Learning to write simple sentences from dictation is no mean
accomplishment. It demands, in the first place, a fairly complete
mastery of rather difficult muscular cooerdinations. Moreover, these
cooerdinations must be firmly associated with the corresponding letters
and words, for if the writing cooerdinations are not fairly automatic, so
much attention will be required to carry them out that the child will
not be able to remember what he has been told to write. The necessity of
remembering the passage acts as a distraction, and writing from
dictation is therefore a more difficult task than writing from copy.

CHAPTER XV

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YEAR IX

IX, 1. GIVING THE DATE

PROCEDURE. Ask the following questions in order:--

(a) "_What day of the week is it to-day?_"
(b) "_What month is it?_"
(c) "_What day of the month is it?_"
(d) "_What year is it?_"

If the child misunderstands and gives the day of the month for the day
of the week, or _vice versa_, we merely repeat the question with
suitable emphasis, but give no other help.

SCORING. An error of three days in either direction is allowed for _c_,
but _a_, _b_, and _d_ must all be given correctly. If the child makes an
error and spontaneously corrects it, the change is allowed, but
corrections must not be called for or suggested.

REMARKS. Binet originally located this test in year IX, but
unfortunately moved it to year VIII in the 1911 revision. Kuhlmann,
Goddard, and Huey all retain it in year IX, where, according to our own
data, it unquestionably belongs. With the exception of Binet's 1911
results, the statistics for the test are in remarkably close agreement
for children in France, Germany, England, and Eastern and Western United
States. It seems that practically all children in civilized countries
have ample opportunity to learn the divisions of the year, month, and
week, and to become oriented with respect to these divisions. Special
instruction is doubtless capable of hastening time orientation to a
certain degree, but not greatly. Binet tells of a French _ecole
maternelle_ attended by children 4 to 6 years of age, where instruction
was given daily in regard to the date, and yet not a single one of the
children was able to pass this test. This is a beautiful illustration of
the futility of precocious teaching. In spite of well-meant instruction,
it is not until the age of 8 or 9 years that children have enough
comprehension of time