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* * * * *
MENTALLY DEFECTIVE
CHILDREN
BY
ALFRED BINET AND TH. SIMON, M.D.
AUTHORISED TRANSLATION
BY
W.B. DRUMMOND, M.B., C.M., F.R.C.P. (EDIN.)
AUTHOR OF
"AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD STUDY," ETC.
WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS
OF INTELLIGENCE BY
MARGARET DRUMMOND, M.A.
AND AN INTRODUCTION BY
PROFESSOR ALEXANDER DARROCH
_FOURTH IMPRESSION_
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
[_All rights reserved_]
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED
GUILDFORD AND ESHER
INTRODUCTION
The Binet-Simon tests of children's intelligence have been the subject
of much discussion during the past few years, both in this country and
in America. Much of this discussion seems to have been carried on, at
times, without any knowledge of the original aim or purpose for which
these tests were devised, and as if, so to speak, they were invented
as a means for ascertaining the relative intellectual powers of all
children, and so of affording to the teacher a ready and sure means of
accurately classifying and grading the children under his charge. As a
consequence, there is a tendency, in some quarters, to search for and
to endeavour to establish some absolute standard or criterion of
intelligence which shall be valid, irrespective of the nationality, or
the class, or the particular environment of the child.
It is hoped that the publication in translation of the work of Binet
and Simon in which these tests first appeared, along with the complete
series of tests as extended and revised during the lifetime of the
former, will tend to remove this twofold misapprehension, and make the
educationalist, as well as the wider public interested in social
questions, acquainted with the real purpose which underlay the devisal
or invention of the tests, and so enable all to perceive that their
relative value, as measuring stages of intelligence, must be judged by
the purpose for which they were devised.
Now, the main purpose of the authors in the devisal of these tests is
to furnish to the teacher a _first_ means by which he may single out
mentally backward children, who, upon further examination, may also be
found to have some mental defect or peculiarity which prevents them
from fully profiting by the education of the ordinary school, and who
probably would benefit more by being educated in a special school or
in a special class. But the final selection, it is contended, of
defective children for special education demands the experience of the
doctor and of the psychologist, as well as the knowledge of the
teacher, and the aid of all three is necessary in the devisal of
courses of study for the mentally defective. Especially important is
the division of mentally defectives into two main classes--the
feeble-minded and the ill-balanced. The latter, as a rule, are easily
marked out from the normal child, and, if not specially looked after,
may in later life become a menace to society. The feeble-minded, on
the other hand, may easily escape the notice of the teacher, and may
pass through the ordinary school unaffected and unimproved, enter into
society, and propagate their kind. Both classes require the special
care of the community, and their proper education and training are of
the gravest importance for the welfare and stability of society. In
this selection and education of mentally defective children, three
positions of Billet and Simon are worthy of consideration. In the
first place, it is contended that a physical examination alone can
never allow us to dispense with a direct examination of the
intelligence, and that "anthropometry, stigmata, and physical
appearance must take a second place as means of discovering in school
the feeble-minded and the ill-balanced." Again, "mental deficiency and
want of balance are peculiar mental conditions which it is often
impossible to connect with definite pathological changes." Hence the
examination of the medical man is not decisive. It must be
accompanied and reinforced by that of the psychologist. In the second
place, it is affirmed that in the devisal of schemes of training for
mental defectives, we must take into account that the dominant
features in their life are the "senses, the concrete perceptions, and
motor ability," and that "in the education of defectives the workshop
ought to become a more important place of instruction than the
class-room." In the third place, the position is strongly emphasised
that "every class, every school for defectives, ought to aim at
rendering the pupils socially useful. It is not a question of
enriching their minds, but of giving them the means of working for
their living."
Hence, the utility of special schools or special classes for such
children depends ultimately upon their success in making their pupils,
according to the measure of their intelligence, efficient workers.
These two problems--viz., (1) the method of selecting abnormal or
defective children who are not sufficiently good for the ordinary
school, nor yet sufficiently bad to be classed as idiots or imbeciles;
and (2) the devisal of courses of education and training which may
tend to make them hereafter useful workers and citizens--are of
first-rate importance to us at the present time. Under recent
legislation, public local authorities have been entrusted with the
devisal of the means for the proper selection and the proper education
of defective children, and the utmost wisdom and care should be taken
in the beginning of this new movement. The many errors that
administrators may fall into are fully set forth in this little volume
(_cf._ p. 78 _et seq._), and the concluding chapter on the utility of
special schools should be read by all who have to do with the
administration of the new Act.
The importance of the work of Binet and Simon to teachers and
inspectors is without question, and were the duties of the teacher
and inspector carried out as set forth in this volume (_cf._ p. 86)
throughout the whole school, a much-needed improvement in our ordinary
school education would soon result.
Lastly, the volume is important as marking a new attitude towards
educational problems, and as indicating the newer spirit in which we
should undertake the training of all teachers. This new attitude and
spirit are clearly set forth in the concluding words of the volume:
"The essential thing is for all the world to understand that
empiricism has had its day, and that methods of scientific precision
must be introduced into all educational work, to carry everywhere good
sense and light."
ALEXANDER DARROCH
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH,
_July, 1914_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
PAGE
INTEREST IN SOCIAL QUESTIONS 1
SOME DEFINITIONS 4
SOME STATISTICS 7