THE  VOCATIONAL  VALUE  OF  TESTS  185
wage  of  which  he  is  capable.  In  this  manner,  tests  fulfill
a  distinct  vocational  function;  for  they  make  it  possible
for  the  applicant  to  realize  most  quickly  the  happiness
which  constitutes  his  real  vocation.  To  be  sure,  tests
will  discover  many  workers  whose  exceptional  ability,
either  natural  or  acquired,  will  warrant  their  selection
for  a  course  of  training  which  will  ultimately  give  them
genuine  vocations.  However,  in  the  present  stage  of  industrial ­
  development,  there  must  constantly  be  a  large
body  of  men  and  women  to  do  routine  and  monotonous
Work,  and  it  is  in  this  large  field  that  tests  will  have  an
extensive  quasi-vocational  value;  for  their  use  will  enable
the  worker  to  achieve  most  fully  those  enjoyments  in
which  his  genuine  vocational  interests  may  be  said  to
feside.
A  closely  allied  vocational  problem  is  the  assignment
°f  defectives  to  industrial  work.  During  the  course  of
these  experiments,  a  small  number  of  high-grade  morons
and  workers  of  a  low  mental  age  were  discovered.  Frequently ­
  these  workers  were  doing  work  of  which  they  were
entirely  incapable.  The  work  of  shell  inspection,  at  which
some  of  these  defectives  were  engaged,  requires  a  memory
for  about  twenty-five  different  kinds  of  possible  defects
and  a  constant  and  alert  attention  in  order  to  catch  these
defects  as  the  shells  pass  by.  Manifestly,  even  a  high-grade
moron  would  fail  to  possess  the  qualities  necessary  for
carrying  on  this  work.  However,  it  must  not  be  thought
that  the  purpose  of  giving  tests  is  to  eliminate  such  individuals ­
  entirely.  There  are  many  automatic  machines
which  require  an  operator  with  only  the  most  elementary
kind  of  intelligence  and  attention;  and  there  is  a  large
a mount  of  manual  work  which  involves  only  the  learnln
 g  of  a  few  simple  movements  which  are  continuously