APPLICATION OF STATISTICS IN EDUCATIONS PART SEVEN: STATISTICS, TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS

PART SEVEN: STATISTICS, TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS

v Application of Statistics in Education.

v Psychological Tests.

v Examinations and Scholastic Tests.

v  

Chapter 33

APPLICATION OF STATISTICS IN EDUCATIONS

The Chapter at a Glance

Introduction of precision.

Some basic statistical concepts.

Distribution of IQ.

The guiding role of statistics.

            As sciences progress they become more and more precise and quantitative. Says Walker:

"The more advanced the sciences have become the more they have tended to enter the domain of mathematics, which is a sort of centre towards which they converge. We can judge the perfection to which a science has come by the facility, more or less great, with which it may be approached by calculation."

Introduction of Precision

            Application of statistical methods to the problems of educa­tion has resulted in making the science of education more quantitative and more precise. In fact, the contemporary use of elaborate statistical procedures has made education more scientific than it used to be in earlier days.

            The presentation of the test results and other educational data in the forms of percentages, coefficients of correlations, tables, diagrams, curves, etc. has facilitated understanding, comparison, prediction and control in many fields of education.

Some Basic Statistical Concepts

            A teacher cannot be expected to have mastery over all the elaborate and complicated statistical procedures. Nevertheless, a working knowledge of some statistical concepts and techniques will certainly prove very helpful for a student of Educational Psychology and a prospective teacher.

            Some of the commonly used statistical terms which one frequently comes across in modern literature on education and psychology are explained in the following pages. A working familiarity with these simple statistical concepts is very desir­able.

The Central Tendency

            This is the tendency for judgments with regard to a quality or trait to gravitate towards the middle or the centre of the scale.

            The Three Types: The three averages or measures of central tendency that are frequently used are:

            (1) The Arithmetic Mean,

            (2) The Mode,

            (3) The Median.

(1) The Arithmetic Mean: This is popularly known as the average. In order to obtain the arithmetic mean, all the scores of a group of individuals are added and divided by the number of the score.

(2) The Mode: This is simply the score which is more often attained by a greater number of individuals in the group.

(3) The Median: It is the middle point of the group, i.e., the point which separates the upper half of the scores from the lower half.

            Value of the Central Tendency: The value of a measure of the central tendency is two-fold:

(a)      It is a single measure which represents all of the scores made by the group and as such gives a concise description of the whole of the group.

(b)      It enables one to make a comparison between two or more groups in terms of typical performance.

Frequency

            It literally means the number per second of periodic pheno­mena, such as vibrations or waves. In technical statistical language it refers to the number of cases with a certain value or score, or between certain values or scores, in tabulation for statistical purposes.

            The Frequency Distribution: The result of grouping of measures is called a frequency distribution. It is made up of two columns of figures as follows:—

(a)      A serial list of the "Class-Intervals", which are arranged preferably with the smaller measures at the lower end of the scale.

(b)      A column of Frequencies, which gives the number of measures tabulated in each class-interval.

            Graphic Representation: Frequency distributions are repre­sented graphically by the following:—

            (a)      Histograms or Column Diagrams or Block Diagrams.

            (b)      Frequency Polygons and frequency Curves.

             (c)      Cumulative Frequency Curves.

The Percentile

            If a frequency is divided into 100 equal parts, each part is called a percentile. A percentile is an indication of the position of a value or a score, in a series arranged in order of magnitude, by the percent­age of the value of scores falling at or below that position.

Achievement

            Achievement or accomplishment is performance in a stand­ardized series of tests, usually educational.

            Achievement Test: This is a test constructed and standar­dized to measure proficiency in school subjects.

            Achievement Age: This refers to the chronological age corresponding to any particular level on a scale of achievement tests.

            Achievement Quotient (AQ): This is the ratio of the achievement age to the chronological age of the individual test­ed. AQ is expressed in percentage.

Norms

    A norm is a representative or standard value or pattern, for a group or type.

            The number of points made by a subject on a test or the number of test items answered correctly by him constitutes his raw score. By itself a raw score does not signify anything. In order to be meaningful it must be interpreted with reference to some standard, e.g., an age norm.

            An age norm is the average score of the majority of indivi­duals of a particular age. Thus, for instance, the average score of the 10 years old children is the 10 year norm and so on.

Mental Age (MA)

            An individual's raw score on a test can be converted into his mental age if the norms are available. Thus a child or an adult has a mental age of 10 years if his raw score just equals the 10-year norm. If his score falls exactly half way between the 10-year and the 11-year norms his mental age is 10.5 years.

            A Measure of Intellectual Achievement: Thus the MA conveys definite meanings regarding the ability of an individual. When we say that a child of 10 has reached the MA of 10 year olds we definitely imply that he falls in the average of his group. Similarly, when it is said that a child of 10 has reached the age of 11 years, we imply that he is above the average of his group. If the MA of the same child is 9, it signifies that he is below the average.

MA thus is a measure of the level of one's intellectual achievement.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

            IQ is the ratio of the mental age (MA) to chronological age (CA, i.e., the life age counted from birth). It is expressed in percentage.

            Intellectual Achievement with Reference to Others: MA as we have already seen indicates the intellectual achievement as such. The IQ, on the other hand, gives an index of the intellec­tual achievement with reference to other individuals of the same age.

            Thus, for instance, a 4-year old child with an MA of 6 years is a very bright child. But if he is 10 years old and has the same MA, he is definitely dull. The IQ is a very convenient way of calculating an individual's brightness or dullness in mathe­matical terms.

            Formula for IQ: If we divide mental age by chronological age and multiply the sum by 100 we get the IQ. In statistical terms the formula for obtaining IQ is as follows: —

Given a child of 4 with an MA of 6, the IQ would work out thus:

            This indicates that the child is very much above the average of the children of his own chronological age. The exact average IQ for any age is 100.

Similarly, the IQ of 10-year old child with an MA of 8 years would be:

Such a child is definitely below the average.

IQ Distribution among Children: The following table shows the usual distribution of IQ among various categories of children and the percentage of their distribution in the total population.

Distribution of IQ

IQ Range	% of Population	Category of Children
Over 140	1	Genius
130-139	2	Very Superior
120-129	8	Very Superior
110-119	16	Superior
100-109	23	Average
90-99	23	Average
80-89	16	Dull Average
70-79	8	Dull Average
60-69	2	Mentally Deficient
Below 60	1	Mentally Deficient

The Guiding Role of Statistics

            As already stated, statistics plays a significant role in modem social sciences. Its applied role in education cannot be exag­gerated. A mastery of the theory and technique of statistics is very helpful for a student conducting research in the field of education. For a teacher or a school administrator, however, a practical knowledge of the basic statistical concepts would be quite sufficient.

The Exact Significance of Statistical Data

            It should, however, be remembered by research workers and teachers alike, that statistical figures and correlations are not to be assigned undue significance. The science of statistics is only a guide. It is not an end in itself. If, for instance, the statistical figures establish a high correlation between poor educational achievement and poverty of a group of students, it does not necessarily establish a causal relation between the two, i.e., it does not prove that poverty is the cause of poor educa­tional achievement. All that is suggested by a positive statistical correlation between the two factors is that they have usually been found together in a group of students studied by the observer.

Suggestive of Further Research

            Yet we cannot ignore the great significance of such a sta­tistical correlation. It is a significant indicator which points to the necessity of conducting further research in a particular field. All statistical data, percentages, coefficients, curves, figures, tables, graphs, etc. are mostly helpful and suggestive of the need for conducting further investigation in a particular field.

            Thus when a statistical correlation is established between two phenomena further evidence may too reveal the causes which are responsible for their happening together. Knowledge of these causes proves very helpful in taking appropriate steps for understanding, improvement, treatment, etc., in a given situation.

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GUIDANCE SERVICE IN PAKISTAN

Chapter 32

GUIDANCE SERVICE IN PAKISTAN

The Chapter at a Glance

The guidance situation in Pakistan.

Causes of indifference towards guidance services.

Recommendations for improved guidance services.

Our most fundamental need.

            Child needs some sort of guidance, be it through a wise teacher, a kind parent, an experienced counselor or through the specialized agency of a child guidance clinic. Provision of adequate guidance, as has been repeatedly pointed out, proves extremely beneficial to the individual, his family, the school and the community from the mental, physical, financial, social and cultural points of views. Conversely, an absence of any guid­ance whatsoever, or misguidance is replete with greatest possible hazards for the child and hence for everyone in the community.

The Guidance Situation in Pakistan

            The situation with regard to the dearth of the available guidance services in Pakistan warrants serious consideration of all those who have any genuine regard for the cause of health, education and welfare of children.

Dearth of Guidance Services and its Consequences

            Referring to the dearth of adequate guidance services in our country and its consequences on child growth, a Pakistani edu­cationist* once remarked:—

            "It is very common to observe that an alarmingly great number of children in our country go astray because of lack of timely guidance at home and school. This sad situation warrants serious consideration of all of us.

            A child who’s basic inner needs are not adequately satisfied and whose development is thrown out of balance by various difficulties is virtually exposed to the risk of a number of unfortunate developments such as truancy, educational backwardness, anti-sociality and delin­quency. In later adult life these unguided and misguided children might assume more dangerous and more deadly forms and thus become a formidable obstacle in the social-cultural evolution of the entire community."

Necessity and Urgency of Guidance Services

            Throwing light on the necessity and urgency for adequate provision of appropriate guidance services in our homes and schools the same speaker said:

            "Much of this human wastage, obviously inimical both to the indi­vidual and to the society, could have been avoided if these adults were given proper guidance right from the earliest year of their career.

Elaborate guidance programs become all the more indispensable in an age which is fast becoming reconstruction and progress minded. Schools and homes, therefore, must realize the necessity and urgency of attending to the guidance needs of each individual child. At each developmental stage the child must be helped to develop balanced and a healthy attitude towards his fellow-beings and the surround­ings.

Causes of Indifference towards Guidance Services

            The educationally progressive countries of the world have done immensely enlightening work in this field. They are now engaged in making further improvements, refinements and expansion in child guidance services. Needless to point out, we have been on the contrary indifferent and sluggish in this direction. In fact, our needs as regards guidance services are much wider than those of most other countries. This is clearly indicated in the rising tide of our educational wastage and failures, intellectual frustration and superficiality, professional inefficiency and misfits, etc.

            What makes us forgetful of our guidance needs? The following causes are mainly responsible for our indifference towards the development of adequate guidance services for our children and young people:—

            (1) Lack of popular realization.

            (2) Defective educational system.

            (3) Theoretical instruction in psychology.

            (4) Lack of training facilities for guidance workers.

 (1) Lack of Popular Realization: Our masses are not fully alive to the necessity and utility of guidance services. They fail to visualize the dangers conse­quent upon the non-availability of adequate guidance in various fields of our national life. Mass illiteracy is one of the serious factors that stand in the way of a popular national awakening to this need.

(2) Defective Educational System: Our previous educational system was hollow and unrealistic. It laid much emphasis on bookish learning but made no provision for the development of individuality and creativity in the learner. Consequently, it never bothered about providing guidance ser­vices for the development of desirable virtues and traits among school and college students. Although this defective educational system is now being replaced by a better one, yet the damage done by the previous system cannot be undone over­night.

(3) Theoretical Instruction in Psychology: Instruction in Psychology provided at the college and university levels is predominantly theoretical and academic. It fails to stimulate the psychology students to appreciate the needs and problems of children in actual life situations and to apply their psychological knowledge in various fields of guidance. This unfortunate situation is now also being remedied but the desired results will be achieved only after some time.

(4) Lack of Training Facilities for Guidance Workers: No adequate facilities are available for practical training in guidance work. Of late arrangements are reported to have been made for certain short-term training courses for the guid­ance and counseling workers at the Institute of Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Such modest efforts, however, are insufficient to meet the ever-growing demand for training facilities. With the existing inadequate arrangements for the training of guidance workers those clinics that are already operating experience tremendous difficulties in obtaining the services of suitably qualified and experienced personnel for their staff.

Recommendations for Improved Guidance Services

            It is obvious that adequate organization in Pakistan of the much needed guidance services will require sound planning and hard toil. Really constructive steps are what are required. Super­ficial measures and ill-planned moves do more harm than good. To begin with, effective measures need to be taken immediately to meet all the inadequacies in the present situation which have been pointed out in the foregoing pages.

A National Institute of Child Study

            In addition to this, certain other specific measures will have to be taken to make improved guidance services available to our children. The establishment of a National Institute of Child Study would be one very useful and practical measure.

            The proposed institute would conduct research and field work on child development and guidance. Besides a number of other specialized sections, it would also have three distinct departments on guidance, each specializing mainly in the follow­ing fields:—

            (1) Educational Guidance.

            (2) Vocational Guidance.

            (3) Personal Guidance.

            It is a self evident fact that  the establishment of such an institute  and the staffing of its wings with appropriately lately trained personnel, capable of conducting research and practical work in these main fields of guidance, will meet the most fundamental and the most brutally neglected need of the country. It will save immeasurable loss and waste, both human and material, in education, industry, vocations and other fields of life.

Establishment of a Guidance Bureau

            The establishment of a National Bureau of Guidance would also go a long way towards meeting a pressing need of the time. Such a bureau would be staffed by trained and mature guidance workers. It could also start a technical journal on guidance publishing the research and field work conducted by the bureau.

            The main functions of the proposed bureau would be as follows:—

(1)      Conducting and publishing research work on guidance.

(2)      Training guidance workers in the theory and practice of guidance and helping them to establish guidance ser­vices in important towns and villages.

(3)      Constructing and standardizing of tests of intelligence, personality, aptitude, etc.

(4)      Coordinating the activities of guidance clinics and centers already engaged in guidance work and promot­ing cooperation in            their efforts.

(5)      Popularizing adequate guidance practices among indi­viduals and agencies.

Our Most Fundamental Need

            As has been repeatedly pointed out, the provision of ade­quate guidance services is one of the most fundamental needs of our country. Investing finances in the establishment, admin­istration and maintenance of such services is the most economical measure that a progressive nation can adopt in order to improve the human stuff of which it is composed and thereby increase its material and mental efficiency.

PARENTAL COOPERATION IN GUIDANCE WORK

Chapter 31

PARENTAL COOPERATION IN GUIDANCE WORK

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The Chapter at a Glance

Cooperation with the clinic.

Parent-teacher cooperation.

Paramount significance of parental cooperation.

            A child spends most of his time with his parents at home. His habits, attitudes and traits originate largely from his early home training. If parents show wisdom and insight in their general attitude towards their children, they can prevent many a maladjustment from taking root in them. Should a child, how­ever, develop any problem or difficulty, he should be referred to a psychological clinic if one is available in and around his school or home. The guidance program at the clinic, however, can succeed only if the parents extend the maximum possible active co-operation to the clinic staff.

            A child also spends a considerable portion of his time at school. Many of his problems centre round school life. The teacher can help him tremendously by offering sympathetic guidance. But the guidance and the academic work at the school can proceed smoothly and fruitfully only if the parents join hand with the teacher and make a co-operative effort to under­stand and help the child.

Cooperation with Clinic and School

            The present chapter discusses some details of the role of parental co-operation in guidance work. It deals with the nature, scope and purpose of parental co-operation with:—

(1) The staff of the child guidance clinic, and

(2) The school teachers.

Cooperation with the Clinic

            As repeatedly pointed out, parental co-operation with the clinic staff is indispensable for the success of any guidance program. This is so, for the obvious reason that the parents make the most substantial contribution towards the making or marring of their children's character and personality.

Story of an Unguided Boy and His Mother

            That it is mostly problem parents who are responsible for creating problem children is borne out most clearly by an inter­esting little story. A young man, so the story goes, murdered a person during an armed robbery. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. On being asked whether he had any wish to be fulfilled before he was hanged, the young murderer desired to see his mother.

            The mother was sent for. As soon as she arrived, her doomed son pounced upon her and gave her a severe bite on the neck. The poor woman screamed and screamed till someone separated the two. On being asked to account for his strange misbehavior the doomed convict said:-

            The Eye-Opening Words of the Young Robber: "It is this lady, my mother, who is really responsible for my life as well as for the life of the unfortunate victim whom I murdered. I started pinching my neighbor’s eggs when I was a small kid. My mummy always appreciated my skill at stealing. She used to encourage me in my later delinquent episodes as well. Consequently, the idea of reforming and improving myself never occurred to me. It is she who is responsible for this tragedy and I have been impelled to pay her a befitting tribute before I leave this world.” 

            These immortal words of the young robber should serve as an eye-opener to many a parent. If children’s undesirable habits and traits are property treated during early years, most children would be saved from getting into serious trouble and conflict with society.   

 Necessity for Whole-Hearted Cooperation

            Just as essential as the initial timely referral of a child, with behavior difficulties to a child guidance clinic, is the whole hearted co-operation of the parents with the clinic staff once the referral has been made. A psychological treatment of the prob­lem child has little chance of success without active co-operation of the parents. Information yielded by parents and their active co-operation with the guidance staff is absolutely indispensable for a treatment program to be effective and lasting.

            Before contacting the parents the clinic completes certain preliminaries with the child: a thorough case-history is prepared, the child is interviewed and tested, his behavior at school is observed and consultations are held with class teacher. This equips the clinic staff with all possible information about the pathology of the child. The stage is now set to receive the parent at the clinic.

The Parent in the Clinic

            Of the two parents the mother plays the most important role in the life of a child. Unfortunately, however, in our coun­try when the psychologist invites the parents to the clinic, it is usually the father who responds. Seldom does a mother take the trouble to attend the clinic. This might be due to the ‘purdah’ system or other social reasons restricting the movements of our women folk.

            On the arrival of a parent at the clinic the aims and objects of the clinic are explained to him in the simplest possible langu­age. An attempt is made to enable him to realize that the clinic staff is as genuinely interested in the rehabilitation and welfare of their child as the parent is himself.

Opening Take With the Parents

            While talking to the parents, utmost care should be taken to avoid the use of blunt and discourteous language. Supposing the clinic receives a child whose trouble is excessive stealing at the school, imagine the fury of a father when the first words he hears from the psychologist are: "Look here, Mr. Bashir, that troublesome boy of yours is a habitual thief. The class teacher is fed up with his nasty habits. He considers the child is a disgrace to the entire school. . . ."

            The psychologist rather uses polite and reasonable langu­age in order to induce the parents to cooperate with him. He ignites hope and confidence in them and stimulates them to reveal more information about child's behavior at home.

Calm and Polite Talk

            After formal greetings and preliminary courtesies the psy­chologist starts talking about the child.    "Your child has been coming to us for the past few days," he says calmly and politely. "He is a nice child. If he is a bit too possessive there is no reason to worry unduly about it. A careful attempt on our part to understand why he is so will certainly rid him of this un­desirable habit. ..........."    Such an earnest and sympathetic attitude makes the parents realize the utility of clinical guidance and the urgency of cooperation on their part.

Exploring and Discussing Causes with Parents

            The child might have started stealing because of his ex­cessive craving for sweets. It might have been motivated by a desire to buy more toys, kites, etc., with the stolen money. Sometimes the motive is simply the desire to steal and spend the stolen money in the gay company of school-mates. Often a problem behavior has deep-rooted causes, e.g., when a child suffering from an emotional conflict starts stealing simply to obtain pleasure out of the fun of pinching other people's be­longings and thus to get a temporary relief from the pain of the conflict. When a child is denied parental affection at home he may as well take to stealing to compensate for his deprivation of affection.

            All these various probabilities are explored and discussed with the parents. When a particular cause or causes have been ascertained, the various methods of removing them from the life of the child are then discussed with the parents.

The Spirit of the Interview

            The more tactful and insightful a psychologist is in main­taining the friendly atmosphere of the interview with the parents the more successful shall he be in obtaining the necessary infor­mation from them regarding the child. He may, if he needs, obtain from them more detailed information regarding the child's personal habits, his attitudes towards other family members, his interests, indoor and outdoor recreations, unusual traits of behavior that annoy the parents most and even data regarding personal life of the parents themselves. He can put various aspects of the collected information to use in developing an insight into the child and in offering him effective guidance.

            The spirit of the interview throughout the parents' stay at the clinic should, therefore, be that of friendly discussion and mutual understanding such as prevail in a family atmosphere. It should never assume the shape of blunt examinations and cross-examinations characteristic of a trial in a court of law.

Causes of Uncooperative Behavior of Parents

            Most parents co-operate with the clinic and furnish helpful information regarding the child. But quite a large number of parents are uncooperative. This lack of cooperation is motiva­ted by various factors. There are parents who misunderstand the function of the guidance clinic. They consider the child's visit to the clinic to be signatory for him. Some have fears that the psychologist will not respect their privacies and confidential data about the home life may leak out and become common knowledge.

            There are other parents who suffer from the illusion that even the most serious anomalies in their children will disappear with maturation and age. The logical corollary to this style of parental thinking is that there is no reason to pay serious atten­tion to children's troubles at early stages in their lives. To some other parents, stealing, truancy, educational backward­ness, etc., do not appear to be problems at all. Still others take the view that severe punishments at school and a rigid parental discipline home are all that is needed to put deviant child on "the right track".

            These and a host of other miscellaneous factors become responsible for indifference or uncooperative attitude of the parents towards the guidance staff at the clinic. The unco­operative attitudes of the parents sometimes assume the shape of resentment and hostility towards the clinic staff and their guidance procedures.

Educating Parents for Cooperation

            In all such cases it becomes essential for the clinic to open up a parallel course of guidance and psychotherapy with the parents.

            By persuasion, forceful suggestions and even through films and books about proper child-care, attempts are made to enable the parents to form a correct picture of the nature, scope and function of a child guidance clinic. Resolute efforts are made to eradicate their unscientific attitudes towards their children. They are given easy, useful and practical suggestions regarding the proper guidance of their children. The necessity and urgency of implementing the suggested guidance procedures is brought home to them as vividly as possible. In short, every attempt is made to elicit their active and continued cooperation with the clinic staff and its guidance programs.

            The success or failure of a child guidance clinic in resolving the problems of the children referred to it for guidance is largely determined by the success or failure of the process of educating the parents to an understanding and sympathetic attitude, and by the quality and quantity of their cooperation with the guid­ance staff.

Parent-Teacher Cooperation

            The nature and extent of parental cooperation—not only with the staff of the child guidance clinic but also with the school teachers—is a major factor in deciding the success or failure of a guidance program with the children. Best results are obtained when the teachers and the parents actively co­operate for a better understanding and guidance of the child in his everyday problems.

The Community of Interest in the Child

            Parents and teachers have different outlooks and attitudes towards the child. The parents are interested in the child's future. They want him to complete his education successfully and to become a healthy, efficient and independent member of the community.

            The teacher, too, is interested in the child though his interest assumes a slightly different shape. He is interested in the child primarily as a member of the class and secondarily as a future citizen. His interest in him is not and cannot possibly be as individualistic as that of the parents. In any case, differently colored as it may be, both parents and teachers do take interest in the child, and this, at least, is one thing they have in common.

            This community of interest in the child is very favorable for the development of a cooperative attitude between parents and the teachers in matters of child guidance.

Spirit of Parent-Teacher Interview

            When a teacher has sent word to the parents to call on him at the school in connection with the problems of their children he should be careful regarding the mode of greeting, talking, etc., with the parents when they come. The first meeting bet­ween the teacher and the parents sets the tone for all later con­tacts between the two.

            Just imagine what will be the reaction of a parent if the first thing that he hears from the teacher is: "I am sorry, Mr. Nazir your son is an utter nuisance. ………." The teacher should rather be courteous and talk to the parents as politely as possible. In order to achieve better results he could thus address a worried father: "Hello Mr. Kareem, how are you? I am glad to have met you. I am sure you are the right person to help me to understand your son better. ..........."

Exchange of Information about the Child

            After the preliminary greetings, both of them could exchange their observations and impressions regarding the child in a friendly atmosphere characterized by a spirit of mutual under­standing. The teacher could tell the parent several things about the child and the parent in return could reveal many interesting details to the teacher.

            The teacher, for instance, could tell the parent that the child came late to the school, wore dirty clothes and needed special coaching in Arithmetic. The parent might then be able to point out factors in the home life which appear to him to be associated with the shortcomings of the child. The teacher may well reveal to him a number of undesirable trends in the child the presence of which he had never before realized.

Changed Approach towards the Child

            Both of them could then work out a mutual plan to make a better approach to the child. This usually involves a change in attitude on both the sides.

            The teacher, for instance, might feel the necessity of paying more individual attention to the child in the class and giving him such class and home work as is not too hard for him. Similarly, the parent might feel he should take more interest in the child at home and see that he improves in his attitudes towards personal cleanliness, home work, etc.

            The extent of which, by mutual cooperation and under­standing, parents and teachers are willing to change their ap­proach to the child is the measure of the degree of success that can be expected from the guidance program. To what extent will the parents and teachers be willing to effect desirable changes in their handling of the child? This, again, is dependent upon the quality and quantity of the co-operation between them.

Parent-Teacher Association

            The desirable effect of parent-teacher cooperation for the health and well-being of children cannot be exaggerated. Meet­ings and contacts between parents and teachers should be held as frequently as possible.

            Nature, Purpose and Function: The most organized way of effecting a sound co-operation between the parents and the teachers and to utilize it for a proper guidance of the children is the establishment of a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) at the school.

            The PTA is a sort of a socio-cultural society composed of the school staff and the parents of those children who are on the rolls of the school. The association holds its annual or biannual functions wherein parents and teachers meet and make informal exchanges of views and impressions regarding their children, the school life, etc.

            The association carries on other miscellaneous social and cultural activities as well which are usually organized at the school campus. The purpose of all these varied activities of the PTA is to promote mutual understanding, cooperation, good­will and harmony between teachers and parents, and to exploit it to the full in the guidance of the school children.

Promotion of Favorable Guidance Atmosphere

            Experience shows that the organization of such associations proves very helpful for the individual child, his parents, the school staff and also the guidance workers at the clinic. It is, in fact, one of the smoothest and the most congenial ways of providing an adequate guidance atmosphere for the child at home and at the school.

            Establishment of a PTA, therefore, should figure as an integral part of any guidance program launched at a school.

Paramount Significance of Parental Cooperation

            From the foregoing discussion, one central fact should emerge paramount and supreme: Parental cooperation is funda­mental to any guidance program.

            Whether it is a guidance clinic employing psychological methods with problem children or a teacher struggling with a backward pupil in the class, unless the warm and active co­operation of the parents is forthcoming, nothing much could be achieved with any child.

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