Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and MethodsHollingworth, Harry L. (Harry Levi)
Science
Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and Methods
Hollingworth, Harry L. (Harry Levi)
Psychophysiology
Interesting data on all three of these preceding questions are to be found
in A. Lawrence Lowell's study of the academic careers of students in
Harvard College, Law School and Medical School. This investigation
included an examination into the college entrance examinations, the records
attained during the college course, the subjects elected in this course,
and the subsequent achievement of the men in the professional schools of
law and medicine. The statistics cover the cases of all men who took the
degree of A. B. at Harvard and then graduated from the two professional
schools connected with Harvard. Only men who had taken at least three years
of college work in residence were included. The records for the Law School
cover the twenty years from 1891 to 1910. Those for the Medical School
cover the sixteen years from 1895 forward.
The college gives degrees indicating four grades of distinction on the
basis of scholarship. These are indicated as "plain," "cum laude," "magna
cum laude" and "summa cum laude." The two professional schools grant
degrees with two grades of distinction, viz., "plain" and "cum laude."
Lowell assumes that the grade attained on the college entrance examinations
indicates with a certain degree of correctness the natural scholarly
abilities of the student. The course of studies elected during college
reflects roughly the general interests of the student at that time. The
college records indicate his ability in the pursuit of those studies,
including under ability such things as persistence, patience, fidelity,
zeal, as well as native intelligence. The records in the professional
schools are taken as indicating quite approximately the student's real
ability to achieve success in the particular professional work of the
technical sort.
All students are consequently classified according to these various
factors. The entrance examinations are divided into "clear" and
"conditioned." The college degrees and the professional degrees are
classified on the basis of the degree of distinction awarded. All students
are also classified on the basis of their election of the four possible
college courses: (a) literature and languages; (b) natural sciences; (c)
history and political science; (d) philosophy and mathematics. The
relations between these various classifications are then presented, and
analyzed in various ways.
Thus it is shown that there is very little or no relation between the
college course elected and the probability of achieving a degree "cum
laude" in the professional schools. The figures are summed up in the
following table:
TABLE 20
SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN COURSE ELECTED IN COLLEGE AND HONORS RECEIVED IN
SUBSEQUENT YEARS IN PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS (LOWELL)
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