ENDS AND MEANS
A's intelligence quotient is higher than B's tells us, as it
stands, very little; if it is to be really significant, we must
know a number of "other facts—whether, for example,
A and B belong to the same psycho-physical type or to
different types, whether they approximate to the pure type
or are greatly mixed. And so on. The intelligence test,
then, is an imperfect instrument; but, imperfect as it is,
it has done something to give statistical form and content
to the universally held conviction that some people are
stupider than others. Having accepted the fact that human
beings belong to different types, are gifted with different
talents and have different degrees of intelligence, we must
attempt to give each the education best calculated to develop
his or her capacities to their utmost. In a rather crude
and inefficient way, this is what we are attempting to do
even now. Clever boys pass examinations and are given
scholarships that take them from primary to secondary
schools and from secondary schools to universities. Handy
boys are apprenticed or sent to technical schools to learn
some skilled trade. And so on. A rough and ready ,
system—a good deal rougher than readier. Its defects
are twofold. First, the methods employed for choosing
the candidates for the different kinds of education are far
from satisfactory. And, second, the kinds of education to
which successful candidates are subjected are even less
satisfactory than the methods of choice.
About the examination system it is unnecessary for me
to speak at length. Most educators agree in theory that
a single crucial examination does not provide the best test
of a person's ability. Many of them have even passed from
theory to practice and are giving up the single, crucial
examination in favour of a series of periodical tests of
knowledge and intelligence and the reports, over a span
of years, of teachers and inspectors. Supplemented by an
expert grading in terms of psycho-physical type, the second
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