Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., Thinking versus knowing, December 8, 1920

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Within the past day or two I aa.e .• ~ in an article written by a
critic of our education_al system a statement ot a atmdition that I .hadn't even
heard ot bet ore. It was to the effeot that of over three million recruits to
our ~ in the late war the aver~ ot intelligence or mental development ot all
these men was only equal to that of a thirteen and one-halt year old boy
ot normal intelligence and tolerable mental training.
Some of our eminent psycholOgists have invented systems for testing th&
strength ot or the development ot individual intelligence.
It is tolerably common knowledge that either by reason of difference
in inheritance or difterence in eduaation there is great difference in mental
powers betw"ll individuals.
:Memory is only Olla of the elements of intellection.
Quickness of reaotion to stimula is another measurable element. (For
instanoe one child being asked the sum of five and four would give a quicker
response in the way of an answer than another.)
The ability to distinguish colors and sounds can also be measured.
There are a number of other elements of intellect that can be measured.
I presume that either the iinet or the Yerkes system of test was
adopted in order that the mentality of our soldiers should be measured.
When a child in our public sohools is being examined in order that the
teacher shall know to what grade or class he shall work in, the examination is for
the purpose of finding what the ohild knows t what it has learned in the way of
facts.
Of course it stands to reason that there is a considerable amount of
~~ .. a't1<Qll or the two mental elements of intellect - mental vigor and that at
"lalo'fll&dge possessed - knowledge, that is to say ot things whiah are taught in
Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://bit.ly/scripps_mss117