects increases during the first few years of school life and then the number gradually decreases. This correspondence suggests that, in part at least, the changes may be due to a common cause. Table XIV, in reference to hearing and school standing, shows the decided disadvantage at which the child with poor hearing is placed. The following table shows the per cent of pupils who are defective in hearing by the number of points indicated: From this table it appears that there are a large number of pupils whose two ears differ in hearing power. These will be at a decided disadvantage if seated on the wrong side of the room. TABLE XIII.-Hearing defects and school life-Pupils with dull hearing. 3 or more points below 4 or more points below 5 or more points below normal. normal. normal. In one ear. In both ears. In one ear. In bothears. In one ear. In both cars. TABLE XIV.-Hearing and school standing-Pupils having one or both ears defective to 4 points below normal. Many of the tests and measurements which this department has made are preliminary to other investigations, which, it is suggested, should be carried on in reference to different lines of mental development, methods of instruction, and school adjustments. It is believed that the utility of much of the work so far done will best appear as it forms a basis for these future investigations and compilations, yet there are certain truths important for educational theory and practice which have been so clearly foreshadowed as to warrant their being set forth here. From the investigations of last year Dr. Christopher formulated the following deductions: 1. In general there is a distinct relationship in children between physical condition and intellectual capacity, the latter varying directly as the former. 2. The endurance (ergographic work) of boys is greater than that of girls at all ages, and the difference seems to increase after the age of nine. 3. There are certain anthropometric indications which warrant a careful and thorough investigation into the subject of coeducation in the upper grammar grades. 4. Physical condition should be made a factor in the grading of children for school work, and especially for the entrance into the first grade. 5. The great extremes in physical condition of pupils in the upper grammar grades make it desirable to introduce great elasticity into the work of these grades. 6. The classes in physical culture should be graded on a physical instead of an intellectual basis. The work this year, so far as it relates to them, confirmed these deductions, except as to the age when great differentiation of the sexes in endurance begins. To these certain other conclusions are added, not as settled beyond any possibility of modification, but yet as being fairly indicated by these tests. 1. The pubescent period is characterized by great and rapid changes in height, weight, strength of grip, vital capacity, and endurance. There seems to accompany this physical activity a corresponding intellectual and emotional activity. It therefore is a period when broad educational influences are most needed. From the pedagogic standpoint it is preeminently a time for character building. 2. The pubescent period is characterized by extensive range of all physical features of the individuals in it. Hence, although a period fit for great activity of the mass of children, it is also one of numerous individual exceptions to this general law." During this period a greater per cent of individuals than usual pass beyond the range of normal limits set by the mass. It is a time, therefore, when the weak fail and the able forge to the front, and hence calls for a higher degree than usual of individualization of educational work and influence. 3. Unidexterity is a normal condition. Rapid and marked accentuation of unidexterity is a pubescent change. On the whole there is a direct relationship between the degree of unidexterity and the intellectual progress of the pupil. At any given age of school life bright or advanced pupils tend toward accentuated unidexterity and dull or backward pupils tend toward ambidexterity. The pupils of the John Worthy (Bridewell) School are more nearly ambidextrous than even the backward pupils of the ordinary schools. Training in ambidexterity is training contrary to a law of child life. 4. Boys of school age at the Bridewell are inferior in all physical measurements to boys in the ordinary schools, and this inferiority seems to increase with age. 5. Defects of sight and hearing are more numerous among the dull and backward pupils. These defects should be taken into consideration in the seating of pupils. Only by removing the defects can the best advancement of the pupils be secured. 6. The number of eye and ear defects increases during the first years of school life. The causes of this increase should be investigated and as far as possible removed. 7. There are certain parts of the school day when pupils, on the average, have a higher storage of energy than at other periods. These periods should be utilized for the highest forms of educational work. 8. The stature of boys is greater than that of girls up to the age of 11, when the girls surpass the boys and remain greater in stature up to the age of 14. After 14 girls increase in stature very slowly and very slightly, while boys continue to increase rapidly until 18. 9. The weight of the girl surpasses that of the boy about a year later than her stature surpasses his, and she maintains her superiority in weight to a later period of time than she maintains her superiority in height. 10. In height sitting girls surpass boys at the same age as in stature, viz, 11 years, but they maintain their superiority in this measurement for one year longer than they do in stature, which indicates that the more rapid growth of the boy at this age is in the lower extremities rather than in the trunk. 11. Commencing at the age of 13, strength of grip in boys shows a marked accentuation in its rate of increase, and this increase continues as far as our observations extend, viz, to the age of 20. In girls no such great acceleration in muscular strength at puberty occurs, and after 16 there is little increase in strength of grip. The wellknown muscular differentiation of the sexes practically begins at 13. 12. As with strength of grip, so with endurance as measured by the ergograph, boys surpass girls at all ages, and this differentiation becomes very marked after the age of 14, after which age girls increase in strength and endurance but very slightly,. while after 14 boys acquire almost exactly half of the total power in these two features which they acquire in the first twenty years of life. 13. The development of vital capacity bears a striking resemblance to that of endurance, the curves representing the two being almost identical. [From report of Director Fred W. Smedley for 1900-1901.] SCHOOL DESKS. At the beginning of the school year we were directed by the committee on child study and pedagogical investigation of the board of education to determine what sizes of desks are best suited to the pupils of each of the different grades and what proportion of the desks should be adjustable. It is well known that an ill-fitting desk impedes circulation, causes unhealthful postures, muscular strain, fatigue, and in time even spinal curvature. The discomfort engendered distracts the attention and interferes with the best conditions of school work. Some cities have met this problem by having all of the desks adjustable; but as adjustable desks are more expensive, and as it had been found troublesome to adjust a large number of desks, the Chicago board of education adopted the policy of having only a portion of the desks adjustable. These measurements were undertaken to guide in the future purchase of desks. The measurements which we had previously taken of nearly 7,000 pupils were supplemented by special measurements, taken chiefly at the Alcott School. This gave us data for determining the matter upon a broad basis. The result of this investigation appears in the following report presented by Dr. W. S. Christopher, chairman of the committee, to the board of education and adopted by them on September 19, 1900: The committee on child-study and pedagogical investigation beg to report that at the opening of schools this fall it had observations made to determine the varying sizes of children which the several sizes of desks used can accommodate. Different children were placed in each desk until there was determined with reference to each desk the stature of the shortest pupil and the stature of the tallest pupil who could be properly accommodated by that desk. The results were as follows: The adjustable desks supplied under the existing contracts are known as— Al, with seat adjustable from 15 to 17 inches. The measurements which have been made by this department since its inauguration supplied the material necessary to determine what percentage of pupils in each grade could be provided with a fixed desk, what size desk could accommodate the largest percentage of those pupils, and which adjustable desk and how many should be supplied. This information is given in the following table: |