THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM AS A VOCATIONAL TEST
With certain qualifications the work of the school curriculum may be said
to constitute an elaborate mental test. One important function of the
curriculum is that of selecting and identifying individuals who possess a
certain type of mental alertness or patience. Another function is that of
supplying the individual with certain implements, facts and ideas, certain
subject matter, which may or may not be of direct value in his later life
but which is at least in this way perpetuated and preserved. A third
function is that of affording opportunity for the exercise of such specific
or general abilities as the curriculum may call into play.
All three of these functions have more or less direct vocational relevance.
In the hands of industrial and technical interests, subject matter becomes
more and more prominent as the important item. As this happens the older
idea of discipline and exercise becomes subordinate or implicit. But,
whatever be the underlying educational philosophy, the selective value of
the curriculum is an inescapable fact. The public school system, by its
processes of grading, promotion and certification, tends always to mark off
as a distinct group those individuals who can and will meet its demands. It
also attempts to differentiate the members of this group from one another
on the basis of their ability or their inclination. The high schools,
colleges, professional and technical courses continue this process of
elimination, identification and selection. According to the student's
ability and inclination to satisfy the requirements of the curriculum, he
or she is dropped, graded, retarded, promoted or passed with honors.
Extending, as it commonly does, over many years of the individual's life,
conducted by a considerable number and variety of examiners, and presented
in a diversity of forms and methods, school work constitutes a type of
mental test which is unequaled in its completeness. It is highly important
for vocational psychology to ascertain the degree of correlation between
the individual's record in the curriculum test and his success or fitness
in later life. To what degree is the individual's academic record
prognostic of his industrial, domestic and professional future?
As definite as this question is and as easy of solution as it may seem, it
is only very recently that reliable data, as distinguished from unsupported
opinions, have begun to be accumulated. The problem is complicated by the
difficulty of securing satisfactory measures of success in later life, and
by the difficulties encountered in following up the careers of those
individuals whose early records are known. Shall success be measured by the
obstacles overcome, the income earned, the sacrifices made, the social
usefulness accomplished, the amount of local and contemporary publicity
received, the public recognition accorded, the scope of activities
attempted, or the historical eminence merited? And if more than one of
these elements are to be considered, how are they to be treated
commensurately? Certainly success may be achieved in any or several or all
of these and other forms. For the present our information is limited to a
few studies in which one or other of these aspects has been treated
separately. As work in this field progresses we may be better able to sum
up all the partial results into a statement of the general tendencies.
For our present purpose it may be best to bring together from various
sources the data bearing on certain specific questions which have been
propounded. At least three of these questions are distinctly relevant to
the work of vocational psychology.
_I. With respect to school work itself, what relation exists between the
early success in elementary subjects and the later success in handling more
advanced subject matter?_ This question is important to all those who may
be concerned in advising individuals concerning the desirability and
probable profit of continuing their school experience, and of entering
occupations in which scholastic abilities may be requisite.
Kelley has recently reported a careful study of the relation between the
marks in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh grades and the marks received
in the first year of high school work. The results, in the case of
fifty-nine pupils followed through the six years, were as follows:
CORRELATION BETWEEN MARKS IN THE GRADES AND MARKS IN FIRST HIGH SCHOOL YEAR
7th grade .72
6th grade .73
5th grade .53
4th grade .62
His study further seeks to show the relative weight to be attributed to the
work of each grade, by applying a formula known in statistics as a
"regression equation." He says, "The net conclusion which may be drawn from
these coefficients of correlation is that it is possible to estimate a
person's general ability in the first year [H. S.] class from the marks he
has received in the last four years of elementary school with accuracy
represented by a coefficient of correlation of .789, and that individual
idiosyncrasies may be estimated, in the case of mathematics and English,
with an accuracy represented by a coefficient of correlation of .515....
Indeed, it seems that an estimate of a pupil's ability to carry high school
work when the pupil is in the fourth grade may be nearly as accurate as a
judgment given when the pupil is in the seventh grade."
Miles finds that the correlation between the average elementary school
grade and the high school grade is .71. Dearborn also finds that high
school efficiency is closely correlated with success in university work. He
studied various groups of high school students, the groups containing from
ninety-two to four hundred and seventy-two students each. These were
grouped into quartiles on the basis of high school standing, and compared
with similar classifications on the basis of university work. Dearborn
summarizes his results in the following words:
"We may say then, on the basis of the results secured in this group (472
pupils) which is sufficiently large to be representative, that if a pupil
has stood in the first quarter of a large class through high school the
chances are four out of five that he will not fall below the first half of
his class in the university.... The chances are but about one in five that
the student who has done poorly in high school--who has been in the lowest
quarter of his class--will rise above the median or average of the freshman
class at the university, and the chances that he will prove a superior
student at the university are very slim indeed.... The Pearson coefficient
of correlation of the standings in the high schools and in the freshman
year, for this group of 472 pupils, is .80.... A little over 80 per cent of
those who were found in the lowest or the highest quarter of the group in
high school are found in their respective halves of the group throughout
the university.... Three-fourths of the students who enter the university
from these high schools will maintain throughout the university
approximately the same rank which they held in high school."
Lowell's investigation, which is discussed in later paragraphs, also bears
directly on the question of the relation between college entrance records,
college grades, and later work in professional schools. A rather different
method of procedure was adopted by Van Denburg, who studied the relation
between the first-term marks of high school pupils in New York City and the
length of time the pupils continued in school work. The following table
gives a general idea of his results:
TABLE 12
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN FIRST-TERM MARKS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND THE LENGTH
OF TIME PUPILS REMAIN IN SCHOOL (VAN DENBURG)
------------------------------------------------------------
|Percentage Leaving School in Various Years After
| Entrance into the High School
First-Term |------------------------------------------------
Mark | Left |Left in 2nd, 3rd, or|
|During First |4th Years, or Failed| Graduated
| Year |to Graduate in 4th |
-----------+-------------+--------------------+-------------
Below 50% | 61 | 39 | 0
50 to 59% | 49 | 46 | 5
60 to 69% | 39 | 58 | 3
70 to 79% | 20 | 62 | 18
80 to 89% | 17 | 46 | 37
90 to 100% | 6 | 40 | 54
------------------------------------------------------------
Thorndike, in referring to the significance of such results, says: "Ten
times as many of those marked below 50 leave in the first year as of those
marked 90 or above. Of 115 pupils marked below 50 not one remained to
graduate in four years. As the marks rise the percentage leaving in the
early years steadily falls and the percentage graduating rises. Such
prophecies... could easily be worked out for any community. They show that
in the important matter of the length of stay in school a pupil's career is
far from being a matter of unpredictable fortuity.... It will not be long
before [we] will remember with amusement the time when education waited for
the expensive tests of actual trial to tell how well a boy or girl would
succeed with a given trade, with the work of college and professional
school, or with the general task of leading a decent, law-abiding, humane
life."
Prompted by Dearborn's study of the relation between work in high school
and work in the university, Smith made a somewhat more intensive study of a
group of students in the University of Iowa. Dearborn had investigated the
academic careers of pupils from eight large and four small high schools in
Wisconsin, and concluded that three-fourths of the students entering the
university from these high schools would maintain throughout the university
approximately the same rank as they had held in high school. When the
groups were divided into upper and lower halves, about seventy per cent of
those in the upper high school section were found in the upper half of the
university section; about the same number of those in the lower high school
half were found in the lower university half.
Smith's data showed almost precisely the same figures as those of Dearborn.
From the Liberal Arts class of 1910 (one hundred and sixty students) those
were chosen whose records were complete in both high school and university.
This gave a total of one hundred and twenty students. On the basis of their
standing, as based on the grades assigned in all subjects studied, they
were ranked in order for each year of high school and university. They were
then separated into quintiles on the basis of these rankings, and their
standing in these various quintiles observed from year to year.
When the students, on the basis of their general high school average (for
the four years), are distributed through their respective quintiles in the
university (general average again) the results are as shown in the table on
page 183.
TABLE 13
SHOWING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS AND UNIVERSITY RECORDS
(SMITH). _See Text for Explanation_
------------------------------------------------
| University Average
H. S. Average|----------------------------------
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th
|Quint.|Quint.|Quint.|Quint.|Quint.
-------------+------+------+------+------+------
1st Quintile | 54% | 17% | 17% | 4% | 8%
2nd Quintile | 25% | 29% | 17% | 13% | 16%
3rd Quintile | 17% | 25% | 20% | 21% | 17%
4th Quintile | 0% | 25% | 25% | 33% | 17%
5th Quintile | 4% | 4% | 21% | 29% | 42%
------------------------------------------------
In considering this table it is apparent that if the high school students
were distributed through the various university quintiles on a purely
chance basis, and without any reference to their high school records, there
would tend to be twenty per cent of each high school quintile in each of
the university quintiles. Any percentage higher than this twenty per cent
thus indicates some significant relation between the two sets of grades. On
the whole there is a close relation indicated. The tendency is clear for
those in a given high school quintile to be found in or near the same
quintile in their university work. The relation is particularly close in
the highest and lowest quintiles. In the intermediate quintiles there is
more or less shifting about.
In the same way it is possible to classify all students in quintiles during
their first high school year, and then to trace their careers through the
following three years of high school and four years of college. The
following tabulation shows the results when this was done. The figures show
the percentage of each quintile in first year high school who were found in
the same quintile in the various later years.
TABLE 14
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN RECORDS IN THE FIRST HIGH SCHOOL YEAR, AND
RECORDS IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE (SMITH)
---------------------------------------------------------
| High School | University
Quintiles|-----------------------|-----------------------
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
First | 100%| 70% | 67% | 67% | 52% | 36% | 43% | 25%
Second | 100%| 54% | 33% | 29% | 35% | 33% | 22% | 8%
Third | 100%| 41% | 37% | 21% | 35% | 20% | 22% | 21%
Fourth | 100%| 29% | 25% | 21% | 48% | 28% | 17% | 25%
Fifth | 100%| 50% | 59% | 50% | 45% | 32% | 39% | 38%
|-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
Averages| 100%| 49% | 44% | 38% | 43% | 30% | 29% | 23%
---------------------------------------------------------
Here again, if the subsequent distributions were on a chance basis with
respect to the first year high school grades, there would tend to be but
twenty per cent in each of the various quintiles. As a matter of fact, the
percentages never fall so low as twenty per cent, although in the senior
college year they approach very close to this figure.
It is to be noted that changes so small as from one quintile to the
immediately adjacent one are not taken into account in this table. The
figures show only those who were in precisely the same quintile all the way
through. The indication is then that a student's performance in the first
high school year is very significant of what his performance will be
through the rest of the high school course, and also of significance with
respect to what he will do in his university work. The significance of the
early work, as has appeared in other studies also, becomes less and less
the farther through the course one goes, so that in the senior year in
college there is approximately a chance distribution with reference to the
work of the first year high school.
Smith also presents his results in the form of coefficients of correlation
between various rankings. The following are the most interesting in the
present connection:
TABLE 15
CORRELATIONS (SMITH)
H. S. Average and Univ. Freshman Average .48
H. S. Average and Univ. Sophomore Average .39
H. S. Average and Univ. Junior Average .47
H. S. Average and Univ. Senior Average .28
1st and 2nd Year High School .77
1st and 3rd Year High School .67
1st and 4th Year High School .66
University Freshman and Sophomore .73
University Freshman and Junior .61
University Freshman and Senior .45
These figures of course indicate the same facts as those derived from the
previous methods of expressing the data. The high school (H. S.) average
correlates throughout with the college ranking, the correspondence becoming
less apparent in the later college years. Similarly, the good students in
the first high school year are the good ones all through the high school
course, and the able college freshmen are able as sophomores, juniors and
seniors. But both in high school and in college the significance of early
standing becomes less and less as the years progress.
A. L. Jones[13] compared college entrance examinations with work done later
in the college course, in the freshman and sophomore years. Two hundred men
from the entering classes of 1907, 1911 and 1912, in Columbia College, were
selected for study. These men were arranged in four groups, fifty in each
group, on the basis of (a) their marks in entrance examinations, (b) their
college marks in the first and second college years. Group I contains the
best fifty individuals, Group II the fifty next best, etc. The following
compiled table shows where the members of each group in entrance
examinations stood in their college work:
TABLE 16
SHOWING RELATIONS BETWEEN ENTRANCE RECORDS AND COLLEGE STANDING (JONES)
See Text for Explanation
-------------------------------------------------------------
| On Basis of Freshman Ranking
On Basis of Entrance|---------------------------------------
Examinations | Group I | Group II|Group III| Group IV
---------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Group I (50 men) | 30 | 13 | 5 | 2
Group II (50 men) | 16 | 17 | 12 | 5
Group III (50 men) | 3 | 13 | 16 | 18
Group IV (50 men) | 1 | 7 | 17 | 25
---------------------+---------------------------------------
On Basis of Entrance |
Examinations | On Basis of Sophomore Ranking
---------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Group I (13 men) | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0
Group II (13 men) | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2
Group III (13 men) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4
Group IV (14 men) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8
-------------------------------------------------------------
It appears from this table that there is a fairly well-marked tendency for
the men to remain in the group in which they start. At least the larger
number of men are found in college in about the same group in which they
occurred on the basis of entrance examinations. Jones writes, "It is
evident from an examination of these... data that entrance examinations,
aside from other important uses claimed for them by their advocates, may
fitly be taken as an important indication of the future career of the
candidate for admission. They should of course be supplemented, and so
should any other means of determining preparation for college. Those who
have studied the question tell us that there is a high degree of
correlation between intellectual qualities and others. A good test of
intellectual fitness is, therefore, in some degree a test of other
qualities also. Entrance examinations have their imperfections but there
can be no doubt that they may serve as a solid foundation on which to
build."
Thorndike, on the other hand, in studying the relation between entrance
marks and later college standing (Columbia College classes entering in
1901, 1902 and 1903), finds results which lead him to say, "The important
facts concerning the relationship of success in entrance examinations to
success in college work... prove that we cannot estimate the latter from
the former with enough accuracy to make the entrance examinations worth
taking or to prevent gross and intolerable injustice being done to many
individuals.... The records of eleven entrance examinations give a less
accurate prophecy of what a student will do in the latter half of his
college course than does the college record of his brother! The correlation
between brothers in intellectual ability is approximately .40, but that
between standing in entrance examinations and standing in college of the
same person is only .47 for junior year (130 cases) and .25 for senior year
(56 cases).... From many facts such as these... it is certain that the
traditional entrance examinations, even when as fully safeguarded as in the
case of those given by the College Entrance Examination Board, do not
prevent incompetence from getting into college; do not prevent students of
excellent promise from being discouraged or barred out altogether; do not
measure fitness for college well enough to earn the respect of students or
teachers; and do intolerable injustice to individuals."
The apparent striking contradiction between these two reports is not,
however, so serious when it is noted that the records of Jones were taken
from freshman and sophomore years, while Thorndike's, as here quoted, were
taken from junior and senior years. Thorndike has also presented, in
another connection, comparisons of entrance examinations with the work of
freshman and sophomore years, and in these cases his correlations are
considerably higher, more nearly approximating the results of Jones. The
correlations, for the four college years, were as follows: freshman year,
.62; sophomore year, .50; junior year, .47; senior year, .25.
Apparently the only safe conclusion at present is that the entrance
examinations are fairly useful in predicting the early college work, their
prognostic value becoming less and less as the interval between the two
measures is increased. This result is of course to be expected. In another
section of this book occasion is taken to show that preliminary trials are
of little value in indicating the relative abilities of individuals when
they have reached or approximated their limit of practice.
_II. Are the school subjects in which one is most interested in any way an
indication of the interests and values of later life? What, in general, are
the facts concerning the permanence of interests and the relation between
interest and ability?_ These questions are of immediate interest to
parents, teachers and vocational counsellors.
Here again we must turn to the work of Thorndike for almost the only
available information, and even this is only preliminary and tentative, the
results being subject to various sources of error. This investigator
studied the interests and abilities in mathematics, history, literature,
science, music, drawing and manual work. The original records are the
judgments of one hundred individuals concerning the order of their own
interests and abilities in these subjects at each of three periods in
their school career, elementary school, high school and college. These
various judgments having been made as conscientiously as possible,
correlations were determined between interests at different times,
interests and abilities, etc.
Individual relative interests at different times, according to these
records, do not vary according to mere caprice. "A correlation of .60 or
.70 seems to be approximately the true degree of resemblance between the
relative degree of an interest in a child of from ten to fourteen and the
same person at twenty-one." The resemblance between ability in elementary
years and ability in college is found to be .65. The correlation between
interest in the last three years of elementary school and capacity in the
college period is computed to be about .60. This would mean that the early
interest would serve as a useful indicator of adult capacity. "The
correlation between an individual's order of subjects for interest and his
order for ability is one of the closest of any that are known (about .90)."
"A person's relative interests are an extraordinarily accurate symptom of
his relative capacities."
In concluding his report Thorndike writes, "Interests are shown to be [not
only permanent but also] symptomatic, to a very great extent, of present
and future capacity or ability. Either because one likes what he can do
well, or because one gives zeal and effort to what he likes, or because
interest and ability are both symptoms of some fundamental feature of the
individual's original nature, or because of the combined action of all
three of these factors, interest and ability are bound very close together.
The bond is so close that either may be used as a symptom for the other
almost as well as for itself. The importance of these facts for the whole
field of practice with respect to early diagnosis, vocational guidance, the
work of social secretaries, deans, advisers, and others who direct
students' choices of schools, studies, and careers is obvious. They should
be taken account of in such practice until they are verified or modified by
data obtained by a better method; and such data should soon be collected.
The better method is, of course, to get the measurements of relative
interest and of relative ability, not from memory, but at the time, and not
from individuals' reports alone, but by objective tests."
_III. Is there any relation between general or particular academic aptitude
or inclination and general or particular proficiency in the later domestic,
industrial, commercial, professional or civic activities?_ This question is
of importance not only to the individual and his guide but also to
employers, agencies and society at large.
An interesting and significant study bearing on this question has been
reported by Nicholson, who investigated the relation between academic
success and prominence in later life. The men graduating from Wesleyan
University during the years 1833 to 1899, 1,667 in number, were arranged in
three groups. In the first group were the 140 "honor" men, who were
valedictorians or salutatorians of their classes. In the second group were
placed all the men elected to Phi Beta Kappa, on the basis of high
scholarship. Of these there were 461. In the third group were placed the
remaining 1,206 men. It was then determined how many of these men were
found in the current edition of _Who's Who_, or were judged, by faculty or
fellow students, as having been or about to be of sufficient distinction to
be included in such a directory. The results are given in the following
tabulation.
TABLE 17
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN COLLEGE HONORS AND INCLUSION IN _Who's Who_
(NICHOLSON)
See Text for Explanation
---------------------------------------------------------
643 Students, of the| Per Cent Judged by Faculty to
years 1833-1859 | be of _Who's Who_ Rank
---------------------+-----------------------------------
Honor Men (53)| 50
P.B.K. Men (167)| 32
Remainder (476)| 6
---------------------+-----------------------------------
604 Students of the | Per Cent Found in 1914-15
Years 1860-1889 | Edition of _Who's Who_
---------------------+-----------------------------------
Honor Men (59)| 48
P.B.K. Men (185)| 31
Remainder (419)| 10
---------------------+-----------------------------------
420 Students of the |Per Cent in Who's Who or Judged by
Years 1890-1899 |Classmates as about to be There.
---------------------+-----------------------------------
Honor Men (28)| 50
P.B.K. Men (109)| 30
Remainder (311)| 11
---------------------+-----------------------------------
Total of 1667 |Per Cent with Distinction Entitling
Students | to Inclusion in _Who's Who_.
---------------------+-----------------------------------
Honor Men (140)| 50
P.B.K. Men (461)| 31
Remainder (1206)| 9
---------------------------------------------------------
Referring to these results, Nicholson remarks, "From this study of the
careers of sixteen hundred and sixty-seven graduates, living and dead,
where three different methods are employed in determining distinction in
after life, it appears that the results are fairly constant, and we are
justified in assuming that, for this college at least, the chances of
distinction for a high honor graduate, one of the two or three leading
scholars of the class, are just even; that one out of three of those
elected to Phi Beta Kappa is likely to achieve pronounced success in life;
and that each of the remaining members of the class has less than one
chance in ten to become famous. In other words, roughly speaking, the
quarter (or the fifth) of the class elected to Phi Beta Kappa are likely to
supply just as many distinguished men as are the remaining three-quarters
(now four-fifths) of the class."
The study of Nicholson includes only that type of success which would be
likely to lead to inclusion in _Who's Who_, viz., the more strictly
literary, professional, political, and academic success. The commercial,
industrial and business careers are not so likely to lead to inclusion in
this directory, and yet success in them is no less definite than in the
professional work. It is rather difficult to determine the degree to which
success in these fields is determined by ability alone, and to what degree
it is a function of chance, inheritance, social charm, prestige, and
geographical and economic circumstance. Nevertheless it would be
interesting to know whether such measure of success as can be secured
correlates in any way with success in the work of school years.
In an unpublished study of the graduates of Pratt Institute, Dr. D. E. Rice
has compared the grades achieved by students in the courses in Mechanical
Engineering and Electrical Engineering with the salaries the men were
receiving several years after graduation. There were in all six classes of
men, numbering about forty each--three classes from Mechanical Engineering
and three from Electrical Engineering, for the years of 1907, 1908, 1909.
The salary reports were asked for in 1913, four to six years after
graduation.
The men were ranked according to the grades they received in the eight
different subjects included in the curriculum, the grades being 10, 9, 8,
and 7, corresponding to the ordinary grade system of A, B, C, D. They were
then ranked according to the salary reported at the time of the
investigation. Results for each class were treated separately so that the
time elapsing since graduation was not a factor in the results. The
following table gives the results when these two rankings were correlated
by two statistical methods of computing correlation.
In every case the correlation between grades and salary is positive,
although the coefficients are all small. This means that in the long run
there is a general tendency for the good salaries to go to the men whose
grades were high, but that there are many exceptions to the rule. Certainly
in no class is the opposite tendency shown, for the good salaries to go to
the poor students. It is probable that the correlations found here are as
low as they are partly because in this technical school there is no special
effort made to encourage high grades for their own sake, the emphasis being
rather on getting a good average rating.
TABLE 18
SHOWING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SCHOOL STANDING AND SALARIES EARNED IN
LATER LIFE (RICE)
See Text for Explanation
------------------------------------------------------------
| | Correlation by | Correlation by
Class and Year| Cases | Pearson Method,| Per Cent of Unlike
| | and P.E. | Signs, and P.E.
---------------+-------+----------------+-------------------
Mechanical '07 | 35 | .36 .08 | .22 .09
Mechanical '08 | 41 | .25 .09 | .34 .08
Mechanical '09 | 39 | .21 .09 | .06 .10
| | |
Electrical '07 | 26 | .16 .13 | .25 .12
Electrical '08 | 36 | .46 .08 | .51 .08
Electrical '09 | 41 | .16 .10 | .28 .09
| | |
Averages | | .267 | .277
------------------------------------------------------------
Just what these degrees of correlation mean is made somewhat more apparent
if we treat the data in another way. If instead of computing coefficients
of correlation we divide each class of men into four quartiles, and
determine the average salaries of the men in these quartiles, we get very
definite results. The upper quartile or group will now contain that fourth
of the class whose grades were highest. The second, third and fourth
quartiles will in turn represent decreasing degrees of academic
proficiency. If the average salaries are the same for all quartiles, this
will mean that there is no relation between salary and school grades. But
if the salary varies with the grades, this will be a significant result.
The actual data are as follows:
TABLE 19
RICE'S DATA PRESENTED IN A REVISED FORM
------------------------------------------------------------
| | Average Salaries of the
Class and Year|Cases|--------------------------------------
| | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th
| |Quartile|Quartile|Quartile|Quartile
---------------+-----+-----------------+--------+-----------
Mechanical '07 | 35 | $1800 | $1675 | $1362 | $1387
Mechanical '08 | 41 | 1450 | 1512 | 1512 | 1275
Mechanical '09 | 39 | 1375 | 1262 | 1313 | 1137
| | | | |
Electrical '07 | 26 | 1750 | 1675 | 1675 | 1412
Electrical '08 | 36 | 2147 | 1437 | 1262 | 1262
Electrical '09 | 41 | 1462 | 1212 | 1387 | 1200
| | | | |
Averages | | $1664 | $1462 | $1418 | $1279
| | | | |
Percentages | | 100% | 87% | 85% | 76%
------------------------------------------------------------
If the separate classes be now considered the results are seen to be more
or less irregular, although the general tendency is apparent. If the
average results from all six classes are considered the results are more
reliable as well as more uniform. The average salary varies in the same
way as do the grades. If the average salary of the men of the first
quartile ($1,664) be taken as a basis of comparison and considered one
hundred per cent, then the salaries of the men in the second, third and
fourth quartiles are respectively only eighty-seven, eighty-five and
seventy-six per cent of this amount. In general terms, the salary of the
men in the lower or poorest quarter of the class, from the point of view of
school grades, will be only three-fourths the salary of the men in the
upper or best quarter. The two middle quartiles will differ but little from
each other, although the second has the advantage, by two per cent, or $44,
over the third quarter.
If the class be divided into a better and a poorer half, then the average
salary of the men in the upper half is seen to be $1,563, while that of the
men in the lower half is only $1,348. The men in the upper half earn $215
more in a year than the men in the lower half. This way of expressing the
results is both clearer and more concrete than the mere statement of the
coefficient of correlation.
Interesting data on all three of these preceding questions are to be found
in A. Lawrence Lowell's study of the academic careers of students in
Harvard College, Law School and Medical School. This investigation
included an examination into the college entrance examinations, the records
attained during the college course, the subjects elected in this course,
and the subsequent achievement of the men in the professional schools of
law and medicine. The statistics cover the cases of all men who took the
degree of A. B. at Harvard and then graduated from the two professional
schools connected with Harvard. Only men who had taken at least three years
of college work in residence were included. The records for the Law School
cover the twenty years from 1891 to 1910. Those for the Medical School
cover the sixteen years from 1895 forward.
The college gives degrees indicating four grades of distinction on the
basis of scholarship. These are indicated as "plain," "cum laude," "magna
cum laude" and "summa cum laude." The two professional schools grant
degrees with two grades of distinction, viz., "plain" and "cum laude."
Lowell assumes that the grade attained on the college entrance examinations
indicates with a certain degree of correctness the natural scholarly
abilities of the student. The course of studies elected during college
reflects roughly the general interests of the student at that time. The
college records indicate his ability in the pursuit of those studies,
including under ability such things as persistence, patience, fidelity,
zeal, as well as native intelligence. The records in the professional
schools are taken as indicating quite approximately the student's real
ability to achieve success in the particular professional work of the
technical sort.
All students are consequently classified according to these various
factors. The entrance examinations are divided into "clear" and
"conditioned." The college degrees and the professional degrees are
classified on the basis of the degree of distinction awarded. All students
are also classified on the basis of their election of the four possible
college courses: (a) literature and languages; (b) natural sciences; (c)
history and political science; (d) philosophy and mathematics. The
relations between these various classifications are then presented, and
analyzed in various ways.
Thus it is shown that there is very little or no relation between the
college course elected and the probability of achieving a degree "cum
laude" in the professional schools. The figures are summed up in the
following table:
TABLE 20
SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN COURSE ELECTED IN COLLEGE AND HONORS RECEIVED IN
SUBSEQUENT YEARS IN PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS (LOWELL)
---------------------------------------------------------
| Degree in Law | Degree in Medical
| School | School
Course Pursued |-----------------+------------------
|Plain|"Cum Laude"|Plain|"Cum Laude"
--------------------+-----+-----------+-----+------------
Lit. and Lang. | 801 |180 (18.4%)| 145 |166 (53.4%)
Nat. Science | 19 | 3 (13.6%)| 75 | 81 (51.9%)
Hist. and Pol. Sci. | 627 |129 (17.1%)| 30 | 20 (44.4%)
Phil. and Math | 8 | 11 (57.9%)| 6 | 7 (53.8%)
---------------------------------------------------------
The figures suggest that "as a preparation for the study of law or medicine
it makes comparatively little difference what subject is mainly pursued in
college." That is to say, college interests in natural sciences, as
indicated by the election of that course, does not indicate special
aptitude for the work of medicine; nor does the election of courses in
history and political science indicate a necessary superiority in the more
or less related work of law. Lowell shows that only during the first year
or so of the medical school do those who have already specialized in
natural sciences have any advantage over those medical students who have
specialized in other subjects.
What is the relation between the men's records in college and their
achievement in the professional schools? In the following table are given
the number of college men of each degree of distinction who were awarded
"cum laude" in the professional schools:
TABLE 21
SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN COLLEGE HONORS AND HONORS IN THE PROFESSIONAL
SCHOOLS (LOWELL)
-----------------------------------------------
Record in College |Number Awarded "Cum Laude"
| in Law
--------------------+--------------------------
609 Plain Degree | 40 6.6%
305 Cum Laude | 68 22.3%
200 Magna Cum Laude | 80 40.0%
33 Summa Cum Laude | 20 60.0%
--------------------+--------------------------
Record in College |Number Awarded "Cum Laude"
| in Medicine
--------------------+--------------------------
239 Plain | 86 36.0%
85 Cum Laude | 65 76.5%
39 Magna Cum Laude | 34 87.2%
2 Summa Cum Laude | 2 100.0%
-----------------------------------------------
It is apparent at once that there is a close relation between the college
records and the records in the professional schools. Both in law and in
medicine those who are awarded honors tend largely to be those who were
awarded honors in college. And the higher the college honors, the greater
the percentage of men receiving honors in the professional schools.
We may now ask how far back in the academic careers of these men it is
possible to predict their probable achievement in the professional
schools. Have those who are awarded the professional honors already
distinguished themselves from their fellows at the time of their entrance
into college? The following summary of the results presented by Lowell in
much more detail will help answer this question:
TABLE 22
SHOWING RELATIONS BETWEEN VARIOUS ACADEMIC RECORDS (LOWELL)
Men Graduating from the Law School and Receiving "Cum Laude" in Law
Per cent
------------------------------------------------------------
Entered college "clear" 26.4
Entered college "conditioned" 9.0
Graduated from college with distinction 31.2
Graduated from college without distinction 6.5
Entrance clear and college distinction 37.9
Entrance conditioned and college with distinction 18.1
Entrance clear and college without distinction 11.1
Entrance conditioned and college without distinction 2.9
------------------------------------------------------------
Men Graduating from the Medical School and Receiving "Cum Laude" in
Medicine
Per cent
------------------------------------------------------------
Entered college "clear" 59.1
Entered college "conditioned" 43.0
Graduated from college with distinction 80.1
Graduated from college without distinction 36.0
Entrance clear and college distinction 78.1
Entrance conditioned and college distinction 84.6
Entrance clear and college without distinction 42.4
Entrance conditioned and college without distinction 31.4
------------------------------------------------------------
Here the result is clearly suggested that early merit in academic work
means success in the professional schools, whether one considers entrance
examinations or college records. And the most probable group for
professional honors is made up of those men who combined both entrance and
college distinction. This is especially striking in the case of the law
school. In the case of the medical school the differences are not quite so
great, although the general tendency is quite the same. This is said to be
due to the lower standard required for medical honors during these years.
Lowell concludes: "The men who are destined to take the highest rank in the
law and medical schools are markedly better scholars, both in the
preparatory schools and in college, than their fellows. In intellectual
power, as in other things, the boy is father to the man."
On the whole, then, all these studies point in a consistent direction;
those who are destined to achieve distinction and success begin to do so at
an early age. Whether measured by achievement in academic courses, honors
in professional and technical courses, salary earned after graduation, or
inclusion among lists and directories of eminent men, success in later life
is suggested by success in the early work of the school curriculum. In
spite of frequent comments to the contrary, the school curriculum would
seem to constitute a useful test in prognosticating at least the most
probable quality of the individual's later work.
But our original three questions are at present answered with very unequal
reliability. With respect to the relation between early success or failure
in elementary school subjects and success or failure in handling more
advanced subject matter, the evidence is clear and definite.
On the question as to the permanence of interests and the relation between
interest and ability, the evidence is far from adequate for vocational
purposes. While the conclusion suggested is positive in Thorndike's study,
the investigator recognizes that the results require confirmation or
refutation at the hands of more reliable and verifiable information. It has
appeared fairly certain that interest, as reflected in choice of college
subjects, bears no relation to ability to undertake the work of at least
two definite branches of professional training.
On the third question, concerning the relation between general or
particular academic aptitude or inclination and general or particular
proficiency in later domestic, industrial, commercial, professional or
civic activities, the data, although consistent, are far from complete.
Here, then, as in so many other aspects of vocational psychology, we find
an inviting field of research and an abundance of interesting problems.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] _Educational Review_, September, 1914.