Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/781

Rh in power of observation. At eight the average has reached, through the training of life's experiences, to within hailing distance of the leaders eighty-five per cent away; at fourteen the average will be seen to have gained on the leaders so much that only thirty-two per cent divides them. At twenty only twenty-five per cent stands between the average and the highest human



attainment. By a more complete coordination of scientific and educational methods, I believe there will be no trouble in raising the average, now at line 2, to the dotted line above it, beginning at eighth year, passing through (Fig. 30) at fourteenth year, ending at (B) twentieth year.

This would make the power of the average child at twelve years, by the above-described test, equal to that now acquired by the average adult, and the gain would not be attained by giving power to a few already bright pupils who do not need it, but by bringing all those now weak up to or above the present average. (See charts 51 and 29.) The position of the fifty-three teachers (chart E) represents as nothing else could the value of the instruction received in the common and high schools in which they were trained, of which Mr. Wheelock says the results are "not much of anything." On this chart we find five individuals above the eighty-five-per cent line, while chart 51 shows nineteen higher than eighty-five per cent and only two below the average line, as compared with sixteen below in the former group.

The unsatisfactory condition mentioned by the Regents' Head Inspector is due almost entirely to the methods of examining