Effects of a Revised School Program on Potential Delinquents

Abstract

The Quincy experiment is in the seventh of its ten- year program. It is concerned with a cross section of all youth in a small, midwestern city in Illinois and is attempting to prevent maladjustment and develop special talents of children. While not being specifically centered on delinquency, it does offer a picture of what the delinquent is like in this setting. Typically, he is a child of lower ability and lower economic status who has a difficult home situation, who finds school equally frustrating, and who has little contact with other com munity agencies. He usually leaves school as soon as legally possible and is unsuccessful in the work world. The first pro cedures tried by the Project to meet the needs of delinquent children had only moderate success. Later, a special pro gram was developed to determine whether the school years could be made a profitable rather than a defeating experience for them. This study is still in progress. Findings to date suggest that at the junior high school level the interests, atti tudes, and aggressive behavior of these children are more likely to be favorably influenced than are their academic achieve ment or personality patterns. There is a hint that similar pro grams instituted in the earlier grades might be effective in the latter two areas also.