OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children By ANGELO PATRI SOME people pin their faith to a child's I. Q. If it is well above 100, fine. If it is below, all hope is lost. It is too bad that a useful tool like the I. Q. should...
...For a moment our hearts sank, remembering that his I. Q. had been in the 80's, his academic work below passing, and then we remembered that in all his shop work, in every department where working experiences , dominated, he had 100 per cent or close to it...
...I am talking now about giving a low I. Q. to a child who cannot read, write, and work problems in arithmetic to the academic standard...
...An I. Q. is just one measurement of a child's ability taken as it stood at one special hour of his life...
...He could do anything with a machine and he could read what he needed to read concerning them and write anything he needed to write about them...
...The school had worked to develop the abilities he had and we had succeeded and here was the proof...
...The I. Q. that is based on academic studies alone may not be an accurate measurement, you see...
...We had a proud hour in our school lately when Al's mother came asking us to give her a copy of his record...
...After the I. Q. has been found on the usual test basis, it would be well to search a child's gifts and failings to see if there is not some undiscovered talent, some hidden power...
...It is useful if it is found on the basis of a child's § powers, on his...
...He was to be promoted because he could do well what was needed to be done...
...There are many people in the world who can do none of these things and are useful, successful, happy people...
...Keep searching...
...Growth comes in spurts, with suddenness often, with delays and rests and ups and downs...
...It is more Maybe than Fact...
...It is too bad that a useful tool like the I. Q. should be so misused...
...And it is wise too, to keep searching month after month to see if something new has been sprouting...
...experiences, but it is misleading if it ignores his experiences and abilities...
...It may be true, oftener it is far from the truth if the whole child is considered...
...He is in the Air Force and has been recommended for Officers Training and needs his school report...
...If the person measured by it has abilities that the tests ignore, it certainly is not a true valuation...
...That I. Q. was not a real valuation of a valuable human being...
Vol. 8 • January 1944 • No. 2
