of superior ability are given a chance to prepare for special promotions. Rooms are also provided for retarded children and for those who are mentally incapable of getting all the work of the grades, or are very much slower in acquiring than the normal children,

For a number of years these children were selected on their standing in their classes, their age, physical condition, and power of application. In recent years, group intelligence tests have been used as a determining factor and as a guard against advancing a child beyond his mental limitations.

Careful record is kept and observation made of those children given special promotions, and it is found that as a rule the large majority of them continue to be among the best in the class.

Educational tests given the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades showed few pupils in any class making either very high or very low scores. This is further proof that the standard aimed at, more even grading, is being reached.

The conclusion reached by the principal of the school is that with the superior children advanced to a degree approaching their mental capacities, and the inefficient and incapable removed to separate rooms, the effect on the main school throughout the building is marked. The pupils are more evenly graded and the energies of the teacher can be directed mainly to the large normal class, all having common interests and common problems. The result is less nerve strain on both teachers and pupils, and a better and higher class of work is accomplished.

Mr. James M. Glass, of the Washington Junior High School of Rochester, New York, tried out the plan of grouping the pupils coming into the junior high school in nine divisions, according to their scores in the Otis Intelligence Tests. In former years the incoming classes had been grouped according to their previous scholarship ratings. At the end of the first ten weeks' work, scholarship records for the nine groups

were compared. It was found that there was a high positive correlation between the intelligence test ratings and the scholarship ratings, and very few transfers had to be made. The conclusion drawn was that the plan of grouping by objective tests was very superior to the former method of grouping.

Similar plans of classification according to mental ability have been tried in many other places, and all have proved their superiority over the old system of using chronological age as a basis. Homogeneity in classes is what every school administrator and teacher is striving for in grading, classification and promotion, and it seems that this is secured much more readily by using mental ability as a basis, than it was under the old system.

To a Pessimist

"Sickness and sorrow, pain and death!"
'Tis thus you tell the beads of Time;
In perfect health you find life vain.
Your neighbor's lungs must toil for breath,
But his heart, keyed to cheerful rhyme,
Makes bitter sweet, and loss a gain.

"Beyond the tomb the judgment throne,
And flesh is weak!" You stand aghast:
But your sick neighbor looks above,
Rejoicing that by God alone,

Who knows all, all are weighed at last,
And in a balance trued by love.

You prick him with your pity, too;
His empty purse, his carefree way,
Are things your stolid prudence fears.

But he is richer far than you;
His hour is larger than your day;
He sees the goal beyond the years!

STOKELY S. FISHER.

U

The Boy, His Gang, and School

KATHLEEN O'BRIEN, WORCESTER, MASS.

¤ PON investigation of the subject of this paper, I found quantities of material dealing with the boy and his gang; but very little or no connection between the gang and the school. Heretofore it has seemed impossible to consider favorably the gang and school together. The gang and its pranks must be broken in the schoolroom, according to old ideas. I am going to try to show what characteristics are valuable in the gang and equally valuable in the schoolroom.

Study in psychology shows us that the first few years of a child's life are individualistic; that is, the child does not seek or desire the companionship of others to accomplish his ambitions. He is content to do whatever he can by himself.

But when the child becomes twelve years old, he gives up individualism for the group. We find the girl seeking three or four other girls to form her "set." She takes a social standard as a basis for her selection. Clothes, financial conditions, and interests enter into her considerations of her "set."

The boy, however, enters a larger group-the gang. As a general thing, the proof of some ability must be given as a qualification for entrance into the gang. This ability usually lies in athletic lines. The prospective gangster may be able to run swiftly, or leap a greater distance, or, more often, fight well.

Let us consider the leader of the gang. He is a boy who wants to do, and can do, certain new things. He has a certain, "Come-on! we-can-do-that!" spirit, which serves as a stimulus to the others. He is full of life, new schemes, and he is fair to other members of his gang. One boy, belonging to a gang in New York City, says of the leader of his gang:

"He can do things; he is fair in our play; he won't let us cheat to win; he divvies up even with us." This boy describes the type of leader throughout the world, who through these same ways effects the most good. The world naturally follows such a leader willingly.

If the leader of this gang had an opportunity to exercise his leadership in the schoolroom, the class would follow willingly. If the teacher could realize that the leader of the gang must do something new all the time for the gang, and that he would be willing to lead his fellows in school work, if he were recognized as the leader, how much easier and pleasanter school life would be!

The gang itself has its virtues. It works together as a unit. Is not this an excellent form of co-operation? Since the educators are driving for more co-operation, why not make use of that which is already in evidence in the gang? This virtue then could easily be used in the schoolroom to advantage.

Strict honesty within the gang is a second worthy characteristic of this organization. Loyalty is equally important to any gangster. Fear of being ruled out of the gang makes individuals observe these practices.

The offender of any of these practices may be assured of meeting even-handed justice at the hands of his fellow gangsmen. A boy in New York, having been dishonest among his gangsmen, was ruled out of the gang after a trial by jury, consisting of the whole gang. The boy's father felt his son's disgrace so keenly, that he sent him from home. A higher spirit of fair play cannot be found in any other group than is found in a gang.

Partly to this spirit of fair play, and partly to the everpresent spirit of rivalry, may be traced the fights in the streets. One gang selects its best figher to fight the "pick" of the other gang. This is done to show which gang is made up of the best stuff. If, however, a policeman appears on the scene of the fight, a low warning protects both gangsters,

who hasten to escape punishment. Back in their respective lairs a glorious feast is enjoyed to celebrate the clever escape. Each member offers some food and receives some other boy's contribution. The feast is a vital point in the life of the gang.

Jacob Riis says that a gang is a club run wild. Since in later life, whatever profession he enters, the boy will meet more clubs, or if not clubs, unions, why should not the gang be redirected by the school to be an organized body which works effectively for common good? Will this not train the future citizens to hold their social position more effectively?

If the leader of the gang could be induced to lead his group into some competitive school work, much good could be derived from such procedure. In my own class I found that there were two gangs represented. I divided the class into two groups, each made up of members of the same gang. Then I started a competition in history work between these two groups. Boys who have scarcely been interested in history have begun to take an active part. Upon investigation I found that older members of the gang are assisting these boys, because the honor of the gang is at stake. From this experiment I learned that some outside interest, as well as inside, was taken in history. The slow children studied more carefully for fear of being dropped from the gang.

As a general thing, a boy who cannot get along well in the gang, cannot get along well with others in life. Statistics show that the leaders of the nations were at one time members of a gang, and in most cases were leaders.

In California the practice of School Cities is based somewhat on this idea. The system realizes the ideal of student leadership. School management rests entirely in the hands of the pupils. They elect their own leaders, who are also leaders of the gangs. The children are willing to follow the instructions of leaders appointed by themselves more readily than they are to follow dogmatically the teacher's every instruction. A sort of military plan is used in the particular