Would You Be Able to Pass a World War I Military Literacy Test?

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Would You Be Able to Pass a World War I Military Literacy Test?

Though reading and writing might not come to mind as the first requirement for trench warfare, during the early 20th century, the U.S. Army became increasingly concerned with whether or not its soldiers were literate. 

Thousands of World War I soldiers couldn't read printed directions on basic military tasks.

The Army didn't implement its first major literacy program until the 1940s, but literacy tests were included in a battery of psychological evaluations World War I recruits went through to determine their mental fitness and intelligence, as the blog Futility Closet recently highlighted.

These unconventional literacy tests largely took the form of a yes or no questions with obvious answers, according to the 1921 report from the U.S. Surgeon General, Psychological Examining in the United States Army. 

Many of these tests are now considered racist and culturally biased—some of the "intelligence" testing questions required recruits to know things like what products Velvet Joe (a figure used in tobacco campaigns) advertised—but some of the literacy questions, in particular, simply come off as weird in the modern era. Some are downright existential, in fact, while others—"Is a guitar a disease?"—come off as almost poetic.

One test, the Devens Literacy Test, asked recruits questions like "Is genuine happiness a priceless treasure?" and "Does success tend to bring pleasure?" 
Another section of the test asked "Do boys like to play?" and "Do clerks enjoy a vacation?"

Other questions seem like they're up for debate, like "Are painters ever artless individuals?" and "Is extremely athletic exercise surely necessary?" 

Surely the answers to questions like "Should criminals forfeit liberty?" and "Is misuse of money an evil?" depend on the opinions of the reader. 

The answer to "Do imbeciles usually hold responsible offices?" might be different depending on how the person feels about their Congressional representative, and could surely be the spark for an hour-long argument at most dinner parties.

Still others are tests of cultural knowledge, not reading skill—a major modern criticism of Yerkes's work. 

Despite being arguably a pretty literate person, lots of people would not know the answer to the question "Do voluntary enlistments increase the army?" 

A question like "Are 'diminutive' and 'Lilliputian' nearly identical?" isn't exactly a test of literacy, but a test of whether or not you've read Gulliver's Travels, which doesn't exactly seem like a necessity for military success.

Here is one version of the Devens Literacy Test, used on Army recruits during World War I. The test was designed by psychologist E.A. Shaw and named after Camp Devens, in Ayer, Mass., where it was developed. 

The Devens Literacy Test:

It begins with simple queries meant to be answerable by people with minimal education, moving forward into more and more difficult questions targeted at soldiers who had been to college.

How to score the Devens Test: 
Subtract the number of wrong answers (or—in this case—questions that you find unanswerable) from the ones you think you got right. 
Score below 6: Illiterate; 6-20: Primary literacy; 21-25: Grammar school literacy; 26-30: Junior high school; 31-35: Senior high school; 36-42: College level

 

[tsonos 142]

Are Six more than Two!!!???

[Rædwulf 1,441]

wow tsonos.. perfect pic.. lol

[Tech 425 3,942]

Dang now I know I'm an idiot