Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for educationHollingworth, Leta Stetter
Science
Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for education
Hollingworth, Leta Stetter
Educational psychology; Educational tests and measurements; Exceptional children
It is somewhat difficult to compare musical talent with general
intelligence, within a group of individuals, by test, because the tests
which have been devised are to an extent dependent on intelligence for
their execution. In order to perform them, it is necessary to follow
somewhat complicated directions, and to do this requires the exercise of
intelligence. Seashore’s tests cannot be reliably carried out with
persons whose general intelligence level falls below about nine years.
Within the range of intellect which is sufficient for understanding and
carrying out the directions, musical sensitivity as regards pitch,
intensity, time, and consonance shows no reliable correlation with
general intelligence. This is what we should expect from test results,
on the basis of the relationships shown previously between ability in
music and ability in school work on the whole. For instance, Schussler
found that of pupils classified by his criterion (grades received in
singing) as “unmusical,” 41 per cent reached the grade norms in school
work. Of those classified as “semi-musical,” 57 per cent reached the
norms. Of the “musical,” 79 per cent reached the normal status. The
average standing in marks of the “musical” fell 15 per cent above that
of the “unmusical,” while the “semi-musical” showed an average rating
6.6 per cent higher than the “unmusical.”
When we consider that school marks in singing, as in drawing, are given
not only for musical capacity, but for a heterogeneity of factors,
including effort, attendance, ability to comprehend directions, and so
forth, we should at once expect from these figures that by actual test,
musical ability would be likely to show marked independence of general
intelligence. Nearly half of the distinctly “unmusical” children reached
or exceeded the grade norms, in general school work. This is not far
from what is true of children taken at random, regardless of musical
talent. That a disproportionately large number of pupils who did very
good work in music reached or exceeded the typical performance in school
work on the whole, might be expected from the extent to which school
marks in music are probably given for general superiority of the
organism, as suggested above.
The present findings from actual tests of sensitivity, above the minimum
of intellect required for carrying out test directions, are that
correlations closely approach zero as regards musical sensitivity and
general intelligence. Therefore, educators may expect to find a number
of pupils, who fail in nothing but music, and others who succeed in
nothing but music. As Witmer has said, in discussing the specialization
of musical gifts, “Were society so organized that success in life in
every sphere of activity were dependent upon a good enough ear to turn a
tune, many persons who are now doing useful work in the world, would
have to be relegated to the class of imbeciles.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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