Preliminary Report ON THE MENTAL CAPACITY OF JAPANESE CHILDREN IN CALIFORNIA Introductory Note. The following is the first preliminary report by Prof. M. L. Darsie, Assistant Director of Stanford University Research regarding Intelligence Tests of Japanese children. Prof. Lewis M. Terman is the Director of this work. The object of the tests is to make a thorough scientific investigation of the mental, moral and physical characteristics of the Japanese children in California, along the following lines : 1. Intellectual ability, as shown by the standard mental test. 2. Moral characteristics, as shown by school conduct and character tests. 3. The extent to which mental deficiency and degeneracy are prevalent among them. 4. Social characteristics and the extent to which these are being influenced by American Ideals. 5. School success of the Japanese children and atti- tude of the Japanese towards education. The main part of the research is a study of American- born Japanese school children, from ten to fifteen years of age, who have attended an American school at least four years. This study is intended to give a true picture of the important traits of American-born Japanese who will reach the age of twenty-one during the years 1928-1933, and will then enjoy political rights as American citizens. — 2 — A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE MENTAL CAPACITY OF THE JAPANESE CHILDREN IN CALIFORNIA To The Japanese Association of America: I herewith submit a short statement of the most important results of the survey of Japanese children in the cities and towns of Northern and Central California. The final and complete report will be ready by January 1, 1923. The facts presented have been compiled with extreme care, and the statistical treatment has been carefully checked. It is believed that the results are entirely trustworthy. 1. The Group Tested. a. Numbers. Binet tests were given to 568 children, from 10 to 15 years of age. The distribution by ages follows : 10 years 139 13 years 72 11 « 144 14 " 57 12 " 124 15 " 32 Complete tests were given to 440 of these children. b. Localities studied. Alameda 54 Children Fresno 68 Oakland 25 " (Binet only) Sacramento 96 " San Francisco 115 " Santa Clara County.. 91 " Stockton \. 51 " Florin 52 " (Partial tests) Los Angeles 58 " c. Distribution according to occupation of fathers. 1. Professional men, and managers of large businesses 8.4% 2. Managersof small stores, hotels, etc. .26.1% 3. Skilled laborers, tailors, carpenters, mechanics, etc 8.4% 4. Semi-skilled laborers, waiters, jani- tors, barbers, farm tenants, etc . . 40.6% 5 . Unskilled laborers 16.3% d. Distribution by sexes. Boys 292 Girls 276 — 3 — e. Distribution by school grades. Age Average grade 10 Low 4th 11 Low 5th 12 Low 6th 13 Low 7th 14 High 7th 15 Low 8th (Unfortunately we were not able to get com- plete data on high school pupils, hence the grades assigned to 14 and 15 year olds are too low.) General Results of Tests. a. Binet tests of general intelligence. 1. Average 1. Q. of whole group 90.2 Boys 90.5 Girls 89.4 2. Distribution of 1. Q. according to locality. a. Large cities, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles 99.2 b. Smaller cities, Fresno, Sacramento, Stockton 87.6 c. Small towns and rural schools. Florin and Santa Clara County 86.3 Distribution of 1. Q. according to occupation of of fathers. a. Professional and large business 110 b. Small business 94 c. Skilled labor 91 d. Semi-skilled labor 88 e. Unskilled labor 82 (According to army figures, the average 1. Q. of American men falling in the foregoing classes is as follows: a. 115 c. 81 e. 71) b. 96 d. 74 4, In general Japanese children were markedly in- ferior to American in those tests in which language plays an important part, and equal or superior in tests not of the language type. In tests of reasoning power, apart from language, the Japanese children were equal to Americans, and in tests of rapid learning markedly superior to Americans. _4_ Comparison with other immigrant groups. (It should be noted that the following figures are based upon studies of children made in large cities. In the absence of further data upon rural children, they should be compared with the figures for Japanese in large cities.) Immigrant group Average I. Q. Northern European 100.3 Finn 90.0 Slovak 85.6 Southern Italian 77.5 The average American I. Q. seems to be about 97. A study was made of the relation between size of family and intelligence of children. No correla- tion was found. This signifies that intelligent Japanese are reproducing themselves as rapidly as the less intelligent, at present, a. (The figures given above include results ob- tained from the Army Beta test. The general showing of Japanese children on this test is given separately, however.) b. Results of the Army Beta Test. Av. score, Av. score. Age Japanese American 10 60.2 60.5 11 70.0 66.0 12 79.5 68.3 13 82.0 (No. American norms) 14 82.0 " 15 84.0 « Average score, Italian 12-year-olds 54. " " Spanishl2 « " 52.7 " "Portuguese 12 « " 52.5 The Japanese made remarkable scores on this test. It has not proved to be nearly as reliable a measure of intelligence as the Binet, however, so one must be cautious as to the interpretation of results. c. Tests of School Achievement. Japanese Japanese Retardation Acceleration Subject in Months in Months Reading, whole group. 15 0 rural group. .24 0 city (S. F.)... 0 1. Language,whole 12 0 rural 15 0 S. F 0 ...5 Spelling, whole 0 3 rural 0 1 S. F 0 8 — 5 — Japanese Japanese Retardation Acceleration Subject in Months in Months Arithmetic, whole .... 2 0 rural. . . .11 0 S. F. . . . 0 8 Information, whole. . . 6 0 rural. . . .12 0 S. F. . . . 0 11 Total School Achievement, whole . . 6 0 S. F 0 7 There were no important differences be- tween boys and girls in school achievement, except in information (science and history), in which the boys were superior to girls. It is worth noting that in knowledge of American history and hterature, Japanese boys and girls in San Francisco are superior to American children. d. Teachers' Ratings of Japanese Children. The following ratings represent the combined judgments of over 400 teachers on the abilities and character traits of Japanese children as compared with American. School Subjects Japanese children are rated as very superior in school deportment, slightly superior in school application, drawing & painting, music, penmanship, spelling, arithmetic, physical training, slightly inferior in reading & language history, geography, nature study and science Character Traits Japanese children are rated as slightly superior in the following traits, appreciation of beauty permanence of moods desire to excel freedom from vanity conscientiousness as approximately equal in physical energy prudence self confidence will power cheerfulness popularity sensitivity to approval sympathy generosity truthfulness mechanical ingenuity desire to know general intelligence as slightly inferior in originality — 6 — General Summary. Language handicap is very evident in most of the test performances, and its effect upon final scores is, unfortunately very hard to estimate. It is fair to assume, however, that it probably tends to lower the I. Q. somewhat. Taking all of the results into account, the following conclusions seem fully justified: 1. The Japanese in California are as a group, somewhat inferior in intelligence to Northern Europeans, but markedly superior to Southern Europeans. 2. In application and capacity to learn, they are probably superior to any European race in America, as well as superior to native Americans. 3. In social-moral traits, they are fully equal, and in many respects probably superior to the average child of other races in California, as judged by their teachers, this being true with respect to native American children as well. Respectfully submitted. (Signed) M. L. DARSIE.