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the. other hand, are those, who are incapable of further improvement
in a special class, or those who cannot be so dealt with
Without detriment to others, including besides idiots, imbeciles,
and moral imbeciles, defectives over and under school age, all of
whom, under the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913,
come within the jurisdiction of the Mental Deficiency or Local
control Committee of the Essex County Council.
In assessing the degree of defect present and the suitability
or otherwise of any case for special school, besides the consideration
of various psychological factors, the pedagogic or educational
attainments of the child are considered in respect of his age in
years, the resultant of which forms the mental age, intelligence
quotient or educable value of the individual.
Although objection may be taken to the use of the word " ineducable,"
as applied to lower grade types of deficiency, it is
equally true that no child, even an idiot, is untrainable if suitable
methods are used. On the other hand, the word does imply a
condemnation of one method of dealing with the problem of the
ineducable, i.e., by retaining them in special schools for the
higher grade feeble-minded. Although such schools are by
statute reserved for children who are not imbeciles and not incapable
of receiving benefit, the benefit intended is not merely
a training in body and discipline which would apply to all grades
of defectives, but substantial progress in the subjects of the
curriculum. At the same time, the oft-expressed dictum, "once a
defective, always a defective," must be remembered, and even
grade cases, although not incapable of improvement, are
unlikely to prove successes in after life from any educational
proficiency which may have been attained at school.
The introduction of manual instruction, such as boot-mending,
basket and wicker work, mat making, etc., as an important
part of the educational training in all such schools is thus to be
commended as an essential item in the fitting out of the defective
for his appropriate place in the sphere of after-life. Apart from
the slow rate of progress made by lower grade defectives if admitted
to special schools, the practice has other positive disadvan-