Moral factors were judged roughly four times as often as intellectual incapacity as the cause of laggards' failure¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associationalr1·q2
Currency · newest study 1910 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Among 86 estimable cases, failure was assigned to extrinsic influences in 14, intellectual incapacity in 15, and moral reasons in 57. → J. B. Miner 1910
q2 i? At least 27 of 78 heard-from cases had creditable high school work or reversed form after leaving, arguing against intellectual incapacity. → J. B. Miner 1910 (2)
Evidence¶
J. B. Miner 1910¶
J. B. Miner. (1910). The College Laggard. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22The+College+Laggard%22+Miner+Journal+of+Educational+Psychology
q2 · i? · associational · r1
Tabulation of the author's impressions from questionnaire letters for 86 laggard-list students, classifying causes as extrinsic (14), intellectual (15), or moral (57). The author notes doubtful cases were never classed in the moral group.
"in 15 cases to intellectual incapacity, and in 57 to moral rea-sons such as lack of purpose, laziness, and inability to resist social, fraternity and other temptations which interfered with work."
J. B. Miner 1910 (2)¶
J. B. Miner. (1910). The College Laggard. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22The+College+Laggard%22+Miner+Journal+of+Educational+Psychology
q2 · i? · associational · r1
Case-letter evidence for about a third of the 78 heard-from cases, including laggards with high school averages of 90 per cent and principals' testimonials to strong prior work, which the author treats as making intellectual incapacity implausible for them.
"I have at least 27 in-stances which indicate that the student has passed high school work creditably or showed reversal of form after leaving Minnesota."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- High school principals most frequently cited social distractions and fraternity life among environmental causes of their graduates' college failure — related
- Fraternity men had a worse laggard record than non-fraternity men at Minnesota, while sorority women did better than non-sorority women — related
- Students from wealthier backgrounds and private schools appeared disproportionately on the laggard list — related
- About two-thirds of laggards would not have met the proposed high-school-record admission requirement, indicating personal characteristics established before college — related
- Failure of probation students is often attributed to factors other than intellectual ability — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
moral-over-intellectual-causes-of-failure |
title |
Moral factors were judged roughly four times as often as intellectual incapacity as the cause of laggards' failure |
description |
Moral factors were judged roughly four times as often as intellectual incapacity as the cause of laggards' failure |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
1910 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-23 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — j-b-miner-1910, j-b-miner-1910-2 |
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