School Achievement and Delinquency

Behavorial scientists have long concerned themselves with seeking explanations for juvenile delinquency. While etiology has been attributed to parental relationships, mental deficiency, etc., the educational system has been largely absolved. Probably there are many reasons why a child com-mits—and gets caught committing—an antisocial or asocial act. At least some of those reasons may be partially or wholly related to his educational experience. Historical Background A relationship between poor school achievement and delinquency was suggested indirectly in the literature even before the advent of formal mental testing. In the early 1900s, many psychologists identified low intelligence as an important factor in the development of criminal behavior. Evaluation of intelligence at that time was subjective, based largely on a persons ability to acquire academic and social knowledge. With the development of mental testing, correlation studies between