DRAT NGITS A METHOD OF ORGAMIZING / OR! AMALATIYZING ASET OF RELATIONS BY PUTTING THEM IN & GRAPHIC FORM DRAWING MAY BE PEFINED AS A FIELOOF REPRESENTATION IN WHICH GRAPHIC SYMBOLS USUALLY LIAVING SOME SYMBOLIC SIMILARITY OF PATTERNSS HOWN IN THE SOPPLIMENT TO CHART ONE WESEET HAT THEY CAN BE CIASS FIED IN THREE GRAPHS EACH WITH A DISTINCT

PUR POSE

This lettering was done in a class in mechanical drawing. The boy was copy directly from his workbook. He dropped out of high school in his junior year

Above is a portion from a junior history test. The pupil is now a senior and working part time. The teacher did explain again about Francis Scott Key.

IPLEDG OF ALLE GIANCE FLAG UNITOSTATE OF THE UNITED OF AMERICA, ANDTOTHEREPUBLIC FOR WHICHIT STAND ONENATION INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTYNADUVSTIC FOR ALL

This lettering of the Pledge of Allegiance was copied from a workbook by a sophomore in mechanical-drawing class. Still a sophomore, he quit high school in his third year.

This is one pupil's reply to part of a test covering a unit on first aid given in a class studying health. The confused youngster quit high school at the beginning of the junior year.

The Bill of rights

History
is the first

ten Amendements down

• the 19-14-15 Amendement. 1 in know silaiever in the cs. 14. is that colered people ure sexydive of the U.s, and 15 they to have the right to vost.

18

Its Ampromise that is if the house has 34 and sent has 3 and congres has is that the hill passed.

4 by amendment is that layede have the right to vocis.

502. Amendemt. is that bear hav not be sold or made or anything

4. (1) Bill of rights was the freeden of relgen ance the freden of the

of Ance the

This example is part of a history test covering the Bill of Rights. The writer is a high school junior majoring in home economics.

so diredly from there rth peard to
their respective activities

This writing was copied from a book as "punishment work" in 1956
by a high school sophomore enrolled in a college-preparatory course.
He was graduated in 1958.

ANNEX 4

[From Chemical and Engineering News, Nov. 21, 1960]

EDUCATION

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CAN'T WRITE OR SPELL-PROJECT TALENT FINDS THAT ONLY ONE IN 100 U.S. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CAN WRITE A PARAGRAPH OF PERFECT ENGLISH

Computers at the University of Pittsburgh have started to grind out facts about the U.S. high school population-its characteristics, aptitudes, abilities And one of their first judgments confirms a deficiency long suspected: Johnny can't write; neither can Mary.

Specifically, the early studies reveal that only one high school student in 100 can write a five-minute theme without making mechanical mistakes in English. Their gross errors in usage are shocking, says Dr. William A. Gorham, supervisor of test administration for Project Talent. Further, high school boys, on the average, misspell one word per theme, compared to girls, who misspell one word in two themes.

Project Talent is the research program that expects to pin down enough information on American youth to give a useful inventory of the nation's human resources of the future (C&EN, March 2, 1959, page 154). It is directed by Dr John C. Flanagan of the University of Pittsburgh and supported by the US Office of Education, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Office of Naval Research.

Currently, Dr. Gorham says, the 2,000 bits of information collected last spring from each of 450,000 high school students (1,357 schools) are now in the computers. The machines will be divulging answers in the future as fast as Project Talent can pose its questions.

REVEALING THEMES

As part of Project Talent's two-day testing process, all students wrote for five minutes on each of two themes: "My Views About an Ideal Occupation" and "What High School Means to Me." A random sample of these themes may seem amusing at first reading, Dr. Gorham says. But, amusement quickly gives way to shock as the quality of the product of U.S. high schools becomes apparent.

In spite of technical errors, Dr. Gorham believes, the content of the themes will provide a rich source of insights into the attitudes, values, and plans of young people. He predicts that the content of themes written by different groups of students will turn up some interesting comments on the attitudes and needs of people who turn out to be successful or unsuccessful; to be secretaries or physi cists; to be social workers or inmates of institutions.

BOYS VS. GIRLS

Project Talent, in its preliminary data, has already questioned some of the differences that people accept as inherent in boys and girls, according to Dr Gorham. One such concept says that for some genetic reason women have less aptitude than men for mathematics. This reasoning is advanced, Dr. Gorham points out, to rule women out of science and engineering.

But, Project Talent finds little difference in the male and female potential for learning math. By the time today's students reach grade 12, Dr. Gorham explains, it is true that, on the average, girls know about 70% of what boys know about math. This figure reflects their knowledge of terms encountered at all levels of math. And boys do take more math courses than girls, who steer away from them.

The logic of the concept goes on to say that since girls are poorer in math, they compensate by being better in English, Dr. Gorham adds. Here again, Project Talent shows no valid reason for continuing to think in terms of the boy-girl mathematics-English concept. The girls do a bit better in spelling, grammar.