Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/693

 STUDY OF WOMEN CRIMINALS 677

light upon our problem : How can the individual best function in society, and has she the requisites for so doing ? An individual who can read and write can often adapt herself less readily to her environment, and if this is the test for education, it may well be said that the uneducated alone are not criminals. Experience and more accurate perception may not involve the ability to read and write, but may enable the individual to better adjust herself. Using this very inaccurate standard, out of 86 penitentiary inmates 35 claimed "common school," 12 "read and write," i \ " illiterate," 5 " convent," 22 " limited," i " high school." I found, when meas- uring the women, that "common school" might mean "six months in a country school," " two years in the public school," or "left at fifteen." I found that "limited" might mean barely able to form letters and read words, or that it might exceed the flu- ency of those registered " convent." " Illiterate " and " read and write " were more definite, but in the latter there were various degrees of proficiency, and no facts are ascertainable about the knowledge gained through experience and training. It is difficult to secure a definite statement, as the women generally desire to convey an impression of their superior intelligence. One subject insisted she had had mathematics, not arithmetic. After much parrying as to what specific part of mathematics she had, she finally named decimals, to which I responded : " Then, of course, you have had algebra?" to which she readily assented. This serves to demonstrate that education must be tested, and not the criminal's verbal assurance accepted. In my tests I learned the grade and reader in use when the subject left school. From such tests as those for memory, association of ideas, reading, respira- tion, etc., I was able to judge if their statements were true. These tests also showed the kind of spelling, proficiency in handwriting, capacity for attention and for memorizing, and rapidity of mental operation and association, which are criteria of education.

The penitentiary class is better educated than the work- house class, but few of them rank out of the eighth grade or fifth reader, and most of them below this. Of the workhouse class this general statement is true : Though my tests required only the rudiments of education — reading and writing, and