Again, the
success with which these pupils carry a schedule of five or six
subjects, besides other work not recognized in the treatment of this
study, and retrieve themselves in the unattractive subjects of failure
pleads for a recognition of their ability and enterprise. Their
difficulty is without doubt frequently more physiological than
psychological, except as they are the victims of a false psychology,
that either disregards or misapplies the principles which Thorndike
terms the law of readiness[50] to respond and the law of effect, and
consequently depend largely on the one law of exercise of the function
to secure the desired results.
Some additional evidence that the failing pupils can and do succeed in
most of their subjects is provided by their earlier and later records,
as disclosed by the total grades received for the semester first
preceding and the one next following that in which the failure occurs.
There were of course no preceding grades for the failures that occur in
the first semester, and none succeeding those that occur in the last
semester spent in school. It is quite apparent from the following
distribution of grades that these pupils are far from helpless in
regard to the ability required to do school work in general.
GRADES OF THE FAILING PUPILS IN THE SEMESTER NEXT PRECEDING
THE FAILURES
Total A B C D
13,857 Boys 315 2883 6668 3991
17,264 Girls 245 2868 9509 4642
Per Cent of Total 1.
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