The Social Adjustment of Accelerated Pupils

Abstract

Theoretically, at least in the opinions of the writers of the literature on the subject of the superior child, acceleration is one of the most practical ways of taking care of the problem of the gifted pupil in the school (14). It has been shown that the bright pupil does not profit so much from time spent in the elementary school as he would from time saved in the lower grades and devoted to advanced studies. The writer in an earlier article (12) showed that the educational achievements of accelerated pupils are in general superior. The present article attempts to throw some light indirectly on the general problem of whether acceleration is likely to bring with it social maladjustment. The whole question of the feasibility of such a scheme as acceleration rests on the satisfactory social adjustment of the individual pupils. Freeman (2), Goddard (3), and others have warned against the dangers of social maladjustment of the pupil promoted into grades where his social maturity would not be sufficient to enable him to mingle freely with the older pupils of more mature interests.