Measuring intelligence of Indian children; and, Mental testing
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MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
OF
INDIAN CHILDREN
by
V. V. KAMAT. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
This study of the intelligence of Indian children was begun a few years ago, when experiments in the field of education or psychology were practically unknown in India. When the writer talked about his work to several of his friends and fellow educationists, almost all of them threw cold water on his enthusiasm and laughed at his going from place to place with a bag of test material in hand. The author finds pleasure in recording that in these early days it was Mr. W. Grieve who, narrating his own experience on the subject, spoke very encouragingly to the writer about the experiment and its utility in education, and at the same time rightly put him on his guard against difficulties that were to be encountered, both financial and otherwise. The author's very best thanks are, therefore, due to him, as also to Mr. K. S. Vakil who always had a word of appreciation for the work and who gave the author the free use of his excellent private educational library. The greatest encouragement and inspiration that kept alive the author's enthusiasm under all difficulties came from Professor Godfrey H. Thomson, Head of the Department of Education, University of Edinburgh, under whose guidance the author carried out this experiment and to whom he owes an incalculable debt of gratitude. Professor Thomson's appreciation of the work and the high opinion that he expressed about it in writing have been a source of great pleasure to the author.
As the present study was a basic study, it was necessary to make it as thorough as possible. Unless we in India have a reliable foot -rule of mental measurement to start with, we cannot undertake other researches. For instance, if we want to test the efficacy of any method of instruction, we are required to make two experimental groups of children equivalent to each other in every way possible; and since the intelligence of the two groups is the most important factor to be taken into consideration we are required to give a reliable intelligence test to the two groups. Further the diagnosis of mentally backward children, which is such a vital question for school authorities to consider, can only be done satisfactorily by an individual test of the Binet type. Finally, the author feels confident that as the reader reads through the book carefully many problems for further research will suggest themselves to him, not to mention those that are directly suggested during discussions in the body of the book. Thus the importance of this basic study of the intelligence of children in India led the author to undertake and complete this experiment in spite of various difficulties, not the least of which was the financial one.
The present book gives the results of the experiment, its historical background and the psychological interpretations of the tests. The actual tests which are to be administered in the language of the children are published separately by the same publishers in the form of the two books: (1) Hindi Hudugara Buddhimâpanavu' in Kannada; and (2) 'Hindi Mulânchen Buddhimâpan' in Marathi. It is hoped that all these books, which should be read together, will be found to be of great use by education authorities, by primary and secondary school teachers, and particularly by students of the primary and secondary training colleges. The tests are individual Binet tests as revised by the author from the Stanford version of Professor Terman and it is admitted on all hands that the Binet tests are the most reliable tests of intelligence, though they take more time to administer than group tests.
In this experiment altogether 1,074 children and adolescents of all ages from 2 to about 20 and of both sexes were tested and the details of the experiment are given in the body of this book.
MENTAL TESTING by V. V. KAMAT. TEACHING A QUARTERLY TECHNICAL JOURNAL FOR TEACHERS. VOL. VI MARCH, 1934 No. 3
This study of the intelligence of Indian children was begun a few years ago, when experiments in the field of education or psychology were practically unknown in India. When the writer talked about his work to several of his friends and fellow educationists, almost all of them threw cold water on his enthusiasm and laughed at his going from place to place with a bag of test material in hand. The author finds pleasure in recording that in these early days it was Mr. W. Grieve who, narrating his own experience on the subject, spoke very encouragingly to the writer about the experiment and its utility in education, and at the same time rightly put him on his guard against difficulties that were to be encountered, both financial and otherwise. The author's very best thanks are, therefore, due to him, as also to Mr. K. S. Vakil who always had a word of appreciation for the work and who gave the author the free use of his excellent private educational library. The greatest encouragement and inspiration that kept alive the author's enthusiasm under all difficulties came from Professor Godfrey H. Thomson, Head of the Department of Education, University of Edinburgh, under whose guidance the author carried out this experiment and to whom he owes an incalculable debt of gratitude. Professor Thomson's appreciation of the work and the high opinion that he expressed about it in writing have been a source of great pleasure to the author.
As the present study was a basic study, it was necessary to make it as thorough as possible. Unless we in India have a reliable foot -rule of mental measurement to start with, we cannot undertake other researches. For instance, if we want to test the efficacy of any method of instruction, we are required to make two experimental groups of children equivalent to each other in every way possible; and since the intelligence of the two groups is the most important factor to be taken into consideration we are required to give a reliable intelligence test to the two groups. Further the diagnosis of mentally backward children, which is such a vital question for school authorities to consider, can only be done satisfactorily by an individual test of the Binet type. Finally, the author feels confident that as the reader reads through the book carefully many problems for further research will suggest themselves to him, not to mention those that are directly suggested during discussions in the body of the book. Thus the importance of this basic study of the intelligence of children in India led the author to undertake and complete this experiment in spite of various difficulties, not the least of which was the financial one.
The present book gives the results of the experiment, its historical background and the psychological interpretations of the tests. The actual tests which are to be administered in the language of the children are published separately by the same publishers in the form of the two books: (1) Hindi Hudugara Buddhimâpanavu' in Kannada; and (2) 'Hindi Mulânchen Buddhimâpan' in Marathi. It is hoped that all these books, which should be read together, will be found to be of great use by education authorities, by primary and secondary school teachers, and particularly by students of the primary and secondary training colleges. The tests are individual Binet tests as revised by the author from the Stanford version of Professor Terman and it is admitted on all hands that the Binet tests are the most reliable tests of intelligence, though they take more time to administer than group tests.
In this experiment altogether 1,074 children and adolescents of all ages from 2 to about 20 and of both sexes were tested and the details of the experiment are given in the body of this book.
MENTAL TESTING by V. V. KAMAT. TEACHING A QUARTERLY TECHNICAL JOURNAL FOR TEACHERS. VOL. VI MARCH, 1934 No. 3
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