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AUGO 71W3

McGRAW-HELL SERIES IN EDUCATION
HAROLD BENJAMIN, CONSULTING EDIT'OB

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

McGraw-Hill
Series in Education

HAEOLD BENJAMIN

CONSTH.TINQ EDITOB

The Stanford University Education Faculty THE
CHALLENGE OF EDUCATION

Bowden and Melbo SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OP
EDUCATION

Broom EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Brubacher MODERN PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCA-
TION

Butts THE COLLEGE CHARTS ITS COURSE
Carroll GENIUS IN THE MAKING
Croxton SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Grinnell INTERPRETING THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Heck THE EDUCATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHIL-
DREN

Horrall and Others LET'S Go TO SCHOOL

Jones, Grizzell and Grinstead PRINCIPLES OF UNIT
CONSTRUCTION

McKown ACTIVITIES IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Newlon EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY IN OUR
TIME

Pringle THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

/Sears CITY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS

Sorenson PSYCHOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Thorpe PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PER-
SONALITY

Updegraff and Others PRACTICE nsr PRESCHOOL

EDUCATION
Wert EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS

Wilson, Stone and Dalrymple TEACHING THE
NEW ARITHMETIC

Winslow THE INTEGRATED SCHOOL ART PRO-
GRAM

GENIUS
IN THE MAKING

BY
HERBERT A. ^CARROLL

Formerly Assistant Professor of Educational
Psychology, University of Minnesota

FIRST EDITION

McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC.

NEW YOKE AND LONDON
1940

BOOK COMPANY, INC.

IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA

parts thereof, may not be reproduced

in any form without permission of

the publishers.

To the Memory of
PBOFESSOB LETA S. HOLLINGWORTH

PREFACE

Intellect is, without doubt, the greatest single endow-
ment of the human race. It has made possible the most
prized achievements of the past and will make possible
the realization of the highest hopes for the future. It is
the primary source of all progress. Granting the vast
importance of intellect in the affairs of man, it surely
follows that it is desirable to nurture it, especially where
it is found to exist in high degree. Although all men may
contribute to the march of civilization, the new roads are
blazed by men of genius.

During the last quarter of a century research workers
have gathered considerable information concerning men-
tally superior individuals. Most of this factual material
relates to intellectually gifted children who are not in
themselves geniuses but rather geniuses in the making.
Genius, still an indefinable term, is something more than
great intellectual capacity or even the summation of
certain traits that can be quantitatively evaluated. That
is why it can be truthfully said that not all gifted children
will become eminent men. On the other hand, it is
equally true that all who achieve eminence were gifted
as children.

In the following pages the author has attempted to
present a picture of the intellectually gifted individual,
especially as he appears in childhood. In discussing his
mental, social, and physical characteristics and the
educational adjustments necessary to his progress, full
use is made of the results of research* However, being
aware that the conclusions so far arrived at objectively
do not tell the entire story, the author has not hesitated

vii

PREFACE

to present a point of view, an interpretation of genius,
that occasionally goes beyond statistical data.

Since this volume is primarily concerned with a
psychological description and interpretation of mental
superiority, it has been necessary to restrict to a relatively
small amount of space the discussion of educational
adjustments, important though these are. Democracy
can be expected to survive only where its system of
education provides for the needs of all children, the
bright as well as the average and dull.

Anyone writing on the subject of intellectually gifted
children today must draw heavily upon the work of two
outstanding American psychologists, Prof. Lewis M.
Terman and the late Prof. Leta S. Hollingworth. To
them and to the many other writers in the field the
author is much indebted.

H. A. CARROLL.

SOUTH BERWICK, MAINE, -
May, 1940.

Vlll

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE vii

EDITOR'S INTRODTJCTIOK. . xi

CSAPTEB

I. IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN ... 3

Parents' Judgments , 6

Teachers 7 Judgments 7

Intelligence Tests 12

II. RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND 20

The Negro. 21

The Indian 22

Nationality Groups 23

Families of Geniuses 25

III. THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT 35

Transmission of Mental Inferiority 38

Transmission of Mental Superiority 38

Mental Similarity of Twins 39

Effect of Changing Environment 43

Conclusions 52

IV. PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH 54

Reasons for Belief in Inferior Physical Equipment 54

Physical Characteristics 59

Participation in Athletics 75

Physical Health 78

Mental Health 82

V. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 89

Happiness 89

Character Development of Gifted Children 94

Character Traits of Eminent Men 95

Play Activities 97

Leadership 110

VI. MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 114

Mental Qualities 115

Scholastic Attainments 126

Progress Quotients 132

CONTENTS

CHAPTER . PAGE

VII. CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 134

Looking Backward 139

Looking Forward 149

Summary 159

VIII. DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE 161

Intellect Versus Achievement 161

College Grades and Business Success 163

Intrinsic Factors 166

Extrinsic Factors 178

IX. SPECIAL GIFTS 186

Music . . 187

Drawing 190

Lightning Calculators 194

Mechanical Ability 195

Special Language Abilities 197

Summary 205

X. EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCBLEKATION 206

Issues Involved '. . 206

Acceleration 219

XI. EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT 243

/totraclass Grouping 243

Enrichment at Home 249

Principles of Education of Gifted Children in Special Classes 253
The Teacher 262

XII. BIOGRAPHY OF A TYPICAL GIFTED CHILD . . ' 265

Development during Infancy 266

Preschool Period 271

Elementary School Period 275

At the End of Ten Years 292

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 293

INDEX. 297

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

In the stress and turmoil of a world which seems at
times to be carrying a burden of ignorance and hatred
greater than it can bear, the gifts of intelligence and good
will are doubly precious. To envisage a solution of human
problems in terms other than those based upon man's
ability to learn and his willingness to help his fellows is
to negate the principles of civilized education. To recog-
nize outstanding ability and to develop it to its utmost is
a chief task of this education.

The present volume offers valuable aid to all parents
and teachers who wish to perform this crucial task well.
In clear and simple, but scholarly and comprehensive,
fashion the book tells how intellectually gifted children
may be identified, what they are like physically, socially,
and mentally, and how they may be helped in childhood
and youth to develop their great potentialities most
effectively.

The author is eminently qualified to perform this serv-
ice. His long experience as a teacher in schools and uni-
versities, his researches in the field of special intellectual
gifts, and his thorough familiarity alike with psycho-
logical studies and educational practices combine to
give this book the precision of scholarship and the guid-
ance of common sense which every good professional
work needs. Behind these qualities, moreover, there is
the greater quality of a generous and inquiring mind at
work on a subject of absorbing interest. An appreciation
of that quality may best be gained from the book itself.

HAKOL.D BENJAMIN.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND,
June, 1940.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

CHAPTER I

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY
GIFTED CHILDREN

1. What is meant by the term "intellectually gifted"?

2. What are the underlying causes of the errors made in subjective
estimates of intelligence?

3. What method of identifying intellectually gifted children is the
best?

It has long been customary to think of a "gift" as a
specific, isolated aptitude in some artistic field music,
painting, acting, writing, sculpture. These abilities,
when sufficiently marked to be important, seem easily
recognizable and familiar. The gift of high intelligence,
on the other hand, is at present recognized and adjusted
to with somewhat greater difficulty; yet it is probably the
most important single attribute of man., and those
possessing it in marked degree constitute the greatest
asset of the human race. Great as may be any special,
gift artistic or social it cannot go far without the gift
of intellect as well. The more any man knows, the more
he can do.

Through the use of objective measuring instruments,
it has been definitely established that intelligence is
distributed over what is termed the normal-probability
curve (see Fig. 1).

At the extreme left of Fig. 1 stands the idiot, a human
being whose intelligence is less than that of many
animals. Directly above him is the imbecile/ who is capa-
ble of simple learning but cannot master such intricate
subjects as reading and arithmetic. Next in order is the

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

moron, who is not nearly so numerous as he is popularly
supposed to be. In fact, all three of these groups, usually
classified together as " feeble-minded/' constitute only
about 2 per cent of the total population. In terms of
intelligence quotient 1 they range from to 70.

Progressing upward by infinitesimal steps for human
beings differ not in kind but in degree of intelligence
through what is called for convenience the borderline and
dull-normal groups, the great normal class, numbering
60 per cent of the total population, is reached. These

130
I.Q.

FIG. 1. Position and frequency of intellectually gifted children in relation to
the genera/I population.

average human beings range from 90 to 110 in terms of
I.Q. As children they set the pace for grade school work;
as adults they control the tempo of progress. Professor
H. L. Hollingworth 2 has given a revealing picture of a
hypothetical average man whose meager abilities should
be kept in mind for reference and comparison in consider-
ing the intellectual achievements of gifted individuals.
The following passages are taken from Hollingworth/s
description:

intelligence quotient is arrived at by the following formula:
M.A./C.A. = I.Q. M.A. stands for " mental age," which is determined by
comparing the score which the child earns on an intelligence test with the
test standards or norms. If his score is the same as that earned by the
typical child of nine, then he is said to have a mental age of nine. If his
C.A. (chronological age) is also nine, then he is of average intelligence.
M.A./C.A. - 9/9 = 1.00 I.Q. (commonly expressed as 100 I.Q,).

2 HOLLINGWORTH, H. L., "Mental Growth and Decline," pp. 276-279,
D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New York, 1928.

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

Such an individual would leave school at the eighth grade, with a
working knowledge of the "fundamentals," a smattering of local
geography, a bit of history, and a few elementary facts of physiology,
There would be no knowledge of a general kind hi such fields as
literature, civics, science, politics. The individual would speak only
his mother tongue, and would be intellectually unable to do satis-
factory high-school work of the traditional kind.

He might, if a male, through apprenticeship or after a short period
of industrial training, become a plumber, a carpenter, a policeman, a
mechanic. He would have a vocabulary of about 7,500 words, a little
over half that of the ordinary high-school graduate. If a woman, she
would be a competent housekeeper or plain nurse, or a mediocre or
inferior clerical worker. . . .

He can tell how many pencils can be bought for fifty cents if two
pencils cost five cents, and how much seven feet of cloth will cost at
fifteen cents a yard, if allowed one minute for each problem. But if
told that hi a large box there are four small boxes, each containing
four smaller ones, he is unable hi a reasonable time to tell the total
number of boxes hi the collection. He can explain what a simple
picture means, but is still unable to tell what more than half of
the simple fables, which he is told, are supposed to teach, in a
manner which suggests capacity for generalization from specific
instances. . . .

In spite of these meager endowments, it is the average man and
the average woman that most often marry, become parents, are the
autocratic dictators of a family of children, determine the results at
popular elections. That they do not originate the measures for which
they vote, invent the machinery they operate, or plan the curriculums
they authorize, shows that, in spite of numbers, it is the contribution
of the superior endowment that determines the course, although
perhaps not the pace, of social development*

If we look at the figure showing the distribution of
intelligence, it will be seen that progress is continued
from the normal group through the superior and very
superior classes, with their steadily decreasing relative
frequency, to the shaded area which represents those with
intelligence quotients of 130 and above the 1 per cent
of the population called "intellectually gifted. 7 ' There
are approximately 250,000 such children in the United

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

States. It is important to keep in mind that not all
children identified as possessing potentialities for genius
will actually achieve on a high level when they reach
adult years. Intelligence is but one of the determiners of
success. A man cannot achieve eminence without pos-
sessing a great intellect, but he can possess a great
intellect and yet fail to achieve eminence.

There are a number of possible ways of identifying these
children. Parents 7 judgment, teachers' judgment, intelli-
gence tests, age-grade status, standardized achievement
tests, and school marks constitute the usual criteria for
selection. No one of these is completely valid, although
the intelligence test is by far the best. Whenever possible,
a combination of estimates should be used.

PARENTS' JUDGMENTS

The opinions of parents concerning the intelligence of
their children, though usually biased, have some value
because of parents' intimate and detailed knowledge of
offspring. No teacher or psychologist can hope to have as
complete a picture of a child as does his father or mother.
This intimate knowledge is especially important for
helping to evaluate the intelligence of preschool children.
The psychologist, in testing the intelligence of the young
child, frequently finds it difficult to gain his cooperation
and so leans heavily upon the observations of the child's
parents. If the parents themselves are equipped with
psychological information, their statements may be of
great value. Some of the most exact data on early mental
development are contained in biographies of children
written by a mother or father who reports with scientific
objectivity on the activities of his child.

In general, however, parents are notoriously poor
judges of the intellectual capacity of their children. Their
errors come from three sources: bias, inaccurate observa-

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

tion, and failure to keep in mind the total child popula-
tion. Obviously parents are eager that their child shall
be bright though not too bright and naturally they
see everything that he does in a favorable light and find
excuses for his failures. Their pardonable prejudice so
affects their observation of the child's behavior that most
baby books are filled with inaccurate statements. A
meaningless sound uttered by a baby in vocal play is
recorded as a word, a grimace from gas on the stomach is
interpreted as a social smile, and the reciting of a memor-
ized verse is noted as reading. The confidence of his
parents is of course heartening and necessary to the
child, but it unquestionably affects the validity of their
judgment concerning his intelligence.

A final, and perhaps equally important, source of error
in the judgments of parents is their failure to keep in
mind the wide intellectual differences between various
socioeconomic groups. For example, a doctor and his
wife, each of whom is intellectually gifted and whose
friends are, in general, much superior in mentality to the
population as a whole, are very likely to think of their
child as "just an average boy," even though he is one in
a hundred or even one in a thousand. An intellect that in
a heterogeneous group would appear markedly superior
in this select group shows to no advantage. In identifying
gifted children, then, the opinions of parents should be
used only with many reservations.

TEACHERS' JUDGMENTS

Any validity of the judgments of teachers concerning
the intelligence of the pupils in their classes rests upon
their professional training and their familiarity with the
schoolwork of the child. Their opinions, in general, are of
more value than those of parents even though they
frequently disagree sharply among themselves. Most of

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

the younger teachers of the present day have had some
training in psychology, and even a slight contact with
this science is likely to impress upon one the fact of the
wide range of human abilities and of the difficulties
involved in subjectively rating them. If a teacher with
such training is asked to select the brightest children in
her classes, she may be expected to try conscientiously
to ignore irrelevant factors and to consider intellectual
behavior only.

Occasionally an experienced teacher with no knowledge
at all of academic psychology can, by drawing upon the
information which she has gathered through many years
of work in teaching children ranging in intelligence from
the moron to the genius, estimate with considerable
accuracy the mental capacity of a certain child. If she
takes into consideration as well the grade of schoolwork
that the child has been doing, especially the scores which
he may have earned on objective achievement tests, her
chances of success are greatly improved.

In general, however, teachers have shown a surprising
lack of ability to identify intellectually gifted children.
Varner reports in a study made some years ago that
teachers can select only about one-fourth of the bright
children in their grade. (It is interesting to note that
Varner reports in the same study that teachers are much
more successful in selecting dull children, being able to
identify about half of them.) Professor Leta S. Holling-
worth 1 tells of an excellent teacher, with five years of
experience in the elementary schools, who was asked to
list the five most intelligent of the forty pupils in her
class, which she had been teaching for three months. It
was found later by test that two of these were bright, two
average, and one dull. In the same discussion Prof.

1 HOLLINGWOBTH, L. S., "Gifted Children," pp. 46-48, The Macmillan

Company, New York, 1926.

IDENTIFICATION OP INTELLECTUAIXY GIFTED CHILDREN

Hollingworth refers to the teacher who recommended a
child as "extremely intelligent because he can play the
ukelele and sing."

In 1921-1922 Prof. Lewis Terman of Leland Stanford
University began the most elaborate study of gifted
children that has been made. This mQmTmp.nf.al piece of
research must be referred to frequently in any discussion
of genius. For the present, reference will be made only
to the relative success which Terman had with the
several methods that he used in selecting the 1,000 gifted
children whom he was to study. His criteria were four in
number: (1) teachers' ratings; (2) age-grade status; (3)
achievement tests; (4) intelligence tests. Teachers 7
ratings were found to be the least valuable of the four.
Only 15.7 per cent of those nominated by 6,000 teach-
ers, each as the most intelligent in his class, finally
qualified for the gifted group. Age-grade status was found
to be a more reliable criterion, yielding 19.7 per cent of
the final group. As Terman 1 says, "If one would identify
the brightest child in a class of thirty to fifty pupils, it is
better to consult the birth records in the class, register
than to ask the teacher's opinion. 7 '

The underlying causes of errors in teachers 7 judgments
are not difficult to locate. They can be grouped under
three headings: (1) the inevitable intrusion of the per-
sonal equation; (2) lack of standards as a basis for
comparison; (3) f failure to consider the important factor
of chronological age differences.

Intrusion of Personal Equation

One of the greatest difficulties with which the scientist
is constantly faced is how to keep his own prejudices,
his own likes and dislikes, from influencing the results of

1 TERMAN, L. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 33, 2nd ed.,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Ms experiments. It is especially difficult to do this in a
science such as psychology, economics, or sociology,
which involves human beings. Even in the exact sciences
the experimenter's desire to establish a certain postulate
may influence his procedure and his conclusions unless he
uses the greatest care. It is not surprising, then, that in
so subjective a matter as rendering a judgment on the
intelligence of a child the teacher should be influenced by
such irrelevant factors as friendliness, physical beauty,
willingness to work, cooperation, obedience, and loquac-
ity. Since intelligence and curiosity are closely related
traits, the truly gifted child is quite likely to ask many
questions, some of them embarrassing in their difficulty.
Many teachers respond antagonistically to these ques-
tions, and, since it is a human failing to belittle those
disliked, tend to underrate the intelligence of the ques-
tioner. On the other hand, a friendly, cooperative child,
who makes the teacher feel comfortable when he is with
h'er, is likely to be thought brighter than he actually is.
It is no wonder that the teacher, controlled as are most
human beings by emotion rather than by intellect, is
unable to judge clear-sightedly when .asked to identify
the gifted children in her classes.

Lack of Standards

A difficulty which the teacher, in common with others,
faces in rating an individual on any trait whatsoever is
comparing that individual not with the members of a
select group, but with a large heterogeneous group which
is truly representative. This difficulty lies at the source of
much of the fallacious thinking concerning geniuses,
young and old. For example, it is frequently maintained
that certain presidents of the United States were average
or even below average in intellect. The man who makes
that statement overlooks the fact that in his thinking he

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

is concerned only with a very select group made up of
presidents and perhaps a few other leading American
statesmen. If he allowed himself to consider seriously the
mental equipment of the truly average man he would
recognize the absurdity of his statement. To give another
example, a football player who weighs a mere 165 pounds
is referred to in the sports columns as small. He is small
when compared with the average football player, but
when compared with the average college man he is
considerably above the median.

With respect to intelligence the child is usually com-
pared by his teacher with the members of his group. If he
is a boy somewhat above average in intellectual capacity
in a small country school attended by a group of rather
dull children, he will appear to marked advantage. It is
easy to see how his teacher might consider that she had a
genius in her school, and that she would be very much
surprised if an intelligence test indicated that he fell well
below the top 1 per cent. On the other hand, a child of
average intelligence in a school like the Horace Mann
School in New York would appear to be dull because he
would be competing with a group containing many
children who were intellectually gifted. Wherever the
individual is, he will inevitably be compared with those
about him. The teacher, though less likely than others to
err in this respect because of her greater experience with
large numbers of children, is, nevertheless, affected to
some extent by the great difficulty involved in attempt-
ing to keep in mind a large unselected group of children
while rating a single child.

Chronological Age Factor

A third source of errqr in teachers' judgments concern-
ing the intelligence of children is the factor of chronologi-
cal age. If, for example, a teacher is working with a group

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

of ten-year-old cMldren of average intelligence and there
is in that group an eight-year-old child who is doing as
well as the others, the instructor may very easily overlook
the difference of two years in age especially if the
younger child happens to be as large as the others and
consider that his intelligence is about the same as that
of the older children. Actually, of course, his intellectual
capacity would have to be very much greater to make
it possible for him to do the same kind of work that the
others are doing.

An actual case was reported some time ago of two
sisters, aged three and four. The father had brought them
to a psychologist to have them tested, remarking that he
was somewhat worried about the younger child because
she did not seem to be nearly so bright as her sister. The
psychologist, on testing them, found that the three-
year-old girl was intellectually gifted while her four-year-
old sister had a considerably lower I.Q. The father had
been expecting the younger child to behave as intelli-
gently as the older one, quite overlooking the year's
difference in their chronological ages. It had been espe-
cially easy for him to do this because the two children
were of almost the same size.

INTELLIGENCE TESTS

The most satisfactory approach in evaluating the
intelligence of a child is through an appropriate intel-
ligence test. At the very beginning of any discussion of
intelligence testing it is important to note that so far no
way of measuring intellectual capacity directly has been
devised and none will be until it is known what actually
goes on in the nervous and glandular systems when an
individual learns. A number of theories have been
advanced, but in all honesty it must be admitted that
concerning this important matter psychologists are as

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

completely ignorant as were medical men of bacteriology

before the day of Pasteur. Lacking information on the

physical basis of mental behavior, psychologists can only

judge intelligence by obtaining ratings on observed

^intellectual behavior. This indirect approach results in a

^greater possibility of error than would be likely if a direct

^attack could be made. Nevertheless, it has been fruitful,

(^resulting in evaluations which have proved to be surpris-

Mngly accurate.

^ In measuring the intelligence of an individual, it is
obviously necessary to determine what constitutes intel-
lectual behavior. This is no easy task. Every individual
frequently passes judgment on the brightness or dullness
^ of his fellows. The criteria which he uses are interesting
.and revealing. If, for example, a group of people in
^informal discussion were asked to name what they
^considered were cues to, or even absolute proof of,
intellectual capacity, the following would almost cer-
tainly be mentioned: sparkling eyes, being ready with an
answer, long hair (genius), wearing glasses, pale skin,
learning quickly, learning slowly but always remember-
ing, reciting long poems in infancy, walking when very
young, reading at the age of three or four, large head,
being physically small, being physically large, shape of
hands, shape of mouth, receding chin, pugnacious chin,
very beautiful (lack of intelligence), sociability, mechani-
cal ability, ability to see through a problem quickly,
ability to use what he knows, common sense, date of
birth, known intelligence of brothers and sisters, national-
ity, sex, school marks, ability in music, ability in art,
friendliness, obedience, shape of head, size of nose, and so
on and on.

These criteria have been listed at random, much as
they might come from such a group. No attempt has
been made at order or classification, the wholly irrelevant

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

items being left to stand side by side with those which are
relevant. The psychologist, in constructing an intelligence
test, considers all such criteria and then eliminates those
which previous investigations have shown to be without
value in indicating intelligence. He knows, for example,
that, though there is a slight positive relationship
between physical size and mental capacity, such charac-
teristics as size of head (excepting when the variation is
extreme as in hydrocephalis and microcephalis), shape
of mouth or nose or chin, and so on, reveal nothing
concerning the intelligence of the individual. He knows
that sparkling eyes are as frequently found in an institu-
tion for feeble-minded children as in an opportunity
class for gifted children. Although recognizing the great
importance of specialized ability in mechanics, music,
or art, he knows, from the large number of studies that
have been made, that superiority in one of these fields
by no means guarantees superiority in intellect.

On the other hand, he considers that the ability to
learn to read at the age of three or f our, to see through *a
problem quickly, to apply knowledge, or to possess what
is known as common sense indicates superior intelligence.
Binet defines intelligence as " judgment or common
sense, initiative, the ability to ad'apt oneself," Terman
as "the ability to think in terms of abstract ideas/'
Woodrow as "an acquiring capacity," Buckingham as
"the ability to learn/' and Woodworth as the ability
of an individual "to see the point of the problem set
him, and to adapt what he has learned to this novel
situation."

Validity

Having decided what constitutes intellectual behavior,
the 'test maker devises and selects items for his test which
will rate a child on these intellectual traits. Any item

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

which tests an unrelated ability, even in part, weakens
the test. Since it is impossible, in measuring intelligence
indirectly, to eliminate completely such disturbing
factors as speed of handwriting, speed of reading (which
may be determined by defective eyesight), and nervous
tension, the score earned by a child on a mental test is not
a perfect rating; it is merely the best rating that psycholo-
gists at the present time know how to secure and is, for
reasons that will be pointed out later, much superior to
one subjectively given.

No attempt at anything even approaching a complete
analysis of test items will be made in this brief description
of intelligence tests. It will be interesting, however, to
note a few of the questions used, making special reference
to the way in which they help the investigator to identify
intellectually gifted children. For example, size of vocabu-
lary is generally considered by psychologists as being the
best single indication of intellectual capacity. This
criterion is especially important in rating very young
children, for the vocabulary of the intellectually inferior
will always be small and that of the intellectually superior
will nearly always be large. At the age of one year a child
who is below average in intelligence will almost certainly
be able to use no more than one word meaningfully. On
the other hand, a very bright child will almost certainly
have a vocabulary of several words perhaps a dozen
or more.

An interesting and valid test in the new, revised
Stanford-Binet Tests the best of the existing instru-
ments for measuring intelligence is the "plan of search."
The psychologist presents to the child whom he is testing
a drawing of a circle broken at one point only. He then
tells him to imagine that the circle is a field and to show,
by tracing his path with a pencil, how he would search
for a purse of money lost in the field.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

In order to solve this problem the child must under-
stand the directions, see the point of the problem, bring
his experience to bear in working out a solution, and carry
through the plan which he has considered to be the most
promising. It has been found that an intellectually
average thirteen-year-old child can pass this test. A dull
child of the same age is greatly puzzled by it and may
respond as did the thirteen-year-old boy who merely
marked the paper at random (see Fig. 2).

FIG. 2. "Plan of search" of a FIG, 3. " Plan of search " of a

thirteen-year-old child with an I.Q. nine-year-old child with an I.Q.
of 65. of 160.

An intellectually gifted child of nine, four years
younger than the boy who offered the plan shown in
Fig. 2, solved the problem with insight and care in the
manner shown in Fig. 3.

The application of this single criterion leaves little
doubt concerning the relative intellectual levels of these
two children. When it is remembered that a good
intelligence test utilizes not one but a large number of
valid measures and applies them with statistical care, it
appears reasonable to conclude that it is successful in
at least roughly differentiating children according to
their mental capacity. It is important, of course, that
the individual items of an intelligence test be valid; that
is, that each one really sample intellectual behavior. The

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

psychologist, in building his instrument, applies rigid
objective tests to every part of it. He discards every
question or problem that shows itself to be lacking in
validity, keeping only those that have proved themselves
as sound measures of mental ability.

The most valid intelligence ratings for gifted children
can be obtained between the ages of six and twelve.
Scores earned by preschool children are frequently in
error because of failure to meet one or both of the two
assumptions underlying all intelligence testing: first, that
the examinee cooperate fully; second, that the test items
sample a body of information with which the examinee
has had an opportunity to become familiar. Scores earned
by older children are frequently in error because the
brightest of these children reach the roof of the test; then-
true abilities are not being evaluated. The selection of
intellectually gifted children for purposes of classification
or special instruction should be made, then, during the
elementary school period, preferably during the first half
of that period.

Reliability

The intelligence test is not only a more valid method of
rating intelligence than any other, but it is also more
reliable; that is, it measures consistently what it purports
to measure. One of the serious difficulties involved in
making subjective evaluations of intelligence has always
been the considerable disagreement among those passing
judgment. Investigations, for example, have revealed the
fact that it is almost impossible to obtain a consensus of
opinion among teachers with respect to the mentality
of the pupils in their classes. Moreover, their individual
judgments differ from year to year, or even from month
to month.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Intelligence-test scores also vary somewhat from time
to time and from test to test, but to no such marked
degree as do subjective ratings. Personal judgments of
intelligence, unsupported by data objectively gathered,
rarely achieve a reliability coefficient as high as .50.
Intelligence tests, on the other hand, possess coefficients
of reliability considerably in excess of .50 the best of
these, as for example the Stanford-Binet, rate over .90.
A test should have a reliability coefficient of at least .85
preferably higher if a score earned on it is to be used
as a basis for individual prophecy and guidance.

The best of the individual psychological examinations
are the Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale,
the Kuhlmann Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale,
and the Minnesota Preschool Scale. There are a number
of excellent group tests, although the coefficients of
reliability for these instruments are seldom over .90.
Among those used widely are the Haggerty Intelligence
Examinations, the National Intelligence Test, the Ter-
man Group Test of Mental Ability, and the Kuhlmann-
Anderson Intelligence Test.

Standards

It was stated earlier in this discussion that one of the
principal difficulties involved in subjectively rating
intelligence is the lack of adequate standards. The
individual who is passing judgment errs in his evaluation
because he is forced to use as his criterion the minds of the
people whom he knows. If he associates with persons of
high mentality, he will think that a certain very bright
child is merely average; if he associates with persons of
low mentality, an average child will appear to him to be
bright. The situation is similar to that which causes the
rural visitor to find New York to be less spectacular than
he expected; a twenty-story building in his home town

IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN

would be a skyscraper indeed, but in New York, among
so many high buildings, even one of sixty stories seems
small.

The intelligence test does not completely eliminate the
difficulties involved in making comparisons because it is
impossible to obtain perfect standardization; it does,
however, greatly improve upon subjective judgment in
that it is accompanied by standard scores which represent
the mental ratings of a large number of unselected
children. Thousands of scores earned by children ranging
from the idiot to the genius constitute the standard in
some of the best intelligence tests. It is a far cry from this
to the little group used for comparison by the layman in
estimating the intelligence of a child.

CHAPTER II
RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

1. Do races differ in their ability to produce men. of genius?

2. Does great mental capacity run in families?

3. From what occupational groups do intellectually gifted children
come?

In any discussion of the importance of race or nation-
ality as a cause of high intelligence it should be made
clear at the outset that the data gathered by anthro-
pologists, biologists, and psychologists are, for the
present, inadequate to justify final conclusions. The best
that can be done until more exact evidence is obtained is
to point out what these data indicate to be true. The
biologist H. S. Jennings 1 adopts this attitude when he
says:

The diversity of genes in different races indisputably yields race
differences in physical features in color, stature, structure, form,
and the like. Among individuals belonging to the same race, diversity
of genes produces differences in all these respects; and, moreover,
produces differences in mentality; produces differences in power of
adjustment to conditions met. It would be surprising if the same were
not true for the differing genes of the differing races.

Regardless of what ought to be so, according to the
laws of inheritance, or what might be so, as a result of
environmental conditions, it is an observable and tested
fact that certain racial and nationality groups in the
United States produce a smaller number of intellectually
gifted children than do certain other racial and nation-

1 JENNINGS, H. S., "The Biological Basis of Human Nature," p. 284,
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1930.

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

ality groups this incidence of course being based upon
the relative frequency of the different groups in the total
population. For instance, one would be absolutely certain
of finding a higher percentage of children of superior
mentality among those with a Scotch-Irish ancestry
than among Negroes.

THE NEGRO

The mean I.Q. of American white children is 100. A
number of surveys of the intelligence of American Negro
children show average I.Q/s in the low 80's. Occasionally
an average falls somewhat lower than that, as in a study
by Paterson, who f oxind a mean of 75 for Negro children
in a number of Tennessee schools. When performance
rather than verbal tests are used the obtained measures
of central tendency tend to run somewhat higher. North-
ern Negroes on the whole excel Southern Negroes in
intelligence test ratings. The scores which these two
groups earned on the Army Alpha and Army Beta, when
they were tested at the time of the World War, is
striking:

Alpha

Beta

Native-born white draft ...

Foreign-born white draft

Northern Negro draft

Southern Negro draft

Frank S. Freeman, 1 after a detailed and sympathetic
examination of the psychological data which have been
gathered on the American Negro, concludes that the
present intellectual status of the American Negro is on

, F. S., "Individual Differences," p. 167, Henry Holt &
Company, New York, 1934.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

the whole appreciably inferior to that of the white
population.

Accepting a mean of 82 as being typical of the average
mentality of the Negro and assuming that this is accom-
panied by a standard deviation of 12, an LQ- of 130
becomes four standard deviations above the mean.
Statistically there is but one chance in 30,000 of a score
falling above plus four standard deviations. In other
words, JSegro child has butj^n ft flhflnce in 30 T 000 of
being intellectually gifted. School experience bears out
the validity ol this frequency. The white child, on the
other hand, ^ 3QfyrTm-nnpa ij\ 30 T nnn of hftinff intftllftc*
tjiflJJyjnfted. It seems that the cards of inheritance-
and environment are stacked for the white child
against the Negro by a ratio of 300 to 1. In line with this
statement is the experience of Terman 1 in the selection
of his group of California gifted children. He reports that
Negroes, representing 2 per cent of the total of the com-
bined population of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oak-
land, Alameda, and Berkeley, furnished 0.3 per cent of
his gifted group; that is, two cases. Even these two cases
were both part white.

THE INDIAN

The intelligence of the American Indian has been
extensively studied, especially by Garth. The data in-
variably indicate a relatively low level of the kind of
mental ability measured by verbal intelligence tests.
For instance, Garth, using national and Otis intelligence
tests on 2,650 full-blooded Indians, obtained a mean
I.Q. of 69. This extremely low average almost precludes
the possibility of an Indian equaling in mental .capacity
a white child who falls within the classification "intellec-

1 TEHMAN, L. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 56, 2d ed.,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

tually gifted." The qualifying "almost" is used because
once in a very great while there emerges an Indian with
superior mentality.

Garth 1 offers nurture and selection as the fundamental
causes of the difference in intelligence between the
Indian and the white. It is possible that these factors do
exert a potent influence, although it is difficult to see
that there has been a more conscious attempt to breed
up the white race in America than there has been to
breed up the red or black races. The important question
of nurture will be taken up in considerable detail in the
next chapter.

NATIONALITY GROUPS

The table on p. 24 compiled by Goodenough sum-
marizes the results of a number of surveys of the mental
ability of children representing various nationality
groups in America.

Terman, upon investigating the racial origin of his
California group of intellectually gifted children, found
approximately the same pattern as that seen in the
preceding table. The percentage of representation of the
different nationality groups among these gifted children
is in many instances, however, devoid of exact meaning
because of the difficulties involved in learning their
relative incidence in the total population surveyed.
Nevertheless, Terman 2 feels justified in offering the
following conclusion:

Data on racial origin indicate that, in comparison with the general
population of the cities concerned, our gifted show a 100 per cent
excess of Jewish blood; a 25 per cent excess of parents who are of
native parentage; a probable excess of Scotch ancestry; and a very
great deficiency of Latin and Negro ancestry.

1 GABTH, T. R., "Race Psychology," p. 84, McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, Inc., New York, 1931.
3 TERMAN, op. cit., p. 82.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Perhaps the most striking fact in the above summary
is the high frequency of Jewish children in Terman's
gifted group. They appear about twice as often as
would be expected, considering their known incidence in

TABLE I. INTELLECTUAL ABILITY OF AMERICAN SCHOOL CHILDREN BY

RACIAL STOCK*

Nationality or racialVbock

Reported by

Mean I.Q.

White American

Dickson

106

White American

Sheldon

104

Brown

104

German

Brown

102

Brown

102

Murdock

100

Austrian

Brown

100

Symonds

Pintner and Keller

French

Brown

Jewish.

Pintner and Keller

T^innp . .....

Brown

Pintner and Keller

Negroes (Ohio) . . . ....

Pintner and Keller

Portuguese

Young

Pintner and Keller

Italian

Pintner and Keller

Italian

Dickson

Portuguese

Dickson

Italian

Young

Dickson

Negroes (Tennessee)
Negroes (Arkansas) ....

Paterson
Jordan

75
71

* GOODENOUGH, F. L., Racial Differences in the Intelligence of School Children,
JT. Exper. Paychol., Vol. 9, p. 389, 1926.

the total population. Terman's conclusions are borne out
by the studies of Leta Hollingworth concerning intellec-
tually gifted children in New York City and of Howard
Gray in his investigation into the parentage of 154 gifted
college students.

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

That there are wide differences in mental capacity
among the racial and nationality groups in this country
is an indisputable fact. The causes of these differences,
however, are highly debatable, with the evidence at pres-
ent emphasizing the potency of heredity.

FAMILIES OF GENIUSES

There is a saying that "genius is 5 per cent inspiration
and 95 per cent perspiration." Even Napoleon, an excep-
tionally keen and objective self-analyst, gave as the most
important single cause of his amazing success his ability
to work hard for long hours. So convinced was he of this
that instead of choosing some regal animal as his imperial
symbol, he selected the busy bee. Perhaps Napoleon in
common with other men was affected by an unconscious
desire to believe that he became what he was by his own
efforts instead of by means of an inherited capacity. The
man who has done well likes to say, as does the politician
whose plans have succeeded, "I did it." The man who
has failed prefers to say, as does the politician whose
plans have gone astray, "I am not responsible."

This human weakness, this desire to pat one's ego, lies
at the root of "the misconceptions concerning the role of
heredity not only in genius but in mental inferiority and
insanity as well. The parent of a gifted chilcj is quite
likely to point to himself with pride, asserting without
too much modesty that he is the cause of his child's
brilliance either through the splendid inheritance which
he has given the child or through the method of training
which he has used. The parent of the feebleminded child,
on the other hand, is almost certain to place the blame
for the child's mental inferiority on some special incident
outside his control, such as injury at the time of birth;
and one rarely finds a person, who, having an insane
relative, does not ascribe that insanity to a blow on the

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

head or to a serious illness when the individual was
young. There is little justification for being critical of this
weakness, for human beings are in constant need of
bolstering their self-respect.

The truth concerning genius appears to be the reverse
of the popular saying quoted at the beginning of this
chapter. Family is definitely of^great importance in the
creation of Mghmenj^JiijLJi is wel

nigntality and hijh^achigvemeiit
arejiot synonymousJiftr^g, fa** jj^Jj^

means guarantees^eat_succgg.

A number of other influencing factors are too important
for that to be true. On the other hand, great success can-
not be achieved without a high degree of intelligence.
Napoleon was right in emphasizing the importance of
application, but wrong in underrating the importance of
family stock. He was fond of saying that the Bonaparte
family began on the Eighteenth Brumaire, the date of th.e
coup d ? 6tat which made him first consul. As a matter of
fact, the Bonaparte family had had a long and dis-
tinguished history as the first family of Corsica. There is,
of course, a great difference between being first in Corsica
and first in the world, and it is this difference that has
given rise to the popular belief that Napoleon sprang f ropa
the masses.

In the United States the belief has long b$en cherished
that practically all great Americans were born to parents
of average intelligence, who lived.in humble surroundings.
Though this is the case in certain instances, a, far larger
number who have achieved distinction came from families
possessing a marked strain of intelligence Among. these
are Washington, whose parents were members of suc-
cessful, thrifty families of property and social, st^ndiijg;
Emerson, who was descended from a long line of ministers
of energetic Puritan stock and \vhose father was a^t one
time pastor of the First Church of Boston and the author

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

of a number of religious works; Jefferson, whose father
was a colonel and a member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses and whose mother came from a family which
included warriors, churchmen, statesmen, and eminent
scholars; and Longfellow, whose father was a man much
honored for his ability in his profession of the law and for
his sound good sense in public affairs.

To be sure, such a selected list as the above illustrates
rather than proves the point that genius runs in families.
In this instance, however, careful studies, scientifically
conducted, bear out the assertion; reference to a number
of these follows.

The most famous and most often-quoted study of a
family of geniuses is that made by Winship and Daven-
port of the descendants of Richard Edwards, an eminent
lawyer, and his wife, Elizabeth Tuthill, noted for an
exceptional mind. Their son, one of the founders of Yale
University, fathered Jonathan Edwards, who married the
brilliant Sarah Pierpont. Numbered^ among the descend-
ants of these two, during the somewhat more than 200
years following their marriage, are 12 college presidents,
65 college professors, 60 physicians, 100 clergymen, 75
Army ' officers, 60 prominent authors, 100 lawyers,
30 judges, and a large number of high public officials, in-
cluding two United States Senators, and one Vice-
President of the United States.

These data present an even more emphatic picture
when compared with those concerning the descendants of
a Revolutionary soldier, Martin Kallikak, and a feeble-
minded girl. Of their 480 descendants, 143 were known to
be feeble-minded, 36 illegitimate, 33 sexually immoral,
24 'drunkards, and 3 criminals.

Law of Ancestral -Inheritance

The pioneer in the study of the families of geniuses
was the English scholar, Galton. In one of his investi-

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

gations he examined the biographies of 977 eminent men.
He discovered that each of these had a far greater number
of eminent relatives than would be expected on the basis
of chance alone. In comparing the number of eminent
relatives of a group of average men of similar size, he
found a tremendous difference, namely 535 to 4, bringing
him to the obvious conclusion that intellect does run in
families.

It is interesting to note that he found that 48 per cent
of the eminent men whom he studied were the sons of
men who were themselves eminent. This figure is strik-
ingly similar to those arrived at in later studies.

As a result of his extensive investigations Galton formu-
lated a law which is called the "law of ancestral inherit-
ance.' 7 According to his law a child inherits one-half of
his mental capacity from his parents, one-fourth from his
grandparents, one-eighth from his great-grandparents,
one-sixteenth from his great-great-grandparents, and so
on back through the generations. It is clear from this
progression that the intellectual capacity of the parents
has more influence upon the intellectual capacity of the
child than does that of ancestors farther removed. The
law, however, allows for the unexpected emergence of
genius in a child whose parents and even grandparents
are dull, for the trait may have been present in an an-
cestor several times removed.

Relatives of Gifted Children

Terman, 1 in studying the relatives of a group of intel-
lectually gifted children, uncovered facts corroborating
the findings of Galton. Again and again, from whatever
angle he approached the problem, he found that mentally
superior children are much more likely to possess men-
tally superior relatives than average children. For in-

1 TERMAN, op. cit., Chap. V.

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

stance, he found that 578 families were responsible for the*
676 young geniuses in his group. Of these, seventy-three
families yielded two subjects and nine yielded three or
more. Terman points out that "the number of families
with two subjects is more than 1,200 times the number
chance would give." In other words, an intellectually
gifted child is much more likely than an average child to
have an intellectually gifted brother or sister.

Leta Hollingworth, best known to the general public
for her unusual work with a selected group of gifted
children at Speyer School in New York City, found, as
did Galton and Terman, that the siblings (brothers and
sisters) of very bright children are themselves much above
average. In a study with Cobb she tested the living
siblings of a group of fifty-seven children who fell within
the top 0.5 per cent of the population. The average LQ.
of this very gifted group was 154. Cobb and Hollingworth
found, upon testing the siblings, that they ranged in LQ.
from 96 to 173, with an average of 129, far above the
typical 100.

There are two other interesting facts in connection
with the relatives of the gifted children studied by Ter-
man. It was found that of the sixty-two members of the
Hall of Fame, fourteen were related to one or more
children in the California group. In certain instances, the
connection was close, as in the case of the two young
geniuses who were in direct line from the grandparents of
George Washington, the two who were directly descended
from Roger Williams, and the child who was in the direct
line of , John Adams.

Twelve of Terman's group of gifted children had, at
the time of selection, a parent or grandparent in " Who's
Who in America." Of these, three were fathers, two
mothers, and four grandparents. Terman points out that
the chance of a man of forty-one years, the average age

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

of the fathers of the gifted children whom he was study-
ing, being in ''Who's Who 7 ' is about one in 2,000, yet
three out of his group of 578 had been so honored. This is
approximately ten times the number chance would give.
The chance of a woman's being included in "Who's Who "
is very much smaller, yet in this investigation it was
found that two of the mothers had achieved this dis-
tinction. Numbered among the relatives of these intel-
lectually gifted children are such well-known persons as
Champ Clark, Newell Dwight Hillis, Senator Hiram
Johnson, F. B. McCormack, former Chancellor of the
University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Albert Michaelson, famous
physicist, 'and James Addison Young, former Supreme
Court justice.

Fathers of Eminent Men

Some years ago a study was made of the 282 most
eminent men who lived during the period from 1450 to
1850. Data concerning these geniuses were gathered and
analyzed with the greatest possible impartiality. The in-
vestigation was made by Catherine M. Cox under the
direction of Terman. Concerning the heredity of the
geniuses which she studied, Cox presents the following
statistics (see Table II).

The Taussig scale referred to in the preceding table is a
five-point rating system for socioeconomic standing.
According to this classification, more than half of the
world's most, eminent men for the period from 1450 to
1850 were born to fathers who were members of the
highest social class, and this despite the fact that this
top class represented but a fraction of the total population
approximately 3 per cent. The fathers of over 8 p^r
cent of these eminent men belonged to the two highest
social classes, leaving only 20 per cent as members of the
skilled workmen and lower business, semiskilled, ajad

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

TABLE II. OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF THE FATHEBS AND MATEENAI/
GEANDFATHEBS or 282 EMINENT MEN*

Taussig rating and classification

Fathers

Maternal grandfathers

Fre-
quency

Per

cent

Fre-
quency

Per
cent
282

Per cent
of 184
reported

1. Professional and nobility.
2. Semiprofessional, higher busi-
ness, and gentry

148
81

11
3
2

52.5

28.7

13.1
3.9
1.1
0.7

77
65

35
3

4
98

27.3

23.0

12.4
1.1
1.4
34.7

41.8
35.3

19.1
1.6

2.2

3. Skilled workmen and lower
business

4, SfiTmslnllfid,

R. TTnsVillP.H

No record

Total

282

100.0

282

99.9

100.0

* Cox, C. M., " Genetic Studies of Genius," VoL II, p. 37, Stanford University Press,
Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

unskilled groups. It is true that Miss Cox is considering
in this study only those men who actually attained emi-
nence. Obviously, in many instances, opportunity in the
guise of family and money helped them in their rise to
fame. She had no way of discovering how many men of
equal intellect may have been born in humble surround-
ings and kept from reaching the heights by an un-
friendly environment.

Another study of the ancestry of a group of eminent
men is that made by Cattell of 885 American men of
science. His conclusions correspond closely to those
arrived at by Miss Cox. He found that the professional
classes, which constituted only 3 per cent of the general
population, produced nearly one-half of the eminent
American scientists whom he was studying. On the
otter hand, agriculture, which is commonly supposedly
Americans to be the most fruitful source of eminence,
contributed only slightly more than one-fifth of the men

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

studied by Cattell, even though at the time the study was
made agricultural workers represented more than two-
fifths of the total population. In other words, the pro-
fessional classes produced sixteen times as many eminent
scientists as would be expected when their relative fre-
quency in the general population is taken into consider-
ation, while the farming classes did only half as well as
they should have done on the basis of their numbers.

An investigation by Clarke of the parentage of 666
outstanding men of letters contains statistics that are
striking in their similarity to CattelPs findings concerning
the ancestry of American men of science. Clarke reports
that the fathers of nearly half of the eminent men he
studied belonged to the professional classes, somewhat
less than one-fourth to the commercial classes, a slightly
smaller number to the agricultural classes, and only 7 per
cent to the mechanical, clerical, and unskilled groups.

These studies are typical of the many investigations
that have been made, and give weight to the statement
that great men come from family lines which have
already produced other men of high intelligence. How-
ever, all of them deal with the fathers of adult geniuses,
and, admittedly, parental influence plays an important
role in individual achievement. A somewhat different
approach to the problem is to investigate the parentage
of children who have been identified by tests as being
intellectually gifted. In trying to determine the role of
family in the production of intellect, it is as important
to consider geniuses in the making at it is to consider
those who have actually achieved eminence.

Fathers of Gifted Children

Terman, 1 in his detailed study of a thousand bright
children in California, presents data on their ancestry.
1 TEBMAN, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 64.

RACIAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

These children, all falling well within the top 1 per cent
with respect to intellectual capacity and ranging in age
from two to adolescence, were selected at random, no
attention whatsoever being paid to any factor except
mental ability. Data on the fathers of 560 of these gifted
children were adequate to permit their grouping into the
Taussig five-grade classification.

Number

Per cent

Professional

176

31 4

Semiprofessional and business

280

Skilled labor

11 8

Semiskilled labor to slightly skilled
Common labor

37
1

6.6
2

Terman did not have the figures on the relative fre-
quency of the different groups in., the total population
surveyed, but he was able to secure them for Los Angeles
and San Francisco. In these two cities he found that the
professional group made up but 2.9 per cent of the total;
yet it was the source of almost one-third of the gifted
children discovered there. In other words, fathers be-
longing to the professional classes law, medicine,
newspaper editors, and so on produced somewhat more
than ten times as many intellectually superior children
as would be expected considering their relatively small
incidence in the general population.

Concerning the contribution of the industrial group,
Terman says;

Only one man gives his occupation as laborer, which is 0.2 per cent
of our fathers as compared with 15.0 per cent of the general popu-
lation classified as laborer in the census report. Accordingly, fathers
of gifted children yield only one seventy-seventh of their quota for
this class. The man referred to was a farmer who had moved to

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Berkeley and taken a position as laborer at the University of Cali-
fornia in order that his children might attend college. 1

It is a significant fact that, though the professional
classes produced 31.4 per cent of the gifted children
studied by Terman, the ratio is not so great as that found
in the investigations of the ancestry of adult geniuses,
where the figure consistently hovers around 50 per cent.
This discrepancy is an indication that the mortality
among promising children is much less in professional
families than in the families of labor. A gifted child Jx>rn
to jaJarWy^fe~imi^ than a gifted childjxxra

to a laborer to have the wayntoTat^^emine^e made
smooth for ^EfioT'Oire "of the^Tesjf6nsTBiir?ies^of a demo-
cratic'" educational system is to salvage its vitally im-
portant intellectual resources in the persons of these
children who, though possessed of great mental ability,
are kept from developing and utilizing it by insurmount-
able environmental obstacles.

1 Ibid., p. 63.

CHAPTER III
THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

1. Does environment modify intellectual capacity?

2. Is any environment ever wholly good or bad in itself?

3. What do studies of twins indicate concern ing the relative
potency of heredity and environment?

Iu any discussion of the role of environment in the
determination of the mental capacity of an individual,
it should be kept in mind that the issue involved is never
whether heredity or environment is all-powerful; the
question is always one of the relative contribution of
each. The forces of heredity and environment are so
interwoven, so interdependent, as to make their sepa-
ration, as impossible as unscrambling an egg.

When a child is born into the world, heredity has
determined that he shall be a human being, not a chim-
panzee an obvious fact, but one that immediately
places limits upon the possibilities of environmental
influences. As a normal human being, he has legs and
arms, ears with which to hear, and eyes with which to see.
He has inherited his sex and the color of his skin and hair.
Heredity has predisposed him to be tall or short, fat or
slim, strong or weak. It has equipped him with the
capacity to love, to fear, and to be angry. It has marked
the limits of his intellectual powers. However, born a
human being, the child's body may be so twisted and
warped by disease that it loses much of its human shape;
inheriting arms and legs, he may lose them in an auto-
mobile accident or in a man-made war; given ears to
hear with, disasters within his environment may deprive

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

him of his hearing; given eyes to see with, much reading
and study may weaken an ability which heredity had
intended to be strong; inheriting a white skin, jaundice
may make it yellow, or working in the sun, brown, or
illness and confinement, gray; inheriting great intellec-
tual capacity, an unsatisfactory home life or inadequate
schooling may effectively prevent him from realizing his
possibilities. Heredity, in the form of the nature of the
physical mechanism which he possesses, has set the
limits to his capacities, but the environment in which
that mechanism functions modifies the course along
which, and the extent to which, those capacities will be
developed.

Who can say which is more valuable: the innate
ability to make sounds or the developed ability to use a
language; the innate capacity to master mathematics,
or the developed power to handle figures in everyday life
situations. The teacher, unable to endow a child with
great mental capacity, should devote her energies to
teaching the child how to use whatever mental capacity
he may have inherited. Giving the mind something to
work with is as important as creating the mind.

A second fact to be considered in any discussion of the
relative potency of heredity and environment is that
environment can never be considered by itself alone but
must always be interpreted in terms of its interaction
with the individual concerned. It should be a truism that,
what is good environment for one child may be bad
environment for another. If this statement is accepted,
it follows that there is no such thing as a controlled envi-
ronment which can be depended upon to bring posi-
tive results to all. Moreover, a particular environment
is not constant, in any absolute sense, fpr the. same
individual, but affects him differently as he fluctuates in
his responses.

36 '

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

It is, then, impossible to say what constitutes a good
environment for those who are intellectually gifted. It
may be that a relatively poor home would, for certain
children, provide a more suitable atmosphere in which to
grow toward adult eminence than would a wealthy,
cultured home. There are many ways in which the poor
home might furnish impetus. For instance, it might pro-
vide the economic drive which has actuated the success of
many individuals; or it might provide a background of
understanding of the needs of the common people a
solid foundation upon which to build a life of achieve-
ment; or it might, because of an intense hatred of it,
force the individual to great effort to overcome what were
for him the handicaps of childhood. Probably no one
would, if he could, consciously assign gifted children to an
early life of poverty, but it is, nevertheless, a fact that
many children born on a low socioeconomic level owe
their later eminence partly to that fact.

There have been a number of scientific investigations
into the relative potency of heredity and environment.
These are important, not because they succeed in proving
that one or the other is the sole cause of the child's
mental capacity nor because they can give the exact
percentage of contribution of each, though some research
workers claim to have thus neatly solved the problem.
These studies are, in the main, descriptive and are
important primarily for the light which they throw upon
the complex interaction of heredity and environment in
the production of genius.

Investigations of the hereditary and environmental
sources of mental capacity have followed four lines of
attack: (1) the transmission of subnormal intelligence
from parent to child; (2) the transmission of high
intellectual capacity from parent to child; (3) the
extent of similarity in mental traits between twins; (4)

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

the constancy of intellectual status under changing
environment.

TRANSMISSION OF MENTAL INFERIORITY

It has been definitely proved that feeble-mindedness
runs in families. A leading authority in this field, Tred-
gold, says that a defective germ plasm is responsible for
80 per cent of all feeble-minded individuals. Percentages
suggested by other investigators hover about that
figure. For instance, Kuhlmann sets it at 75 per cent,
while Leta Hollingworth places it at 90 per cent. There is
little justification for accepting these percentages as
anything more than estimates.

Genealogical studies, like those of Goddard, show
that the majority of subnormal children are born that
way. It may be, however, that prenatal influences, which
are, of course, environmental, have affected the men-
tality of the developing embryo. Concerning such in-
fluences little is known. There is, too, the question of the
importance of the impact upon the infant of the presence
in his family of other feeble-minded individuals and of the
depressing effect upon him of the low socioeconomic
status which is typical of the group possessing subnormal
intelligence. That this low socioeconomic status could at
most constitute merely a contributing cause becomes
obvious when the fact is recalled that there are many
feeble-minded children growing up in homes of wealth
and culture.

TRANSMISSION OF MENTAL SUPERIORITY

Data on the more important studies of the trans-
mission of mental superiority were given in Chap. II.
These data show conclusively that genius runs in
families. From this it does not follow that intellectually
gifted children will be found only in homes where the

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

parents possess superior minds. Rather it means that such
children are more likely to be found in such homes.
Obviously there are many exceptions.

Although it has been definitely proved that intel-
lectually gifted children and eminent adults tend to come
from family lines possessing a marked strain of high
mental ability, it does not follow that environment has
not played an important part. It is quite possible that
association with mentally superior individuals and direct
contact with cultural surroundings, such as excellent
home libraries, helps the child to earn a higher score on an
achievement test or on an intelligence test. This is almost
certain to be true if the child is in accord with Ms environ-
ment. It is quite possible that the favorable early sur-
roundings of those of CattelTs 885 American men of
science who came from the professional classes had a
great deal to do with their later success. Heredity had,
to be sure, set a limit to the possibilities for achievement
of the hundreds of thousands of boys born at the same
time as were these children, who later became eminent
in the field of science. Environment, however, in the
guise of health, money, and opportunity, certainly
modified the course which these children followed as
they grew into manhood. Unquestionably there were
many who, though having mental powers equal to those
who actually attained eminence in science, were never
heard of either because of an unfriendly environment
or because of the possession of traits which were non-
complementary to intellectual capacity.

MENTAL SIMILARITY OF TWINS

The question of likenesses between twins, always an
interesting one to the layman, has become even more
appealing siixce the birth of the Dionne quintuplets. The
general public has followed the development of these five

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

girls with avid curiosity. Concerning the mental ability
of the quintuplets, the orthodox psychologist would
expect two things : first, that, considering their hereditary
background and in spite of their seemingly favorable
environment, they would possess average or less-than-
average intelligence; second, that, being of multiple
birth and especially since there is a probability that
they are identical, they would be approximately equal in
mental power. A recent report by William E. Blatz,
Professor of Child Psychology at the University of
Toronto, fulfills these expectations.

Language development is the best single indication of
intellectual capacity in the young child. Professor Blatz 1
points out in his book, "The Five Sisters/' that in this
ability all five girls are retarded. At the age of two years
each of the quintuplets had a vocabulary of less than ten
words, a number which is typical for the average child of
eighteen months. At three years of age each child had a
vocabulary of approximately 110 words. This is some-
what less than the typical vocabulary of the average
child of two years. Professor Blatz, who gives his readers
the impression of striving to present the quintuplets in
the best possible light, offers as one contributing cause
of this observed retardation the fact that the quintuplets
were born two months prematurely. He also suggests
that, since there were so many of them all of the same
age, they did not find the use of language important,
relying rather upon gestures. The first of these reasons
is a plausible one; it does take from three to five years for
a child born prematurely to overcome this handicap in
time. The second observation by Professor Blatz appears
to have less foundation. To be sure, the need for talking
and the desire to talk have a direct effect upon the size of

1 BLATZ, W. E., "The Five Sisters," pp. 34-37, William Morrow &
Company, Inc., New York, 1938.

THE HOLE OF ENVIRONMENT

a child's vocabulary, but it is difficult to believe tliat this
urge would necessarily be less with quintuplets than it
would be with an only child.

Although the Dionne quintuplets are not intellectually
gifted children, a statement of the results of Blatz's in-
vestigation of the mental capacity of the group at the age
of three years throws light upon the heredity-environ-
ment question and so is pertinent to our present dis-
cussion. Blatz measured four aspects of the development
of these children: language, motor, adaptive, and per-
sonal-social. From the data gathered, he concludes: 1

If we were to combine the score on all four divisions, we would then
get a composite picture of the mental development of the child.
When we do this for the quintuplets, we find that although they
start out below the standard for their age, they are gradually creeping
up. The expectation is that in due course their performance will
approximate that of the average child. . . . The chart shows the
order in which the children are placed from the llth to the 35th
month, with Yvonne at the top, Cecile and Annette about equal,
Emilie next, and Marie last. This relationship is remarkably like that
which will be described from the analysis of their physical character-
istics, with Cecile in the center, Marie and Yvonne at opposite poles,
Emilie more like Marie and Annette more like Yvonne. This may
suggest that the fundamental basis of intelligence is structural and
that the degree of intelligence, however difficult it is to determine, is
an inherited characteristic.

Blatz then goes on to say:

Also it must be pointed out that the differences in the behavior of
these children on various tests are relatively slight, but that these
differences are fairly constant, as illustrated in the rank-order chart,
which shows that Yvonne throughout the whole period of testing
was first and Marie last and Emilie consistently fourth, with Annette
and Cecile interchanging.

There have been a number of studies made of twins.
These agree that twins are more alike in every way,

W., pp. 42-44.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

including mentality, than are unrelated children and
that identical 1 twins are much more alike than fraternal
twins. Heredity is presumably the cause of this greater
similarity. However, as Carter 2 points out, it may be
that, actually, nurture influences are somewhat more
alike for identical than for fraternal twins, their identical
inheritance making them more congenial, more inter-
ested in the same things. But even identical twins do
not have identical environments, although their similiar
organisms do result in a likelihood of their reacting
in much ihe same manner to similarly selected sets of
stimuli.

The question of what happens when identical twins
are reared apart has challenged the attention of investi-
gators. If such twins have been brought up in widely
differing environments and yet are found to be more
alike than unrelated individuals, heredity would appear
to be more potent than environment. If, on the other
hand, such twins after a period of years are found to
be markedly divergent in intellectual capacity, then it
would appear that environment appreciably depresses
or increases one's intellectual level.

Newman, * Freeman, and Holzinger studied nineteen
pairs of identical twins reared in separate homes. These
investigators found that identical twins reared apart
differed somewhat more than do twins reared together.
In one case a difference of 15 points in I.Q. was noticed.
In general, however, it was found that the twins reared

1 Identical or monozygotic twins are those which develop from the
same fertilized egg cell; fraternal or dizygotic twins develop from two
fertilized egg cells.

2 CABTER, H. D., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for
the Study of Education," Part 1, p. 308, 1940.

8 NEWMAN, H. H., F. N. FREEMAN, and K. J. HOLZINGER, "Twins:
A Study of Heredity and Environment," University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, 1937.

4:2

THE ROLE OF ENTIBONMEXT

apart were amazingly alike in spite of wide differences in
environment.

Carter, 1 in summarizing the results of studies of
twins during the past ten years, says :

The whole array of twin-studies seems to suggest, to the writer
at least, the futility and artificialty of the idea of untangling nature
and nurture influences in the sense of ascertaining the percentage
contributions of each in any general sense. The view that the idea of
percentage contributions can have meaning only for specific mental
traits, regarded under rather specific environmental conditions, seems
to be implicit in much of the literature. The literature suggests that
the hereditary determiners have a more pervasive influence than was
heretofore believed; every increase in the body of data brings more
evidence of hereditary influence. At the same time, the data indicate
that further elucidation of the problems of operation of these heredi-
tary factors is to be sought in study of the environment . . . The
data show one thing clearly, that drastic differences in the educational
and social environment are sometimes associated with moderate
differences in the IQ's of identical twins reared apart. That only this
can be said should bring caution into the writings of the most ardent
environmentalists.

EFFECT OF CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

A fourth method of studying the relative contributions
of heredity and environment is to observe changes in
children taken from one environment and placed in
another. At the time the change is made the intelligence
of the children is either measured by actual tests or
estimated on the basis of the known socioeconomic
status of the parents. If, after a period of years in the
new environment, a reliable change in mental level is
observed, environment, since it has been definitely
altered, can be pointed to as the cause of the change.
Although no one of the following investigations is imme-
diately concerned with intellectually gifted children,
each does throw light upon the question as to whether or

1 CABTBK, op. rit., pp. 248-249.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

not genius can be created by education or by excellent
home surroundings.

Barbara Burks studied 214 foster children who were
placed in their new homes before they were one year of
age. These foster homes represented a much higher social
level than did those from which the children came. At the
time the follow-up study was made, the children ranged
in chronological age from five to fourteen. Miss Burks 1
arrives at the following conclusions: first, home environ-
ment can produce about 17 per cent of the variance in
I.Q. ; second, the total contribution of heredity is prob-
ably not far from 75 to 80 per cent; third, measurable
environment one standard deviation above or below the
mean of the population does not shift the I.Q. by more
than six to nine points above or below the value it would
have had under normal environmental conditions. In
other words, nearly 70 per cent of school children have an
actual I.Q. within six to nine points of that represented
by their intelligence.

Freeman, 2 worked with 671 children. The results of his
three most significant investigations, out of the many
that were made, follow.

One hundred and twenty-five pairs of siblings were
tested when they had reached an average age of 12
years 8 months, after having been, separated from four to
thirteen years. The. test indicated a correlation in
intelligence between these siblings of .34, somewhat
lower than the .50 which is usually found for siblings
reared together in the same home.

Seventy-four children of an average chronological age
of eight years were given a Stanford-Binet intelligence

1 BURKS, B,, "Twenty-seventh. Yearbook of the National Society for
the Study of Education," Part I, p. 308, 1928.

2 FREEMAN, F. N., "Twenty-seventh Year Book of the National
Society for the Study of Education," Part I, Chap. IX, 1928.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

test and then placed in superior foster homes. When these
children had attained an average age of 12 years 2
months, they were retested. The average I.Q. of the
first test was 91.2 and of the retest 93.7, indicating a gain
of 2.5. Freeman, correcting the scores for age, publishes
a difference between the mean LQ.'s of 7.5.

Forty homes, in which there were both foster children
and own children, were selected for study. It was found
that the average I.Q. of the foster children was 95. 1
1.7, and for own children 112.4 1.6. More complete
data appear in Table III.

TABLE III. COMPARISON OF PERIODS OF HOME INFLUENCE*

Child

Mean age entered
home

Mean age at test

Mean time in home

Qw'-ti . . . . .

Birth

10 years 3 months

Foster

4 years 8 months

11 years 5 months

6 years 9 months

* FEEEMAN, P. N., " Twenty-seventh Year Book of the National Society for the Study
of Education," Part I, p. 137, 1928.

Freeman concludes from his studies that an improve-
ment in- environment produces a gain in intelligence.

Influence of Nursery School Attendance

A considerable majority of the investigations reported
on in the 1940 Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education arrive at the conclusion that nursery
school attendance or superior environment in the guise
of excellent schools has little effect upon the intellectual
status of the individual. For example, Reymert 1 and
Hinton studied the case histories of 100 children who
had been in the superior environment of Mooseheart
for four years. These writers report that a comparison

1 REYMEBT, M. L., and R. T. KENT-TON, " Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the
National Society for the Study of Education," Part II, p. 266, 1940.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

of the entrance test scores of these children with the
scores earned each succeeding year showed no significant

gains in I.Q.

Goodenough and Maurer, in an excellent study of
nursery school children at the Institute of Child Welfare,
University of Minnesota, find no appreciable difference in
the LQ. changes between those children who had nursery
school training and those who did not. Data on the
changes which occurred during the interval between the
first testing and a fourth, three years later, appear in
Table IV.

TABLE IV. CHANGES m MEAN I.Q. ON THE MINNESOTA PRESCHOOL

TEST APTEB THREE YEAES OF NTOSERY-SCHOOL TRAINING COM-

PAEED WITH CHANGES IN NON-NURSERY-SCHOOL CHILDREN

AFTER AN INTERVAL OP THREE YEARS*

Occupational group t

Nursery

Non-nursery

Cases
Test 1
Test 4

5
105.5
121.5

5
113.5
124.5

n, in

Cases
Test 1
Test 4

$
109.5
112.5

8
105.6
106.9

IV, V, VI

Cases
Test 1
Test 4

117.5
110.8

2
125.0
122.5

Total, I to VI

Cases
Test 1

13
109.8

15
110.8

Test 4

115.6

114.8

* GOODBNOUGH, F. &., and K. M. MAUHBB, "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National
Society for the Study of Education," Part II, p. 171, 1940.
t Group I. Professional.

Group II. Semiprofessional and managerial.

Group III. Betail business, clerical, and skilled trades.

Group IV. Semiskilled trades and minor clerical.

Group V. Sightly skilled trades.

Group VI. Unskilled occupations. Day labor.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

In a summarizing comment Goodenough 1 and Maurer

say,

None of the analyses that we have been able to make warrant the
conclusion that attendance at the University of Minnesota Nursery
School has any measurable effect whatever upon the mental develop-
ment of children. Those who have had this training do no better on
standardized intelligence tests than those who have not had it; they
are neither more nor less advanced in school, and those who have
attended longest and most regularly do not excel those whose period
of enrollment was short and broken by frequent absences.

Hildreth, in a report on the records of 54 children
who had been adopted into superior homes and who had
been given superior educational opportunities, including
attendance at Lincoln School in New York, found that
this superior environment had not succeeded in lifting
the children above the average for the general popula-
tion. The average LQ. of this group was found to be
103.3 while for the general Lincoln School population
it was 120.3. Hildreth 2 concludes with the statement,

From the results of this study we may conclude that adopted
children in a gifted school population tend to rate on intelligence tests
more like the general country-wide population in mental ability than
like the general population in the selected school population. So far as
our records go, there is little evidence that attendance at such a
school raises the average ability of these adopted children much above
the general population level, or that continued attendance in the
school is accompanied by an increase in intelligence as measured by
individual tests.

Starkweather 3 and Roberts, on the other hand, report
an increase in LQ. as a result of nursery school training.

., p. 76.

2 HILDRETH, G., "Thiriy-iunth Yearbook of the National Society for
the Study of Education," Part II, p. 184, 1940.

3 STARKWEATHER, E. K., and K. E. ROBERTS, "Thirty-ninth Yearbook
of the National Society for the Study of Education," Part II, p. 335,
1940.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

In their investigation 107 nursery school children were
given the Merrill-Palmer intelligence tests and 103
children were given the Stanford-Binet intelligence
tests upon entrance into the Merrill-Palmer Nursery
School. These children were reexamined on the same
tests after an interval of from 6 to 40 months. The
authors found that :

1. Children attending the Merrill-Palmer Nursery School gain in
I.Q. and percentile as measured by Stanford-Binet and Merrill-
Palmer retests.

2. An inverse relationship exists between initial I.Q. or initial
percentile levels and I.Q. gains or percentile gains.

3. Varying lengths of nursery-school attendance show no relation-
ship to I.Q. or to percentile changes.

The Iowa Studies

At the time of this writing a series of studies of the
effect of a changed environment upon the I.Q. is being
conducted at the University of Iowa. Preliminary reports
indicate an amazing increase on intelligence-test ratings
by children who have come under the influence of good
foster homes or of excellent preschool educational train-
ing. The mean increase found for certain groups is
much greater than that ever reported elsewhere in psy-
chological literature. An example of this is the thirty-
point rise observed by Skeels.

Skeels 1 presents data on seventy-three children, sixty-
five of whom were illegitimate and were placed in foster
homes before they were six months of age. Thirty-nine
of the seventy-three own mothers were measured for
intelligence; the test scores indicated an average I.Q. of
83.8 with a standard deviation of 12.3. Only 10 per cent
had LQ.'s above 100, while 38 per cent had I.Q.'s below

1 SKEELS, H. M., Mental Development of Children in Foster Homes,
J. Genet. Psychol Vol. 49, pp. 91-106, 1936.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

80. It was impossible to test the own fathers for intelli-
gence, but their occupational status indicated an intellec-
tual level approximating that of the own mothers. Forty-
six per cent were day laborers and only 13 per cent were
above the semiskilled group. Moreover, a large number
of them had been on relief for some time.

At the time the children were examined with the
Stanford-Binet tests, their average chronological age
was 24.4 months with a standard deviation of 14.2
months. Their mean length of residence in foster homes
was 21.9 months. Based on the known intelligence of the
mothers and the estimated intelligence of the fathers,
the expected mean I.Q. of these children would be about
85; yet Skeels found it to be 115.3. Every child but one
was found to be of average intelligence or better. Their
intellectual level was superior even to that of their
foster parents.

Other studies at Iowa of the effects of a changed
environment on the I.Q. offer conclusions in keeping with
those presented in the Skeels article. For instance, Beth
Wellman 1 publishes data showing that children attending
the preschool laboratories at the University of Iowa
make substantial and significant gains in I.Q. Moreover,
she points out that under the favorable environment in
which experimental classes are conducted, the dull
children gain more and the bright children less than do
those of average ability. 2 In other words, there is a
slight tendency to reduce the spread in intelligence.

Wellman 3 summarizes the main points of the pub-
lished and unpublished studies made at the Iowa Child

1 WELLMAN, B. L., The Effect of Pre-school Attendance on the IQ,
J. Exper. Educ., Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 48-69.

2 WELLMAN, B. L., Growth in Intelligence under Differing School
Environments, /. Exper. Educ., vol. 3, No. 2, December, 1934.

* WELLMAN, B. L., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society
for the Study of Education," Part II, p. 397, 1940.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Welfare Research Station on changes in intelligence
associated with conditions of schooling as follows :

1. Mental Growth during the Preschool Years

1. The principal gains in IQ were made during preschool attendance
and not during non-attendance.

2. The gains were cumulative over the first two years of preschool
attendance.

3. Non-preschool children did not gain.

4. Correlations between number of days 7 attendance during one
preschool year and change in IQ approached zero.

5. Cultural status of parents did not account for the changes in IQ.

6. An appropriate educational program appeared to affect the IQ
change of very superior children.

7. Gains from preschool attendance appeared to be reflected in
school achievement.

8. Decreases in IQ were made by non-preschool children in an
orphanage.

9. Practice effects do not account for the changes.

10. Coaching does not account for the gains.

11. Tests at the preschool ages are fairly reliable and valid.

2. Mental Growth during the Elementary-school Years

1. The pattern of change varied with different elementary schools.

2. Gains were made in the University School by non-preschool
children; slightly less gain by preschool children.

3. The peak of gain was reached in two years.

4. Practice effects do not account for the gains.

3. Mental Growth from Preschool to High School and College

1. High-school intelligence-test scores were related to length of
attendance in the University Schools.

2. Preschool children made higher scores on the high-school test
than did non-preschool children.

3. College-entrance examination scores were related to length, of
attendance in the University Schools.

4. Preschool children made higher scores on the college-entrance
examination than did non-preschool children.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

Criticisms by psychologists of the Iowa studies have
been sharp. Leta Hollingworth 1 points out that Wellman
"does not discuss these limitations of tests made at
Iowa on preschool children. She does not take into
consideration that tests standardized for preschool
children are always brought out on less than a random
sample. She uncritically accepts tests developed years
ago for preschool ages as being tests standardized on the
same samples of population as those now used during
school years, which is not the case. Again, Wellman
never considers the influence of negativism at all."

Terman, 2 in an even more pointed criticism of the
Iowa Studies, says, "The reader cannot fail to be
impressed by the number of variables left uncontrolled
in these investigations, by the faulty statistics employed,
and even more by the extraordinary discrepancies
between data presented and the conclusions drawn."

It is too early to adequately evaluate the Iowa Studies.
They must be continued for a number of years before
well-founded conclusions can be drawn. It is interesting
to note that even the Iowa workers, 3 although stressing
the contributions which environment can make, admit
that "the child can only be what he could have become."
Stoddard and Wellman go on to say that "the lowa-
Binet theory of intelligence simply permits a large
amount of change in a child's brightness through
environmental impingements on the organism." 4

Undoubtedly it is possible through education to do
a great deal more in the matter of developing intellect

1 HOLLINGWOETH, L. S., "Thirty-ninth. Yearbook of the National
Society for the Study of Education," Part I, p. 452, 1940.

2 TERMAN, L. M., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for
the Study of Education," Part I, p. 461, 1940.

3 STODDABD, G. D., and B. L. WELLMAN, "Thirty-nintt Yearbook of
the National Society for the Study of Education," Part I, p. 431, 1940.

4 Ibid., p. 436.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

than has been done in the past. A child may possess great
potentialities but he needs the right training and the
right physical, mental, and emotional environment if
he is to achieve on the level for which his inheritance
equipped him.

CONCLUSIONS

It is an accepted fact, then, that an improved environ-
ment will be likely to effect a positive change in a score
on an intelligence test. All studies, except those recently
coming from Iowa, indicate, however, that this change
is small. It is usually greater with preschool children
than with school children. The fact that such changes
do occur by no means proves that there has also occurred
an actual change in the relative status of the mental
capacity of the child. The LQ. does not express the exact
limits of a child's ability. It is, rather, the closest approxi-
mation that it is possible to obtain. As Terman 1 says :

An obtained IQ is not only subject to chance errors resulting from
inadequate samplings of abilities, but also to numerous constant
errors, including practice effects, negativism or shyness, the personal
equation of the examiner, and standardization errors in the test used.
For these reasons an obtained IQ should never be taken as a final
verdict, but only as a point of departure for further investigation of a
subject.

The task of teachers, and it is a very important one,
is to help the child to do as well as he can. This principle
applies to the intellectually gifted pupil as well as to
those who are of average or subnormal mentality. There
is a possibility that even at the University of Iowa the
gifted child is not receiving the right kind of stimulation
in sufficient amount, and that this is the reason why his

1 TEBMANT, L. M., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for
the Study of Education," Part I, p. 466, 1940.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

I.Q. shows a less marked increase than that of the aver-
age and below-average child.

The studies reported in this chapter and in the one
preceding add weight to the assertion that heredity and
environment are interdependent. Every environmental
situation must be interpreted in terms of the individual
reacting to it, and his reaction will, in turn, be determined
by the nature of his inherited bodily mechanism and
of his earlier experiences.

CHAPTER IV
PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

1. What is the relationship between physical size and intellect?

2. Do gifted children excel in athletic activities?

3. Are geniuses likely to be mentally unbalanced?

There are a number of generally held misconceptions
concerning the physical characteristics and motor abili-
ties of mentally superior children and adults. An exam-
ination of a few of these, together with an attempt to
explain why they are so insistently held even by well-
informed people, should contribute toward a better
understanding of the causes which have created a picture
of the genius so at variance with the facts. In this picture
he appears as undersized, with narrow, stooping shoul-
ders, but with a large head and high forehead. He is
especially if a girl homely and likely to possess at least
one feature which is sufficiently out of proportion and
peculiar to make him appear ludicrous. He is weak
and inept in handling himself. He is poor in penmanship
and art work, slow and awkward in manual training, and,
of course, nonathletic.

REASONS FOE BELIEF IN INFEKIOK PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT

Data gathered in scientific investigations will b$
presented later in this chapter to show that actually the
typical gifted child is not at all a slight, poorly coordi-
nated, or in any way incongruous individual. Then why
do most people honestly believe him to be so? There are
four fundamental reasons, and at least two of them are so

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

deeply rooted in human nature that to extirpate them is
impossible. The four are as follows: first, overlooking
the chronological- and mental-age factors; second, gen-
eralizing from too few instances; third, desiring to believe
in a law of compensation; fourth, envy.

Chronological- and Mental-age Factors

The inability of others to keep his age in mind, has
always handicapped the bright child and probably will
continue to do so. For instance, there is the case of the
boy with an I.Q. of 160 who entered the second grade in
a large private school at the age of six. For weeks he
underwent a barrage of criticism from teachers and
classmates alike because he could not handle sweaters
and buttons with the same facility as the other children
in his grade. No one, not even his well-trained teachers,
took cognizance of the fact that he was the youngest
child in his class, the average age being something more
than a year greater than his. It was especially easy to
make this mistake since the boy, though the youngest,
was also the largest, with respect to both height and
weight. In this case, discrepancy between size and
chronological age also added to the difficulty, for the
child was expected, though only six, to do as well as or
even better than his seven-year-old classmates since he
appeared to be eight.

The correlation between physical size and motor
coordination is far from perfect. The child who at four
is as large as the average seven-year-old is not likely to
handle himself so well as one aged seven who is in size
typical of his age group. A more clear-cut example would
be a comparison of a 6-foot adolescent with a 6-foot man
in his middle twenties. Though similar in height and
weight the chances would be all against the boy's being
equal to the man in bodily control.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

The brightest in a class is also likely to be the youngest.
With that fact in mind it is easy to see why, when the
valedictorian of a high school graduating class stands
before his audience to deliver the valedictory speech, his
listeners should note how small he appears among his
classmates. It is but a step from that observation to the
conclusion that all bright children are undersized. The
boy's listeners have completely overlooked the fact that
he is only sixteen while the average age of the adolescents
around him is eighteen. Give him two more years in
which to grow and he will quite surely be as large as if
not slightly larger than they.

It is equally easy to overlook the importance of the
mental-age factor in evaluating the physical character-
istics of a gifted child. High mentality carries with it
an ability for self-criticism and for properly evaluating
the various school activities which is far in advance of
that possessed by children of similar age but of average
mentality. This critical capacity often leads a superior
child to concentrate on those things which he can do
well and which he feels are important. If he is poor in
penmanship and there is a slight negative correlation
between intelligence and hand-writing the cause is not
likely to be a deficiency in coordination but rather a
realization by the child that excellent penmanship is
merely a grace note in this day of dictaphones and type-
writers. If he is not on the football team, the reason may
not lie in an inability to play football but rather in his
desire to devote his energy to preparing for a profession.
If he is slow in manual training, it may not be because
of an innate awkwardness, but because his mind' is
occupied with some intellectual problem.

The gifted child is always "old for his age." This fact
should never be overlooked in passing judgment on
his qualities ? physical or otherwise.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

Hasty Generalizations

A second cause of the illusion concerning the physical
characteristics of mentally superior children is the
universal tendency to generalize from too few instances
and to permit such generalizations to be influenced by
wishful thinking. If it seems reasonable that a genius
should have an extremely large head and a very high
forehead, then it is natural to look for three or four
examples in support of that theory. The final step is to
generalize from these instances to a conclusion which is
identical with the belief held before the cases were
selected. If it seems reasonable that a man who has read
many books should be a physical weakling, then it is not
hard to remember sickly or even bedridden intellectual
giants. As a high school student the author was given the
impression by his English teacher that Robert Louis
Stevenson was a great writer because he was an invalid.

This kind of reasoning is by no means limited to prob-
lems relating to genius. It is a limitation coin in on to all
men everywhere and works havoc to their thinking in
any field.

Theory of Compensation

Most individuals possess the urge to endow the strong
with compensating weaknesses and the weak with com-
pensating powers. This desire has resulted in such widely
held convictions as: morons and other feeble-minded
individuals possess great strength; beautiful moving-
picture actresses are of low mentality -and of lower
morals; those who are gifted in the arts are extremely
eccentric if not actually insane; the beautiful child will
develop into an unprepossessing adult; the rapid learner
forgets quickly and, conversely, the slow learner retains
well; the rich are blackguards and the poor, honest men;

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

a slow worker is painstaking and a fast worker careless;
the good die young; the very bright child will grow into
an average or below-average adult, and the average or
dull child will be the successful man of tomorrow; a
genius is also a fool.

This fundamental motivation of innumerable widely
held beliefs has exerted a considerable influence upon the
prevalent opinion concerning the physical characteristics
of intellectually gifted children. If, so the reasoning goes,
the child has a superior mind, it is no more than right
that he should have an inferior body. If he can read
better, handle figures with greater facility, knows more
geography and history than his classmates, and can
discuss with an understanding far beyond his years
problems of national and international importance, then
surely he must possess startling weaknesses which will
reduce Him to human proportions in the eyes of his
fellows. Thus, if he happens to be small, or sickly, or
homely, or lacking in social graces, the fact is noted with
certain satisfaction.

To the credit of mankind it should be pointed out that
people are equally eager to supply the dull child with
gifts. Their insistence on believing in compensation is,
actually, a manifestation of essential kindness.

Envy

Another source of the illusion concerning precocious
children is one not nearly so complimentary to human
nature as the desire to believe in compensation. It is
envy. The bright child will, from infancy on, find this
feeling in the attitude of others toward him. To vitiate
its effectiveness he must possess and make use of more
charm and patience and understanding than will ever be
required of his less gifted fellows. Again and again envy
will cause individuals to point out and to emphasize his

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

faults. Envy will color not only the attitude of casual
acquaintances but also that of his teachers, his playmates,
his brothers and sisters, and even his own parents. Envy
has helped to create, and will help to perpetuate, a false
picture of him.

PHYSICAL CHAEACTEEISTICS

Since the early work of Galton, there have been a
number of studies of the physical characteristics of
intellectually gifted children and adults. There follows a
presentation of the results of several significant investiga-
tions. It will be seen from them that the true picture of
the physical equipment of mentally superior individuals
is much different from that which takes its form from the
four sources just discussed.

Height and Weight

Galton, as a result of his pioneer studies in the nine-
teenth century, concluded that there was a marked
relationship between height or weight and intellect. He 1

says:

There is a prevelant belief that men of genius are unhealthy, puny
beings all brain and no muscle weak-sighted, and generally of
poor constitutions. I think most of my readers would be surprised at
the stature and physical frames of the heroes of history, who fill my
pages, if they could be assembled together in a hall, ... I do not
deny that many men of extraordinary mental gifts have had wretched
constitutions, but deny them to be an essential or even the usual
accompaniment. , . . It is the second and third rate students who
are usually weakly. A collection of living magnates in various
branches of intellectual achievement is always a feast to my eyes;
being, as they are, such massive, vigorous, capable-looking animals.

Later investigations have indicated that Galton some-
what overstated Ms case, but they have corroborated his

1 GALTON, F., "Hereditary Genius," p. 321, Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,
London, 1869; reprinted 1925.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

assertion that a positive correlation does exist between
physique and intellect, though that correlation is very
low. Paterson, 1 after a critical evaluation of all the more
important studies of height and weight in relation to
intellect, concludes as follows:

We may summarize the general trend of this critical review of the
studies on the relation between height and weight and intelligence in
normal children by stating that a slight positive correlation seems
to exist between stature or weight and intelligence. The emphasis can
be on either of two points : on the one hand, we would emphasize the
fact that relationship, even though slight, is positive; on the other
hand ... it is important to emphasize the fact that physical status
and mental status are to a great extent independent of one another.

In terms of coefficients of correlation the relationship
between height or weight and intelligence is approxi-
mately 0.15. Some studies have resulted in a higher figure
and others in a lower, but this is typical. For example,
Murdock and Sullivan 2 selected data on the height,
weight, and intelligence of nearly 600 children in Hono-
lulu who were of old American, British, German, or
Scandinavian descent, making, as Paterson points out, a
fairly homogeneous race group. The mental measure-
ments were made by Catherine Murdock, a school
psychologist, and the physical measurements by L. R.
Sullivan, an anthropologist representing the American
Museum of Natural History in New York. They reported
a Pearson r of .16 .03 between weight and I.Q. for
595 children and a Pearson r of .14 .03 between height
and I.Q. for 597 children. These correlations are not high,
but they become extremely significant when viewed in

1 PATERSON, D. G., "Physique and Intellect," pp. 51-52, D. Appleton-
Century Company, Inc., New York, 1930,

2 MURDOCK, C., and L. H. SULLIVAN, A Contribution to the Study of
Mental and Physical Measurements in Normal Children, Amer. Phys.
Educ. Rev., Vol. 28, pp. 209-215, 276-280, 328-330, 1923.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

the light of the generally held belief in the existence of a
negative relationship between intellect and physical size.
They indicate that a typical intellectually gifted child
will be somewhat taller and weigh somewhat more than
a typical child of average mentality, who in turn will be
taller and weigh more than the typical child of low
mentality.

TABLE V. TABULATION SHOWING How HEIGHT (IN INCHES) Is DIS-
TRIBUTED AMONG THREE GROUPS OF CHJLDEEN, NINE TO
ELEVEN YEAES OLD

Inches

Group A,
LQ. above 135,
(median LQ.
of 151)

Group B,
LQ. 90-110
(median LQ.
of 100)

Group C,
LQ. below 65
(median LQ.
of 43)

56 .

% 8

. .

f m

, f

. .

. ,

. .

40
Total

* Adapted from HOLXINGWOBTH, Li S., "Gifted Children,*' p. 80, The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1926.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Supporting the preceding statement are the results of a
study made by Hollingworth and Taylor who matched
each of a group of forty-five intellectually gifted children,
ranging in intelligence from 135 I.Q. to 190 I.Q., with a
child rating between 90 I.Q. and 110 I.Q. and with
another belonging in the feeble-minded group. Age, race,
and sex were kept constant. The data concerning height
appear in Table V and for weight in Table VI.

The measurements in Table V when reduced to
averages show that the medium height of the gifted was
52.9 inches, that of the average 51.2 inches, and that of
the feeble-minded 49.6 inches. Corresponding results with
respect to weight appear in Table VI.
TABLE VI. TABULATION SHOWING How WEIGHT (IN POUNDS) Is Dis-

TEIBUTED AMONG THREE GROUPS OF CHILDREN, NlNE TO ELEVEN

YEARS OLD*

Group A, I.Q. above

Group B, I.Q. 90-

Group C, I.Q. below

Pounds

135 (median I.Q.

100 (median I.Q.

65 (median I.Q.

151)

100)

43)

115-110

110-105

105-110

100- 95

95- 90

90- 85

85- 80

80- 75

75- 70

70- 65

65- 60

60- 55

55- 50

50- 45

45- 40

Total

* Adapted from HOLLINGWOBTH, "Gifted Children," p. 84.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

A TL S. Public Health. Report contains statistics on
the relative height and weight of children on different
intellectual levels. The groups compared are not sharply

TABLE VII. AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS or STANDING HEIGHT AND

WEIGHT FOB THREE GROUPS OF CHZLDKEN CLASSIFIED ACCORDING

TO I.Q., SEX, AND AGE*

Age

Boys, I.Q.

Girls, I.Q.

Under 90

90-110

110 up

Under 90

90-110

110 up

Number

135

130

127

129

112

111

122

Height, centimeters

121.94

124.61

126.60

120.15

123.86

124.60

129.28

129.92

131 . 16

125.26

129.71

130.58

132.88

134.63

135.67

133.69

133.12

136.57

138.47

138.71

142.16

138.52

140.25

141.67

143.13

145.09

146.32

141.32

145.72

147.60

149.05

149.04

150.80

147.82

150.21

152.87

150.95

156.80

156.97

151.93

153.88

157.03

Weight, kilograms

23.63

25.35

26.18

23.08

24.33

24.36

24.48

27.69

28.53

24.24

27.34

28.26

28.66

30.15

31.23

29.61

29.56

31.41

32.39

32.31

34.96

32.25

34.79

35.15

35.14

37.43

37.48

34.43

37.34

38.70

39.21

39.70

41.03

41.77

41.58

42.83

41.31

45.54

47.13

43.31

45.02

48.07

* Adapted from U. S. Public Health Report, VoL 44, No. 29, pp. 1774-1775, July 19,
1929.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

differentiated as were the subjects in the Hollingworth-
Taylor investigation. Nevertheless, an examination of the
figures discloses an unmistakable trend to ward the greater
size of the brighter children. These differences are small
and not always present, but the tendency is significant
(see Table VII).

Gray, in a study of the undergraduate careers of a
group of children who entered Columbia and Barnard
colleges before their sixteenth birthday, gives data con-
cerning their height and weight. This group was made
up of 126 boys and 28 girls. The average age of the boys
was 15 years 6 months and of the girls 15 years 8 months,
which made them approximately three years younger
than the average college freshman, who, as Gray points
out, begins his higher education at the age of 18 years
7 months.

The height and weight of these gifted young college
students were checked against the Baldwin- Wood norms
for boys and girls of the same age and against Gray's
control group of college students of the same sex and
college year. Gray 1 reports that in the case of the boys
the young group's average deviation from the norms for
their ages was plus 1.96 points in weight and plus 0.77
inches in height; in the case of the girls, the average
deviation for the young group was plus 0.47 inches in
height and plus 2.29 pounds in weight. When the gifted
college students were compared with the control group,
the boys were found to be 1.84 inches shorter and 14
pounds lighter, and the girls 0.86 inches shorter and
8.41 pounds lighter. The reason for the difference in favor
of the control group lay in the fact that the gifted stu-

1 GBAY, H. A., "Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of Young
College Students," p. 42, Teachers College, Columbia University, New
York, 1930.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

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GENIUS IN THE MAKING

dents were more than two years younger than the control
group.

Terman, in his report on the California gifted group,
presents figures showing that mentally superior children
are superior in height and weight to unselected children.
A summary of the data gathered by Bird T. Baldwin and
his assistants appear in Table VIII.

It is a striking fact that the gifted group is inferior in
only one instance in the large number of comparisons
appearing in Table VIII. The exception is that of the
fifteen-year-old gifted boys, whose mean average weight
was 0.7 pounds less than that of the boys in the Boas-
Oakland group. In every comparison with every other
age and sex group the California gifted children were
superior. In the face of these figures it is impossible to
maintain that the typical gifted child is undersized.
Baldwin, 1 commenting on his findings with respect to
these 594 bright children, says :

Since the weight-height relationship of a child furnishes one of the
best general criteria for its physical status, the average heights and
weights for all the children included between the ages of 7 and 15 were
first computed and the results compared with those of earlier writers
on California children and on a few representative groups in other
parts of the United States. The results . . . show . . . that this
group, measured by the group average, is physically superior in both
height and weight for age, although several children are small and
some are considerably under weight. The Oakland children measured
by Barnes in 1892 are considerably inferior to this group, although
they were heavier and taller than similar groups of children from
Boston, Worcester, Toronto, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. . . . The
Oakland children later studied by Boas were superior to those studied
by Barnes, but inferior to those included in this study. The Daven-
port group represents a selection from the best residential district in
the city. The Oak Park group is from one of the most favored social
sections of Chicago. Faber's study, in 1923, was a group of California

1 TEBMAN, L. M., " Genetic Studies of Genius/' Vol. I, p. 144, 2d ed.,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

children. The California gifted children excel them all in height and
weight, for all ages included. They also excel the early Boas-Burk
averages for the country at large, when approximately 90,000 children
for height averages, and 68,000 for weight averages, between the ages
of 5> and 18% years, were included.

Constancy of Height and Weight Status

If, as Galton and others have pointed out, adult
geniuses are taller and heavier than ordinary men, and if,
as the studies reported in the preceding pages show,
intellectually gifted children are likewise taller and
heavier than children of average mentality, then it would
appear that the bright child maintains his superiority in
size as he grows to maturity. Only a few studies have
been made of the yearly increments in growth of gifted
children. One of the best of these is that by Leta
Hollingworth.

Hollingworth 1 recorded the successive measurements,
for a period of seven years, of each of a group of forty-
seven intellectually gifted children. The mean LQ. of the
group was 155, the lowest being 135. These children
ranged in age from seven to nine, at the time the study
was begun. Their heights were measured at, regular inter-
vals of twelve months from January, 1923, to January,
1929, inclusive. Each child was compared year after year
with the norm appropriate to his age, race, and sex.
A ratio was then given to indicate where the child stood
in relation to those of average intelligence,

At the time of the first measurements, Hollingworth
found that forty-one of the forty-seven children were
above their respective height norm. At the time of the
seventh and final measurements, forty-two were above

1 HOLLINGWORTH, L. S., Do Intellectually Gifted Children Grow
toward Mediocrity in Stature? J. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 37, pp. 345-350,
1930.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

and five below the appropriate norm. There were some
variations on the part of a few of the children, but in the
main they demonstrated a striking consistency in the
constancy with which they maintained their relative
positions. Professor Hollingworth took 100 as a ratio to

106

105

104

: 103

CfL

102

101
100

1929

1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928

Year

FIG. 4. Mean ratio of stature of gifted to norms for age, sex, and race over a

period of years.

indicate exact correspondence to the norm. The results,
condensed into a graph, appear in Fig. 4.

Cranial Measurements

There are a number of reasons for the mistaken
impression that an intimate relationship exists between
head size and intellect. If intellect is dependent upon the
brain, then why should it not follow that the larger the
brain the greater the intellect? Since a large brain re-
quires a large skull to encase it, then why should it not
be true that individuals with large heads are intellectual
giants? The story is told of the new village minister who
struggled, during his first two or three Sunday sermons,
to impress the man with the large head, noble forehead,
and Van Dyke beard who sat in the front pew. The

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

minister was somewhat taken aback, later, to find that
this Charles-Evans-Hnghes-like member of his congre-
gation was feeble-minded.

The fact that the most startling type in the lower
feeble-minded group is the microcephalic idiot has pro-
vided the kind of proof that is eagerly seized upon, viz.,
the spectacular and arresting instance. With the picture
of a microcephalic idiot in mind, one easily forgets the
much larger number of idiots whose head size approxi-
mates normality.

The scientists who made the first quantitative studies
of the relationship between head size and intellect
found a slight positive correlation. They made the mis-
take, however, (as Paterson points out in an excellent
chapter on cranial measurements and intelligence in his
book " Physique and Intellect") of overemphasizing the
significance of these correlations and of high-lighting
those which were considerable.

The first study of this subject was published by
Galton in 1888. He concluded that there is an appreciable
relationship between scholastic success and head size.
Murdock and Sullivan, in the study referred to earlier
in this chapter, correlated the head diameter and LQ.
of approximately six hundred children and found the
relationship to be .22 .03. Reed and Mulligan 1 corre-
lated the cranial capacity and scholastic performance of
449 male students at Aberdeen University and found a
coefficient of .08 .03. Sommerville, 2 in a study of
Columbia University students, reports a coefficient of
correlation for intelligence and head length of .10, for
intelligence and head height '.09.

1 REED, R. W., and J. H. MULLIGAN, Relation of Cranial Capacity to
Intelligence, J. Royal Anthropological InsL, Vol. 53, pp. 322-332, 1923.

2 SOMMERVILLE, R. C., Physical, Motor, and Sensory Traits, Arch.
Psychol., Vol. 12, pp. 1-108, 1924.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Other studies made during the past twenty years have
produced corroborating data showing this tendency
toward a slight positive correlation. Thus the U. S.
Public Health Service presents the statistics found in
Table IX concerning 2,707 children.

TABLE IX. AVERAGE HEAD MEASTJEEMENTS FOB THEEE GBOTTPS or
CHILDREN, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO I.Q., SEX, AND AGE*

Age

Boys

Girls

LQ.

under
90

LQ.
90-110

LQ.
110 or
over

LQ.
under
90

LQ.

90-110

LQ.

110 or
over

Cephalic index

80.00

81.04

80.20

80.60

80,56

79.76

9 .. .

81 47

80.68

79.83

81.35

80.36

79 47

81 32

80.72

80.48

80.78

80.88

80.04

80 61

81 27

78 90

80 77

79 30

79 79

80.65

80.49

79.58

80.23

79.89

79 85

80.88

80.29

79.12

80.06

80.36

79.71

80.05

80 15

79 58

80.50

79 10

80 85

Head module, f cubic centimeters

15 17

15 25

15 35

14 68

14 86

14 91

15.33

15.29

15.37

14.78

14 96

15 01

10.. .

15.23

15 38

15 43

14 92

14 97

15 08

15.50

15.38

15 39

15 05

15 12

15 14

12 ..

15 49

15 62

14 99

15 14

15 23

15.57

15.58

15.68

15 07

15 23

15 34

15.51

15.73

15.87

15.17

15 34

15 54

* Adapted from U. S. Public Health Kept., Vol. 44, No. 29, pp. 1774-1775, July 19,
1929.

t Module is average of length.

In a study of intellectually gifted children, L. S.
Hollingworth. compared the average size and shape of
head of a group of forty-five mentally superior children
with a group whose intelligence ranged between 90 and
100 LQ. Each gifted child was matched with a control

PHYSIQUE AKD HEALTH

child according to age, race, and sex. In commenting on
the measurements which she obtained, Hollingworth 1
says:

The gifted have, therefore, larger heads than the ungifted, but only
in accordance with their greater size in other respects. There is an
interesting difference also in shape of head, between gifted and
ungifted, in so far as shape is shown by cephalic index (which is the
ratio found between width and length). There is no reliable difference
between the two groups in width of head, as indicated by the probable
error of the difference. There is, however, a reliably greater length
of skull among the gifted. The gifted tend to be long-headed in com-
parison with their ungifted contemporaries of the same age, race, and
sex.

Here again it must be pointed out that the overlapping in both
size and shape of skull between gifted and ungifted is so extensive
that intellect cannot be safely inferred from cranial dimensions in
an individual case. The chances are more than even that a long-
headed child will be very intelligent, but they fall far from certainty
for an individual chosen at random.

Hollingworth uncovers somewhat greater differences
than have usually been found and emphasizes their
importance. Her conclusions are not in agreement with
those of Sorokin, who sees no significance in dolicho-
cephaly, or long-headedness, or with MacDonald, who
found a slight negative rather than a positive relation-
ship. Paterson, 2 in his summary of the studies of cranial
measurement and intelligence, says, "Head shape varies
as a racial characteristic irrespective of the intellectual
qualities exhibited by the several racial groups. Within a
given racial strain, head shape appears to be indifferently
related to intellect."

It would appear, then, that intellectually gifted
children have, on the average, slightly larger heads than
children of lower intelligence. This difference, however,

1 HOLLINGWORTH, op. cit., pp. 91-02.
3 PATBBSON, op. dt. t p. 123.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

is extremely small and, when the slightly greater height
and weight of the mentally superior child are taken into
consideration, probably not at all out of proportion.

Physical Beauty

"Beautiful but dumb" is a phrase that has been
current for a long time. It tersely expresses a tenaciously
held belief.

It is very difficult to investigate the relationship
between physical beauty and intelligence, for beauty is
the result of a composite of traits which cannot be ade-
quately measured. Consequently, there have been very
few scientific studies to test the assumption that the
homely girl is bright and her beautiful cousin dull. To
select instances like Shirley Temple, whose LQ. is well
above the 130 customarily set as the minimum for intel-
lectually gifted children, is to give an interesting example,
but it proves nothing. One might reason along the line
that, since there is a positive correlation of desirable
traits and since the dull and feeble-minded as a group
are likely to possess more physical stigmata than superior
children, there must be a slight relationship between
physical beauty and intellectual capacity. Probably such
is the case, but there can be no finality attached to a
conclusion readied in this manner.

Almost the only carefully controlled investigation in
this field has been made by Leta Hollingworth, 1 who
compared the physical beauty of a small group of intel-
lectually gifted children with a matched group of control
children. There were thirteen boys and seven girls in each
of the two groups. All were of the white race and between
fourteen and fifteen years of age. The children were
photographed under conditions as nearly identical as pos-

1 HOLLINGWORTH, L. S., Comparative Beauty of Faces of Highly
Intelligent Adolescents, Fed. Sem., Vol. 47, pp. 268-81 Dec., 1935.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

sible. Two pictures were taken of each and the clearer
one was given to the judges, who, ignorant of the mental-
ity of the subjects, were asked to arrange them in order
of merit. Twenty graduate students of education and
their wives, between twenty-five and thirty-five years of
age, and two older professors acted as judges. They di-
vided the forty photographs into five piles of eight each,
according to their judgment of the degree of beauty
represented. Then each pile was arranged in order from
one to eight. According to these judges, the faces of the
intellectually gifted children were more attractive than
the faces of the members of the control group, who were
of average mentality.

Conclusions

Baldwin, cooperating with Terman in his study of the
California group of gifted children, took 37 anthropo-
metric measurements on each of 594 children between the
ages of two and fifteen. Of these 312 were boys and 282
girls. The characteristics measured were as follows:

Height:

Standing

Sitting

Stem length to vertex

Stem length to sternal notch
Head:

Anterior-posterior diameter

Transverse diameter

Height

Circumference

Width of face

Length of face
Shoulders:

Width
Arms:

Span

Length from shoulder to elbow, right and left
73

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Length from elbow to finger tip, right and left

Width of wrist, proximal and distal, right and left

Circumference of wrist, right and left
Chest:

Width

Depth

Circumference
Hips:

Width at ischia

Width at trochanters

Circumference
Legs:

Length

Breathing capacity
Grip:

Right

Left
Weight, nude

After an analysis of the 21,978 measurements obtained,
Baldwin 1 was able to reach a number of conclusions :

1. The gifted children deviate in a positive direction from the
Baldwin weight, height, age, breathing standards for American-born
children, but 62 to 73 per cent deviate not more than 10 per cent
above or below these norms.

2. A large proportion have broad shoulders and hips, strong
muscles, and well-developed lungs.

3. These children excel the children of a control group in Oak Park,
HI., in four selected physical traits: arm span, width of shoulders,
width of hips, and grip.

4. Various types of cephalic indices are found within particular
nationality groups represented by these children, but the majority
of the children are of the meso cephalic type.

5. The results of this investigation show that the gifted group
is, as a whole, physically superior to the various groups used for
comparison.

The conclusion growing out of the data presented in
this chapter, that gifted children as a group are superior
to children of average mentality in their physical equip-

1 TERMAN, op. tit., pp. 169-171.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

ment, is significant even though the relationship between
intelligence and physique is so slight as to preclude any
possibility of prophesying that any one bright child will
be physically superior or, conversely, that a physically
superior child will be bright. The significance lies in the
fact that it disproves the generally held belief that preco-
cious children are physical weaklings. There are times
when a coefficient of correlation even as low as .10 assumes
considerable importance. This is one of those times.

PABTICIPATION IN ATHLETICS

The question of the degree to which intellectually
gifted children participate in athletics has been scarcely
touched upon by investigators. It is known that for un-
selected groups there is little, if any, relationship between
intelligence and athletic activity. Before presenting ob-
jective data, it will be well to consider a few of the factors
which influence the gifted child in making his decisions
concerning competing for a place on one or more of his
school teams.

Intellectual curiosity is nearly always associated with
high intelligence; consequently, the mentally superior
child, eager to learn more of the exciting facts which he
senses all about him, may feel that he would be losing
precious hours if he were practicing and playing football
or baseball. The less intelligent boy, with relatively little
interest in abstract knowledge, is much more likely to
find his attention spontaneously turned to sports of vari-
ous kinds. If the gifted child, however, does decide to
participate, the chances are somewhat better than even
that he will excel the boy of average mentality who is of
the same chronological age.

The age of the gifted child is frequently an obstacle
which he must overcome if he is to take part in sports.
For example, if he is in high school, the chances are that

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

he is from one to three years younger than the majority
of the boys in his class. For a fourteen-year-old child to
compete against those who are sixteen years old, either
in football, where weight is important, or in basketball,
where height is an asset, is very difficult. In order to
participate successfully, his youth must be compensated
for by his greater intelligence, by his being large for his
age, or by a fortunate combination of the two.

There are at least three points in favor of the superior
child's being able to participate in school sports. In the
first place he needs to spend so little time on the required
academic work that he has plenty of leisure hours to do
with as he pleases. Much studying at home in order to
earn passing grades is not necessary for him, as it is 'for
the average student. In the second place, if he is a
typical gifted child, he is somewhat better equipped
physically than boys of average intelligence. If he hap-
pens to be markedly superior in this respect, he may feel
almost as strong an urge to excel in athletics as to excel
in scholarship. There have been a number of college boys
who, like "Whizzer" White, of Colorado, have earned
both a Phi Beta Kappa key and one or more college
letters. Finally, he may enjoy using his intellect in sport.
If two boys are equal physically but unequal mentally,
the brighter of the two has a considerable advantage.
A classic example in the world of professional sport is the
two championship boxing matches of Dempsey and
Tunney. For instance, in a football game much depends
upon the mental alertness of the quarterback, who more
often than not is a high-ranking student. He plans the
plays and then helps his teammates to execute them an
excellent bit of training for the leadership which, pre-
sumably, he will be exercising in later life.

Gray compared the athletic activities of 126 boys and
28 girls who had entered Columbia and Barnard colleges

PHYSIQUE AIsD HEALTH

TABLE X. ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES OF GIFTED GROUP COMPARED WITH
CONTROL GROUP*

Activity

Young group

Boys Girls

Control group

Boys Girls

Interclass:

Crew 9

FootbaU 7

Wrestling 4

Baseballt 4

Basketball 3

Swimming 3

Water polo 3

Tennis 2

Fencing 1

Cross-country 1

Varsity:

Crew 3

Water polo 3

Baseball 2

Cross-country 1

Tennis 1

Track 1

Fencing 1

Swimming

Intramural:

Track 4

Fencing 2

Tennis 1

Swimming

Dancing

Total activities 56

Students participating 30

Won letters 2

2
2

4
5

27
1

2
3

4
18
11

* Gray, H. A., " Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of Young College Students,"
p. 47, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1930.
t Indoor baseball for girls.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

before they were sixteen years of age with a control group
matched for sex and college year. The resulting data
appear in Table X.

In discussing the data appearing in Table X, Gray 1
points out:

In inter-class activities, both boys and girls in the young groups
engaged in more sports than did the members of the control group.
The same is true for varsity and intramural sports, and in considering
the totals it will be seen that a large number of each sex in the young
groups participated in more athletic activities and won more recog-
nition as measured by being awarded the college letter, than did the
older students comprising the control group.

PHYSICAL HEALTH

The parents of a gifted child were approached one day
by a sympathetic friend, who asked them, in all sincerity,
if they were not worried because their child was so bright.
"He won't live very long," she warned, "Precocious
children never do."

"Health" is an ever-changing variable and one not
easy to evaluate in quantitative terms. However, though
the evidence is inconclusive, it does cast considerable
doubt over the point of .view that the genius dies young
or is "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought"; it
tends, rather, further to substantiate the thesis that de-
sirable traits are correlated. It would appear reasonable
that a group of mentally superior children coining from
better-than-average stock, living in better-than-average
environment, and possessing better-than-average phy-
sique should also enjoy better-than-average health.

Frequency of Diseases

Mentally superior children are probably subjected to
disease with about the same frequency as unselected
children. Unfortunately there is no detailed and accurate

1 GBAT, op. cit., p. 48.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

comparison of the disease histories of a large group of
intellectually gifted children with those of children of
average mentality. Gray gathered information concern-
ing the frequency of diseases suffered during precollege
years by a small group of gifted college students. He
compared these data with similar statistics on a control
group (see Table XI).

TABLE XI. FREQUENCY OP DISEASES CONTRACTED BEFORE COLLEGE

ENTRY*

Disease

Young group

Control group

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Indigestion

12
13
10
8
4
3
2

4
11
7
2

15
12
9
11
3
1

7
15
6

2
2

Scarlet fever

Constipation ...

Diphtheria

Typhoid t . . .

"R.VlftlTmfl.tlRTn .-,-., n ,, r .,

Pleurisy .

* GBAT, "Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of Young College Students," p. 43.

In five of the seven diseases listed in Table XI, the
control group was slightly more affected than the gifted
group. However, the number of individuals considered is
so small that the difference noted cannot be considered
very significant.

Tennan summarized data supplied by parents con-
cerning the frequency with which the California gifted
children had suffered from infectious diseases. Unfortu-
nately he did not make comparisons with a control group.
He says: 1

For both sexes the incidence of scarlet fever, diphtheria, and
pneumonia seems high, but comparative data for the general popula-

1 TBBMAN, op. dt., p. 190.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

tion of the cities are not available. Roughly, one in twelve has had
scarlet fever; one in fifteen diphtheria; and one in twenty pneumonia.
About a quarter of the cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria and half
of the cases of pneumonia are described as having been severe or
very severe. With an incidence so high, these diseases doubtless
rob the world of many potential geniuses. At the same time, the
frequency of severe cases among the superior children suggests that
contagious diseases may not be as important a factor in the causation
of mental defects as they are popularly believed to be.

Tonsils and Adenoids

There was a period some twenty years ago when the
idea that a dull child could be made bright by removing
his tonsils and adenoids swept through the schools. It
was the kind of simple, direct, easily understood remedy
that invariably appeals. Human beings are as eager for
a short cut to superior intellectual capacity as they are
for a short cut to wealth or popularity. As a result of the
widely disseminated idea that tonsils and adenoids ob-
structed the flow of mentation, the surgeons found their
practice markedly increased; but there was no increase
in the intellectual capacity of those operated upon.

The fact that Terman found that his California gifted
children were much more likely to have had their tonsils
and adenoids removed than were unselected children
is not a negation of the point of view expressed in the
preceding paragraph. It is rather the result of their hav-
ing come from homes on a higher socioeconomic level.
In his investigation, Terman asked both the home and
the school for information regarding the removal of
tonsils and adenoids. Such information was supplied by
the home for 550 of the gifted group and by the school
for 511 of the gifted group and for 493 of the control
group. Data gathered in this manner are by no means
completely accurate, but they do indicate a trend (see
Table XII).

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH
TABLE XII. REMOVAL OP ADENOIDS AND TONSILS, PER CENT*

Gifted
boys

Gifted
girls

AH
gifted

Con-
trol
boys

Con-
trol
girls

AH
con-
trol

Adenoids removed:
School blank

Home blank

Tonsils removed:
SnhnnT hlf,nlr . , r , . ,

Hnrnfi Manic

* Adapted from TEBMAN, " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 195.

Since the gifted children have undergone tonsil and
adenoid operations with much greater frequency than
the control children, it would be expected that mouth
breathing would be much less pronounced among them.
Terman found in his study that this difference was very
marked, certainly sufficient to show that a bright child
is much less likely to be a mouth breather than a dull
or average child.

Hearing and Vision

Wlien the California group of gifted children was
compared with children in the control group, it was
found that the former were somewhat less likely to suffer
from defective hearing and somewhat more likely to
suffer irom defective eyesight. The percentages, based on
reports from the schools, were: for defects in hearing,
2.3 for the gifted and 5.9 for the control, and for defects
in vision, 20.3 for the gifted and 16 for the control.
A possible cause of the gifted children's inferiority
in vision is the strain placed on their eyes by exces-
sive reading and writing, especially during preschool
years.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Summarizing Statement

A detailed presentation of the health data gathered
in the California study can be found in Chaps. VIII and
IX of Terman's "Genetic Studies of Genius/' Vol. I.
These data were summed up by Doctors Moore and
Bronson, who conducted the physical examinations.
Dr. Moore's statement follows: 1

In regard to a general comparison of this group with unselected
children, it is my opinion that major and minor defects are much less
common in the former. I do not have suitable figures on which to
base a comparison as to the relative incidence of various defects,
but I have a strong conviction that, other things being equal, there
is a direct correlation between physical health and mentality in
children when studied in groups. In my opinion the physical superi-
ority of the gifted group is indicated by the higher average of nutri-
tion and by superior stability, physical and mental.

MENTAL HEALTH

It is generally believed that highly intelligent indi-
viduals tend to be neurotic and often actually insane.
Before an attempt is made to see what light scientific
investigations have thrown on this question, it might be
well to examine subjectively the basis of this popular
conviction.

Probably the most important cause for the belief
that geniuses are unstable is the one referred to earlier,
viz., the urge to supply those who possess unusual gifts
with compensating defects. It is comforting to believe
that the great man is eccentric or even psychotic. The
term " paranoiac " is hurled with abandon at Mussolini
and Hitler. Whispering campaigns against presidential
candidates invariably accompany every national election

1 TEBMAN, Op. dt.j p. 251.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

in America. The most improbable stories gain currency
with amazing and disturbing ease when they appeal to
the prejudices of a large number of people.

Genius and neurasthenia are by no means incom-
patible. Consequently, it is possible to select cases in
support of the statement that geniuses are mentally
abnormal. This was the procedure followed by Lombroso
(who, as a scientist, should have known better), and
Lombroso's conclusions still exert a tremendous influence
on thought concerning the relationship of mental health
to intellect.

The desire to prove that neuroticism is widespread
among those who are eminent often closes one's eyes to
its frequency in individuals of average or below-average
intelligence. Overemotional or temperamental behavior
by an artist or a scholar is expected and emphasized;
similar behavior by an ordinary person goes unremarked.
For example, there is the case of a well-known novelist,
who is unusually calm and well-balanced but who, simply
because she is a writer, is generally believed to be
temperamental and difficult to get along with. Sympathy
is frequently expressed to her household help concerning
the difficulties they must have in working for such an
eccentric person. It so happened that at one time this
novelist had in her employ an Irish housekeeper, whose
intelligence was somewhat below average yet who was
as temperamental as an opera star is supposed to be.
A slight stimulus would throw her into a rage, and she
frequently talked in all seriousness of seeing banshees
and having incredible experiences. Nevertheless, in
spite of this kind of behavior, because she was a house-
keeper of ordinary intelligence, no one, except those
who got in the way of one of her thrown dishes, ever
thought of her as being temperamental or neurotic. To
outsiders she represented normalcy.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

A second factor which has strengthened the belief
in a relationship between intellect and neuroticism is that
certain brilliant people, especially artists, musicians,
actors, and writers, have decided that in self-preservation
they must behave as their public expects them to behave.
Added to this feeling there is probably also a sense of
relief in finding that being uninhibited is socially desir-
able. Human beings like a queen to look like a queen;
in other words, to look as they think a queen ought to
look. They also like a musician to be what they think a
musician ought to be. For those who depend for success
upon the public a certain amount of conformity is an
absolute necessity. A musician who appears before his
audience with the approved long hair, foreign name,
dark, impenetrable features, exotic but slightly incon-
gruous figure, and a nervous system so unstable that
he makes a handsome show of temperament before
the concert is over, has done much to insure his
success.

If a public personage is great enough, he does not
feel it necessary to enhance his prestige by stage play.
He can be at all times that exceedingly rare person him-
self. The individual of truly first-rate talent is usually
poised, natural, well-controlled. Surely a lack of inte-
gration could hardly be considered an asset to anyone,
On the other hand, there is a horde of second-rate mindk
in politics, in medicine, in the academic world, and in
the arts who think that they can fool the public into
believing that they possess great gifts by behaving as
they know the public expects those who have great
gifts to behave. Greenwich Village was once full of these
men and women, who had more ambition and more
emotional drive than their intellects were able to match.
The game is frequently a losing one, but altogether too
often a professor of moderate attainments, by always

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

carrying an umbrella and being conscientiously absent-
minded, a hack writer, by filling innumerable pages with
meaningless and repetitious words, an artist of limited
talent, by wearing freakish and ornate clothes, wins a
public far larger than his undramatized abilities would
ever have commanded.

Stability of Gifted Children

Although it is not possible at the present time to
give the exact relationship between intellect and emo-
tional stability, there are indications from the studies
that have been made that, at least in childhood, the
relationship is positive to a rather marked degree.
Terman, in analyzing the responses of the school to
the question "Is child especially nervous ?" found that the
teachers replied in the affirmative for 13.3 per cent of the
gifted and for 16.1 per cent of the control group. There
were over 500 children in each of the two groups. When
information on stuttering was asked for, the percentage
of affirmative replies was 2.6 per cent for the gifted and
3.4 per cent for the control children. The gifted children
were found to be slightly more timid than the control
children and manifested a slightly greater tendency to
worry.

Professor Hollingworth 1 concludes a discussion of the
nervous stability of gifted children by saying:

Investigators do not find a complete absence of the nervously
unstable In large groups of gifted children. Nervous instability and
superior intelligence are by no means totally incompatible; their
incompatibility is but relative. The consensus of investigator's
opinions is that there are fewer nervous children among the gifted
than among unselected children, not that there are no gifted children
who are nervous.

1 HOLLINGWOKTH, L. S., "Gifted Children," pp. 130-131.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Jersild 1 also points out that there is a positive relation-
ship between stability and intelligence, although he
emphasizes the fact that it is far from perfect.

Burdens Borne by Adult Geniuses

Even assuming that it is true that intellectually
gifted children are less neurotic than their mentally
inferior playmates, it is possible that, when they reach
adulthood, they may develop psychoneuroses and psy-
choses. The brighter the individual the more problems
he has. As a child and as an adult he is aware of com-
plexities which never impinge upon the consciousness
of the person of average mentality. For example, there
is the case of the mentally superior child of six who wept
upon hearing that Austria had been absorbed by Ger-
many. The average child of six probably would not even
have been cognizant of the existence of a nation called
"Austria/' to say nothing of regretting its effacement
from the map.

The genius, young or old, conscious of the enormous
problems which beset civilization and, at the same time,
by virtue of the critical ability which usually accompanies
high intellect, realizing how inadequately he is equipped
to solve them, may falter after years of effort. Certainly
the surgeon who must perform one delicate operation
after another, the writer who attempts to interpret
life truthfully, the conscientious businessman who feels
a personal responsibility for the welfare of his employees,
the musician who must night after night transmit the
emotional values of the compositions which he is playing,
the statesman who realizes that he carries the life of a
people in his hand, certainly all these are under a strain
seldom experienced by the man in the ranks. In many

UEKSILB, A. T., "Child Psychology," p. 361, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
New York, 1933.

PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH

instances this strain works havoc with the nervous
system. Lange-Eichbaum, 1 claims that from 12 to 13
per cent of between three and four hundred geniuses
whom he studied had been psychotic at least once
during their lifetime. When he limited the number to
seventy-eight of the very greatest names, he claims that
more than one-third of them were psychotic at least
once during their lifetime and that more than 83 per cent
had been markedly psychopathic.

Lange-Eichbaum does not adequately describe the
methods by which he arrived at these conclusions. It
would seem that these percentages are little more than
his own estimates based to a too great degree upon
selected cases. Nevertheless it is true that many out-
standing geniuses of the past were mentally unbalanced.
As Lange-Eichbaum points out, many did not become
so until after the creation of their principal work. He
says that this is true of Copernicus, Faraday, and others,
who suffered in their later years from senile dementia.
However, it is rather farfetched to claim that genius and
insanity are related merely because a number of men of
outstanding achievement have suffered from senile
dementia, a disease of old age common at all mental
levels.

H. L. Hollingworth takes a point of view which is
the opposite of that expressed by Lange-Eichbaum,
but which represents the one held by a considerable
majority of the psychologists who have studied the
relationship between abstract intelligence and mental
disease. The following quotation from Hollingworth 2
will serve as a summary:

, W., "The Problem of Genius" p. 112, The Mac-
millan Company, New York, 1932.

2 HOLLESTGWORTH, H. L., "Mental Growth and Decline," pp. 30, 31,
D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New York, 1928.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Studies of individuals with psychoneurotic complaints show these
individuals commonly to be of less than average intellectual com-
petence. The degree of intelligence also exercises a determining
influence on the nature of neurotic complaints. Thus Tendler,
studying groups of civilian patients, found the median mental ages
of the three groups, Neurasthenia, Psychasthenia, and Hysteria, to
be respectively 11.0, 12,0, and 13.7 years, in comparison with an
average of 14.0 to 15.0 years of mental age attributed to the normal
adult. , . . Although individuals with any degree of intelligence
may become involved in neurotic difficulties, the tendency is much
greater in the cases of humble intelligence.

CHAPTER V
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Are intellectually superior individuals likely to be antisocial?

2. What adjustments do gifted children make in their play associ-
ations and activities?

3. What effect does high intelligence have on school popularity
and opportunities for leadership?

It is difficult to know precisely what should be in-
cluded in the term "social characteristics." Intelligence
itself is an important section of the social-personality
pattern; and certainly physical characteristics, especially
beauty and bearing, cannot be left out. Actually, of
course, no individual can be taken apart and put together
again. Even though, for practical reasons, it is necessary
to study him in his different aspects, it should always be
kept in mind that his total personality is greater than
the sum of his mental, physical, and social characteristics.

Usually social intelligence is thought of in terms of
getting along with people, of being happy and com-
fortable with them, of being liked by them, of rarely
coming into conflict with them. Theoretically a person
with a high degree of social intelligence conforms suffi-
ciently to the standards of his group and his kind. He is
one with the crowd.

HAPPINESS

Assuming that to be socially acceptable one must
conform, it is easy to see why the intellectually gifted
child is faced from earliest years with social problems
which the child of average intelligence is never called

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

upon to meet. The intelligent individual, possessing
imagination and insight, frequently sees where it would
be more beneficial to his fellows and to himself to change
rather than to conform, but his social sense warns him
that, in self-defense, he must move carefully. Often he
finds a way to bring about desirable innovations with-
out disastrous consequences to himself. Many geniuses,
however, are unable to hit upon happy solutions to the
frequent clashes between what they know should be
done and what they know would be socially approved
and so lead baffled, unhappy, disillusioned lives. Fami-
liarity with such cases as these caused the father of a
gifted boy to write as follows :

If an experimenting God were to grant me the power to determine
the intelligence of a child of mine, I should not hesitate, guided by
my interest in the child, to make bis mentality exactly average or,
at the most, a little above average. Under no conditions should I
make him intellectually gifted or precocious or a genius or whatever
term it is appropriate to apply to a youngster whose mental endow-
ment is far above that of the great majority of children.

I should be obliged to make this choice if, as a natural father, I
wished my child to be happy, because I know his chances for happi-
ness, especially in so far as they depend upon the understanding and
comradeship of Ms fellows, would decrease inexorably with the
increase of his relative intellectual stature. If I were to be wholly
selfish for him, I might even go so far as to prefer that he be feeble-
minded rather than intellectually gifted, for the feeble-minded
individual can at least find solace in the complacency of ignorance.

I should hope, of course, that if God did not see fit to grant me the
authority to select my child's intelligence quotient and should, during
a brief lapse in EGs infinite kindness, put into my keeping an infant
with the mental capacity to become a genius, I should be able to
go down the years with that child in understanding and patience;
but, since I am only a human being like other parents, the chances
are too great that I should make the same mistakes other parents
of bright children are making. That during his preschool years I
should be forcing him to demonstrate his powers so that my friends
and those not so friendly could see what a marvel I had produced.

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

That, as the child grew older, his questions, because I could not
answer them, would irritate me; his intellect I should envy. That,
when he reached adult years, I should find myself happier in his
absence than in his presence and unable to prevent Ms knowing it.

Yes, if I were given the power to determine my child's intelligence,
I should be strongly, bitterly tempted, in my father's desire for his
early and perhaps lifelong happiness, to endow him with an average
mind. And yet I hope I should waver when the time came to make
this choice.

I hope I should hesitate long enough to weigh my child's personal
happiness against the welfare of a civilization, his and mine, now
rushing toward disaster because we lack intellects equal to controlling
the institutions which we have built or to solving the complex prob-
lems which we have created; a civilization standing perplexed and
helpless, like a group of children who have built a pile of blocks so
high that they cannot add another to reinforce the structure without
causing its collapse. I hope I should be able to pity those who in their
blindness imprison their potential leaders almost from birth, and to
feel a new confidence in the possibility of a brighter future for the
intellectual genius and so for the rest of us, and say, "AH right, God,
since You have made me the offer, I will take for my child the best
intellect you have in stock; and may he as well as the human race
profit by my choice."

Attitude of Immediate Family

The extreme pessimism of this father is probably
unjustified, yet it is true that many of the relationships
and experiences which bring pleasure to the child of
average intelligence are denied those who are brilliant.
If the gifted child happens to come of parents of average
or below-average intelligence, his chances are small of
ever experiencing the satisfactions which come from
having a community of interests with one's father and
mother. He may even discover with dismay that his
parents are envious of him and seek to minimize his
gifts; or it may be that they are merely puzzled like a
hen who finds that she has mothered a duckling. For
example, there is the instance of a ship's steward who,

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

in telling a passenger about his child, said regretfully
that he no longer understood this boy, who had suddenly
become very much interested in books.

It is often true that not only the gifted child but his
parents as well experience disappointments when they
are separated by a wide gap in intellect. There is the
story repeated often in America of an ambitious
mother of average intelligence who, from the earliest
years of her son's life, had longed for him to be a great
man. Since he had the mental capacity and the other
characteristics necessary to the attainment of eminence,
he did reach a high place, but it was in the world of
chemistry. Research articles and textbooks meant noth-
ing to his mother, who could only have appreciated the
significance of a fame which brought newspaper head-
lines and cheering crowds. She died a pathetically
frustrated and disappointed woman, finding comfort
only in the stubborn conviction that some day her son
might yet achieve.

The relationship between the mentally superior child
and his brothers and sisters is comparable to that which
exists between his parents and himself. Eve Curie,
in her biography of her mother, Mme Curie, tells of an
experience which the four-year-old Marie had when
she presumed one day to read aloud to her family from
an elder sister's reader. The story as told by Eve Curie 1
is as follows :

One morning, while Bronya [an older sister] was faltering out a
reading lesson to her parents, Manya [Marie] grew impatient, took
the book from her hands, and read aloud the opening sentence. At
first, flattered by the silence which surrounded her, she continued
this fascinating game; but suddenly panic siezed her. One look at the
stupefied faces of her parents, another at Bronya's sulky stare, a

1 CURIE, K, "Madame Curie," p. 9, Doubleday, Doran & Company,
New York, 1937.

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

few unintelligible stammers, an irrepressible sob and instead of
the infant prodigy, there was only the baby of four, crying through
her tears:

"Beg pardon! Pardon! I didn't do it on purpose. It's not my
fault it's not Bronya's fault! It's only because it was so easy!"

Manya had suddenly conceived, with despair, that she might per-
haps never be forgiven for having learned to read.

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so do human beings
abhor the variant, the child or adult who is different.
With this basic psychological fact in mind, it is not diffi-
cult to see why there is a marked tendency for the family,
parents and siblings, to unite against the precocious
child. Instead of their being made to feel inferior by
his superior mentality, he, as a result of ridicule and
of sheer weight in numbers, is often forced into a realiza-
tion that he is a "misfit. This family pressure is one of
the two primary reasons for the prevalence of inferiority
complexes among intellectually gifted children and
adults. For example, there is the case of the very bright
boy, born and reared on a farm in a family of average
mentality, who was repeatedly told by his relatives that
a college education would be necessary for him alone,
out of all the family, because he would be unable to
get along without it. This comment is not so absurd
as it may at first seem, for it is a common human failing
for a man to look kindly upon those whose interests and
habits are similar to his own and honestly to think that
there is something wrong with those who speak another
language. Hence it was entirely natural that this boy,
with an interest in books and abstract problems, should
be regarded as an oddity and a probable failure by those
who were concerned solely with the manual work and
physical pleasures of the day.

As the typical bright child grows older, he finds him-
self becoming more and more ostracized by members of

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

his family. He watches their growing envy and puzzled
resentment with deep concern. Often he tries to make
contact with them by doing the things they like to do, by
appearing interested in the things they consider impor-
tant. Occasionally he succeeds, but he is much more
likely merely to arouse resentment by what they consider
to be his patronizing attitude. He is no more responsible
for the breadth of his mental power than for the breadth
of his shoulders and yet by its possession he brings down
upon himself the dislike of those whom he loves most.
Considering the difficulties of the situation it is amazing
that the results growing out of it are not more serious
than they are.

Fortunately for the mental health of the gifted child
the happiness of an individual is by no means wholly,
or even largely, dependent upon the sympathetic under-
standing of others. The sources of happiness differ
with individuals; frequently for gifted children the sheer
joy of mental activity makes each day pleasant.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTED CHILDREN

In spite of the difficulties which the genius has in
adjusting to a world made for average people, he rarely
develops antisocial tendencies. This is fortunate for
society, for the highly intelligent criminal is, of course,
much more effective than his feeble-minded counterpart.
Although conclusions reached in studies of the relation-
ship between intelligence and delinquency are not always
the same, they point to a negative relationship.

Cyril Burt 1 studied the characteristics of 200 juvenile
delinquents. He reported an average I.Q. of 89 for the
group. Eighty-two per cent were below 100 I.Q. and
18 per cent above. While 8 per cent fell below 70 I.Q.

iBuRT, C., "The Young Delinquent," pp. 283-284, D. Appleton-
Century Company, Inc., New York, 1928.

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

only 2.5 per cent rated above 115. The normal expecta-
tion for the total population is a frequency of 11 per
cent above 115 I.Q. Burt concluded that mental defec-
tiveness is a notable factor in the production of crime.
He pointed out that the presence of intellectually gifted
children in a delinquent group is exceptional.

The causes of juvenile delinquency and of adult
criminal activity are too complex, too interrelated and
interdependent, to be isolated and exactly evaluated,
Superior mentality alone would not keep an individual
from committing antisocial acts, but, as has been shown
in previous chapters, superior mentality is likely to be
part of a pattern made up of superior home life, superior
economic opportunities, superior health, and so on.
Coupled with these, perhaps caused by them, is super-
iority in character. Terman 1 maintains, after a study of
the character and personality traits of his California
group, that the gifted child of nine years has reached a
level of character development corresponding roughly
to that of unselected children of fourteen years.

CHARACTER TRAITS OF EMINENT MEN

Catherine Cox 2 rated 67 character traits of 100 of
the 301 most eminent individuals in the period from
1450 to 1850. The traits measured may be grouped as
follows, according to character elements which pre-
dominate in each case: emotional, 14; emotional-social,
5; social, 15; self (negative), 2; self (positive), 5; intel-
lectual, 8; intellectual-social, 2; intellectual-emotional,
2; intellectual activity, 2; activity (persistence of motive),
4; physical activity, 6; strength or force of character, 1;

1 TEBJSCAN, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 516, 2d ed., Stanford
University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

*Cox, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. II, pp. 16&-180, Stanford
University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

balance, 1; Each of these sixty-seven character traits
was rated on a seven-point scale ranging from +3 to
3 with the midpoint at zero. Each step of the scale
was defined as follows :

Plus 3 denotes the possession of a very high degree of the quality
as compared with the average.

Plus 2 denotes the possession of a degree of the quality distinctly
above the average.

Plus 1 denotes the possession of a degree of the quality slightly
above the average.

denotes the possession of the average degree of the quality
among youths in general.

Minus 1 denotes the possession of somewhat less than the average.

Minus 2 denotes the possession of distinctly less than the average.

Minus 3 denotes the lowest degree of the quality as compared with
the average.

Miss Cox found that the average rating of the 100
eminent men, for the combined 67 character traits,
was 1.2, which is considerably above the average repre-
sented by zero. She reports the average ratings for the
trait groups to be as follows :

Trait

Average
rating

Number
of traits

Activity (persistence of motive)

2.3

Intellectual activity

Self (positive traits) .... .

Strength or force of character

2.0

Intellectual

1.8

Social

1.2

Tnt^11ftr*t.na1-8or:ial

1 1

Balance

1.0

Emotional-social

TntelIfifltiiA,l-fimntioTml ,_

Physical activity.

Emotional,

Self (negative traits)

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

Miss Cox, then, studying the character traits of those
individuals who actually became eminent, comes to a
conclusion similar to that arrived at by Terman with
respect to gifted children of the present day. Each group
was found to be definitely above the average. Miss Cox,
in commenting on the fact that the geniuses in her group
possess not only great intellectual capacity but also
marked strength of character and a considerable per-
sistence of motive, says:

Forcefulness or strength of character as a whole, persistence of
motive, and the intellectual traits rate conspicuously high. The high
scores on all traits containing the persistence of motive factor, and
the intellective factor indicate that young geniuses possess these
traits to an unusual degree. These and the summation trait of strength
or force of character as a whole are the traits in which our subjects
score the highest ratings. They appear to be peculiarly characteristic
of young geniuses. The estimates on the self-traits and the persistence
traits corroborate those on forcefulness or strength of character as a
whole, emphasizing the presence of dynamic vigor of character and
an innate assurance of superior ability in all of the members of the
group.

PLAY ACTIVITIES

The intellectually gifted child has a number of adjust-
ments to make with respect to his play activities. If
he is eight years of age chronologically and physically
but twelve or thirteen years of age mentally, the possi-
bilities are great that the games which interest average
eight-year-old children will appeal but little to him;
yet he will not be welcomed into the games of twelve-
year-old children, to whom he seems a baby. Moreover,
while he can understand the games which appeal to
those older than he, he is physically incapable of playing
many of them.

This problem is acute even on the high school level.
For instance, there is the case of David Buxton, who
entered high school when he was eleven years of age and

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

became very much interested in football. He tried out
for the team but was too small to fill even the position of
quarterback. David, however, became so popular with
the other boys on the squad that in his junior year they
elected hrm manager. In this position he was a great
help to the team, not only in handling their business
affairs but also in assisting in working out plays.

The play activities of mentally superior children
have been studied sufficiently, during the past two or
three decades, to justify a number of conclusions.
Those which follow apply to the typical gifted child.
There is, of course, much overlapping between a group
of gifted children and a group of unselected children
with respect to their play life, and this should not be
overlooked.

1. Gifted children usually play with those who are older than
themselves.

2. They are not so interested in competitive games as are other
children of the same age.

3. They are interested in games that require thinking.

4. They possess more information about games than do average
children.

5. If boys, they are slightly more interested than control boys in
games with a high masculinity index.

6. They show a marked tendency toward having imaginary play-
mates and an interest in elaborately constructed imaginary countries.

7. They are somewhat more likely than average children to play
alone.

8. They find their companionship sought by others as frequently
as do average children.

9. If rating over 170 I.Q., they are less likely to make satisfactory
play adjustments than those less bright.

With Older Children

The gifted child, faced with the problem of whether
he shall be content with the simple games which children
of his chronological age play or struggle to participate

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

in the games popular among those of the same mental
age, usually compromises by playing with children who
are from one to three years older than he. This question
of play adjustment was raised by a group of seven gifted
children, between nine and eleven years of age, possessing
LQ.'s of 170 or above, who were in a special class in a
school in New York City. The incitement to comment
was a news story which reported a leading psychologist as
saying that the child with an I.Q. above 150 finds himself
an outcast among youths of his own age and develops a
feeling of physical and social inferiority to the older
children whom he demands as companions.

Each of these seven unusually gifted children claimed
that he was not unhappy in his play life but was as
well adjusted in that respect as any other child. Two
of the three girls present explained that their best
friends were from one to two years older than they,
but that this difference in chronological age presented no
obstacle whatsoever. The four boys stated that they
had no difficulty in playing with older children. Donald,
for instance, maintained stoutly that, though he was
only nine years old, thirteen- and fourteen-year-old boys
did not object to his playing with them; that he preferred
these older boys to those of his own age; that he enjoyed
rough games, such as football. He claimed that his size
was an asset rather than a handicap, for he could run
under and around his bigger, clumsier playmates.
Edward, usually very quiet, insisted with a similar
warmth that his best friends were two to three years
older than he but that the difference in age had no bad
effects upon his relationship with them. Fred also claimed
that his best friends were a few years older than he and
that he was far from unhappy and lonely. Charles,
too, seemed to feel that his social adjustments were
satisfactory.

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Terman considered the question of the age of the
playmates of intellectually gifted children in his Califor-
nia study, He sent questionnaires to the homes of his
gifted group and to the schools attended by members
of this group and of a control group as well. The question
put was whether the child preferred playmates who were
much older, older, same age, younger, or much younger.
The data, in terms of percentages, appear in Table XIII.

TABLE XIII. SCHOOL AND HOME REPOBTS ON AGE OF PLAYMATES*

Per Cent

Much
older

Older

Same
age

Younger

Much

younger

School blank control

1.2

7.9

86.5

3.8

0.6

School blank, gifted

4.3

20,8

70.8

3.3

0.8

Homo blftnt gifted

4.2

30.4

61.2

4.0

0.2

* Adapted from TBBMAN, " Genetic Studies of Genius," VoL I, p. 431*

In commenting on the statistics in Table XIII Terman
says: 1

The school reports a much larger percentage of gifted than control
children who prefer older playmates, and the home reports for the
gifted agree fairly well with those from the school. This is probably
due in part to the fact that the gifted child is usually associated in
school with children a year or two older than himself, and in part to a
tendency for mental ages to seek their level.

Interests

Although both gifted and unselected children are more
interested in active, out-of-door games than in intel-
lectual contests, the gifted show a relatively greater
preference for games that require thinking, such as
checkers and chess. Frequently mentally superior chil-
dren delight in making up games of their own, working
out elaborate sets of rules. For example, one gifted boy-
had shown no interest in gymnasium activities until

1 TEBMAN, op. cit., p. 431.

100

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

one day the instructor asked for someone to volunteer
to plan a new game. This was an unexpected oppor-
tunity for the child to exert a leadership in an activity
which heretofore had meant nothing to him. In a few
minutes, his fertile mind had created a game which,
when it was explained to his classmates, met with their
enthusiastic approval. The gifted boy, younger than they
and in this instance not adept in athletics, had won their
admiration. The gymnasium instructor had shown rare
good sense.

Terman, 1 in reporting on the play interests of un-
selected children, says:

(1) As compared with the control boys, gifted boys show much
greater preference for jaekstraws, coasting, hiking, dancing, swim-
ming, rowing, croquet, wrestling, racing or jumping, handball,
soccer, tennis, dominoes, crokinole, parchesi, authors, guessing
games, cards, checkers, and chess; and much less preference for
rolling hoops, walking on stilts, flying kites, riding bicycle, garden
work, shooting, riding horseback, hunting, ring around the rosy,
farmer in the dell, drop the handkerchief, cat and mouse, anty over,
jump the rope, fox and geese, volleyball, basketball, and playing
house,

(2) As compared with the control girls, gifted girls show much
greater preference for jackstones, skating, hiking, dancing, fishing,
swimming, sewing, using tools, shinny, wrestling, dominoes, parchesi,
authors, guessing games, cards, puzzles, and chess; and much less
preference for walking on stilts, riding bicycle, hunting, cooking,
ring around the rosy, hopscotch, cat and mouse, anty over, dare base,
fox and geese, baseball, racing or jumping, handball, volleyball,
basketball, and charades.

Masculinity of Gifted Boys' Games

The causes which have actuated the belief that
intellectually gifted children are inferior physically and
socially have also given rise to the conviction that gifted
boys are effeminate as well; but this picture of the sex

., pp. 406-407.

101

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

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102

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

characteristics of genius fits into the true pattern of his
personality no better than does the popular picture of
his physical size and strength. In his interests play
and otherwise he is actually slightly more masculine
than boys of average intelligence.

Terman and his coworkers developed masculinity
indices for a large number of play activities. Using these
as a basis for judgment, a masculinity rating was com-
puted for each child of the gifted and control groups.
The results are similar to those obtained when the two
groups are being compared as to physical traits. At
every age, except thirteen, the gifted boys rate higher
than the control boys in the masculinity of their play
interests (see Table XIV).

Imaginary Playmates and Countries

Imaginary play is very common among young chil-
dren and even more common among those who are
gifted because these possess the more constantly creative
minds. Occasionally the imaginary person or animal
becomes almost as real to the child as though it were
actually alive and in his presence, as in the case of the
little girl of five who always insisted on taking her
imaginary dog with her when she went for a walk. Often
there were difficulties in getting the animal across the
street and occasionally, to the distress of the child, he
was nearly run over. There should be no concern over
the vivid quality of a child's imagination, for at this
early age the line between the real and the make-believe
is indistinct. To be sure, if such illusions continue into
adolescence they constitute an indication of abnormality.

Jersild 1 and Markey, in a study of 400 ranging in
age from five to twelve, describe in detail the day-

IJEBSILD, A. T., "Child Psychology/' p. 274, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
New York, 1933.

103

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

dreams and imaginary companions experienced by these
children. It is interesting to note that 19 per cent of
this group mentioned having daydreams which involved
a certain amount of self-glorification. It is possible that
this constitutes one of the reasons why the gifted child
is likely to give his imagination full sway. Unable to
achieve and to lead on a level with his mental age,
because he is so young in calendar years, he finds it
pleasant to build for himself in imagination a position
of prestige. No danger is involved if the self-delusion
is not persisted in. However, if carried on into adult
years, it may result in paranoia a psychosis which is
more frequently found among those of superior mentality
than among those of inferior mentality, and which has
its beginnings in balked childhood ambitions coupled
with early disillusion concerning the motives of others.

Terman agrees with Jersild that a large portion of
gifted children have imaginary playmates. There is
need for comprehensive studies of this phenomenon, the
conclusions of which might reveal many new facts
concerning the mental process of gifted children. The
writer, knowing a boy of six who had worked out a
system which combined imaginary playmates, imaginary
and real .countries, imaginary travels, and imaginary
wars, asked him to dictate a description of what he
called the "Lei Things." The child did so and later made
corrections in the transcription. The following excerpts,
rather remarkable for vocabulary and sentence structure,
are taken from his narrative.

THE LEL THINGS

In the country of New South Wales, Australia, there was once a
great bee-hive with a lot of bees. One was magic* It was a mother.
On September 6, 897 A. D., she gave birth to a bee so queer that the
others didn't think it was a bee. They decided it must be the first of

104

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

a new race, and, since tie was so small, they called him and his race
"The Little Things.' * They named him Bydgojappebee.

He grew up and married another one of his race (there were a lot
of them being born now) and they had a child called Fernaxpo. He
was the first Little Thing President from the time he was a day old.
That could happen because the Little Things know more when they
are born than human beings do. There was getting to be so many of
them now that they began to call themselves, for a pet name, "The
Lei Things."

More and more came, and there was quite a crowd of them while
Leev was president.

By the time the next one, Djerra, was president, there was such a
crowd that explorers began to go out looking for new countries where
there would be more room and they could live peacefully. On these
expeditions they found Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Djerra was
the leader of the explorers. He died almost two years after he finished
being president, for he got very tired out from leading all their
expeditions.

The next president of the Scandinavian Lei Things was Gangset.
He was the Lei discoverer of America. His voyage was very important
and I will tell you about it. In September, 1272, almost forty years
after he had become president, he set out on a voyage to go around
the Arctic. He had two ships when he started, the Elgraira and the
Ddvor, but the Ddvor, the older of the two vessels, sank when it got
into the Arctic because it was not strong enough to stand the pressure
of the ice.

Then all in the Elgraira went down and landed for a time on
Bermuda, then went north and discovered Cape Cod. They stayed
there for about a year and a half, and returned to Scandinavia in
1279. America was wholly settled in 1286.

In 1298 there came a great war in Australia between the Bees
and the Lels. Lder Eve was one of the bravest generals of the
Australian Lels. In that war the Bees were trying to drive out the
Lels because there were so many there; the Bees didn't know what
they might do to them. The Bees won.

All the Australian Lels migrated to America. Broadway was their
next president. He was president from 1500 (when Gangset died)
to 1611 when he was assassinated. From the year 1558 to 1572 there
was a war in the United States between the Bees and the Lels. This
time the Lels won,

105

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Broadway almost died in 1567 but not quite. In 1610 the men
who voted against him planned to shoot him but their plans failed
that year. The next year, 1611, in late December, they shot him.

General Lder was the next president. In early February, 1621, he
died of pneumonia.

The next was George Narragansett. He died in the famous disaster
of 1890. The famous disaster happened this way. NrPkSecchule,
Elrev, Narragansett, Huna, Bartelot, Dyzico and Felomozo were
on board "The Hourearlier," so called because it was supposed to
go faster than most boats, but it certainly did not. When it was five
leagues from Recife, Brazil, it began to sink. All the Captains had
raisers then. These were big irons with which to turn the boat over
and dump the water out and turn the boat back again. To do this the
captain had to jump out into the water. Narragansett was so old
that he was getting rather weak and when he went into the water,
down he sank like a rock! NrPkSecchule and Elrev were the only
ones to survive. NrPkSecchule had good luck in raising the ship,
and these two sailed back to Recife.

In 1891 he became president. NrPkSecchule was quite young when
he became president. He was only twenty years old.

In 1933 I was born, and a great excitement grew up among the
Lei Things. I didn't begin to know NrPkSecchule until the middle of
1938. When 1939 came along, we knew each other even better and
were very good friends. I built a cave for NrPkSecchule, his officials,
and all the lesser Lels who inhabited the neighborhood. Now they all
live there.

NrPkSeechule is my highest helping Lei. His greatest singer is
Zaco, his greatest printer is Veranops, his greatest musical composer
is Abbldox. The baby Lels usually eat dirt, ferns, leaves, and grass.

How do you think that describes the Lels? All right? Well, this is
the end.

Besides the vivid imagination shown in the preceding
paragraphs, certain characteristics of the interests of
gifted children are manifest. For instance, although
the boy was only six at the time he dictated this material,
his handling of dates and of the element of time is far in
advance of his age* He shows also an interest in biography
in detailed facts concerning the lives of his imaginary
characters. It so happens that this boy is also much inter-

106

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

ested in the biographies of great men who have actually
lived. He has already read extensively into the lives of
Galileo, Faraday, and others.

The boy's fluency in dictation has been developed
through much practice. As early as the age of four he
dictated a travel narrative of several thousand words. He
writes well, also, but his writing vocabulary is not yet
so large as his speaking vocabulary.

Solitary Games

Gifted children are somewhat more likely than control
children to play by themselves, though the difference
is not considerable enough to be serious. The causes of
this tendency are not hard to find. The gifted child,
knowing more than he can do and possessing a creative
imagination, is somewhat more likely than the average
child to play solitary games in which he can make use of
his vast amount of information concerning games and
at the same time avoid the handicaps of physical size
and youthfulness which so frequently keep him from
thoroughly enjoying the typical competitive games of
other children. The problems in play adjustments
increase proportionately with the distance between
chronological age and mental age.

TABLE XV. EXTENT OP SOLITAKY PLAY OP GIFTED AND AVERAGE
CHILDREN, PER CENT*

Very
much

Average
amount

Little

Control boys

Gifted boys

Control girls . . .

Gifted girls . .

* Adapted from TBRMAN, " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 430.

107

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Yoder, in a study of the play interests of children
who later became eminent, found that they were often
of a solitary kind. However, as Leta Hollingworth points
out, the persons studied by Yoder would probably all
rate above 170 I.Q. Gifted children of a lower order are
less likely to play alone. Terman, in reporting the
extent of solitary play of gifted children as compared
with control children, gives percentages based on data
gathered on approximately 1200 cases (see Table XV).

Witty, 1 in a genetic study of 50 gifted children begun
in 1924-1925, says, "The children engage in the same
number of play activities as the control group, though
the gifted are somewhat more solitary and sedentary
in their play."

It seems safe to conclude that although solitary
play is somewhat more frequent among gifted children
than among average children, the incidence reaches
serious proportions only among those possessing the very
highest intellects.

Companionship Sought

If the gifted child is somewhat more likely than the
average child to play alone, then it would be expected
that his companionship would be sought a little less
frequently. This appears to be the case, although again
the difference between the two groups is extremely small.
Terman, 2 in comparing his gifted children with a control
group, found that the gifted boys' companionship was
sought in 29 per cent of the cases while the control boys'
companionship was sought in 32 per cent of the cases.
Five per cent of the gifted boys were "rather avoided"
as against 3 per cent of the control boys. Sixty-six

1 WITTT, P., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education/* Part II, p. 409, 1940.
3 TEBMAN, op. cit. t p. 432.

108

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

per cent of the gifted and 65 per cent of the control boys
found themselves neither sought nor avoided. A com-
parison of the gifted girls and the control girls results
in a similar picture. These differences are surprisingly
small when one considers the intellectual barriers between
gifted and average children.

Greater Difficulties of the Extremely Gifted

Although many children with LQ.'s above 170 succeed
in making satisfactory play adjustments, the chances are
great that they will not. Instead of participating in the
activities of other children, they are much more likely
either to stand on the sidelines to watch or to find solace
in solitary play. It is difficult to know to what extent an
extremely brilliant child should be forced into play that
is typical of children of his own age. Certainly, in some
instances, such forcing results in irreparable damage.

There was the case of a five-year-old girl with an
LQ. of 180, who preferred, during the first-grade play
period, to observe other children rather than to join
with them. She was not consciously scornful of the activi-
ties of her classmates, but their pointless running, jump-
ing, and dancing about seemed as unappealing to her
as would the gyrations of a group of junior high school
children to an intelligent adult. This girl interested
herself in studying the personalities of her classmates;
in observing the way they did things and what they said.
Then, after school hours, she would write character
sketches of them. When pressure was brought to bear by
children and. teachers to make her conform with the
others, she refused. She was not impressed by argument
that she should do certain things because all the others
did them. It is probably as impossible to make such a
child socially typical as it is to make one of average
intelligence into a genius.

109

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Both Leta Hollingworth and Terman are in agreement
with the point of view that children falling at the very
top of the curve of distribution are likely, at least
during their early years, to be socially maladjusted.
Hollingworth says: 1

When the intelligence quotient is extremely high, falling into the
highest one hundredth of one per cent, the discrepancy between
physical size and intelligence becomes so great as to render a satis-
factory choice of playmates difficult. In these cases the child often
falls back upon some form of solitary, intellectual play, such as
intricate puzzles, mathematical calculations, reading, designing,
chemical experimentation, radio, and the like. Attempts to interest
extremely intelligent young children in the forms of play ordinarily
enjoyed during early childhood are futile.

The child with an I.Q. of 170 or above is confronted
with problems of social adjustment of the greatest com-
plexity. He needs all the sympathetic understanding
that is possible for those about him to give. In future
years he is likely to repay to society a thousandfold all
that is done for him.

LEADERSHIP

There are a number of factors involved in the attain-
ment of leadership or eminence. The more important of
these, as they pertain to success in adult life, will be
considered in a later chapter. Brief comment, however,
is appropriate in the present discussion of the social
characteristics of gifted children, for to be rewarded
by being made a leader is the best evidence that a child
possesses positive social traits.

Intellectually gifted children are somewhat more likely
than average children to become leaders. This is, of
course, not solely the result of their superior intelligence,

1 HOLLINGWORTH, L. S., "Gifted Children," p. 147, The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1926.

110

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

but of their superior size, bearing, social sense, initiative,
and social status as well. Terman found that, when his
California group of gifted children was compared with
a control group, 67 per cent of the gifted boys and 73
per cent of the gifted girls were rated above the control
mean for leadership. Yates, in a study of gifted high
school seniors, found that 28 per cent showed genuine
ability as leaders as against 12 per cent for average
children. Brown followed the careers of 259 high school
leaders over a period of 2J^ years. He found these leaders
to be above the average in intelligence and scholarship.

Finch and Carroll 1 made a study of leadership among
pupils in the University High School at the University
of Minnesota. They examined the records of three groups
of students, each numbering sixty-six. The first group was
made up of those who were of average intelligence for the
University High School; the second, those who were
below average; and the third, those who were above
average. They found that over twice as many of the
elective offices went to seniors in the superior group than
to an equal number in the average group. Children in
the below-average group were very much out of the
running.

One reason why gifted children become school leaders
is that they have more time for extracurricular activities.
The writer was interested, when attending the graduation
exercises of a New England academy, to hear the
principal say in his talk that a certain boy who was
graduating as salutatorian of his class, with an average
for the four years well up in the nineties, was a member
of nearly every club in the school and president of two
of them. In addition to this, he had won his letter in
baseball and was a member of the debating team. This

1 FESTCH, F. H., and H. A. CAKBOLL, Gifted Children as High School
Leaders, /. Genet. Psychol, Vol. 41, pp. 476-481, 1932.

Ill

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

boy further conformed to the typical picture of the gifted
high school child by being two years younger than the
average age of his classmates. The principal, with old-
fashioned American philosophy, maintained that all
these achievements had been possible through hard work
and that any other boy in the school, by being equally
persistent, could do as well. No reference was made to
the factor of innate intelligence, yet a quick mind had
made it possible for this boy to meet the school require-
ments with casual ease and so make available time for
other activities.

Discrepancy in Intelligence between Leader and Followers

Leta Hollingworth has recently expressed the opinion
that no group would tolerate a leader who completely
outclassed them in intelligence; they prefer one who is
superior to themselves but not too superior. She says,

There is a direct ratio between the intelligence of leader and that
of the led. To be a leader of his contemporaries a child must be more
intelligent, but not too much more intelligent, than those who are to
be led. There are rare exceptions to this principle, but, generally
speaking, a leadership pattern will not form or will break up when a
discrepancy of more than about 30 points of IQ comes to exist
between the leader and the led.

This point of view appears to be a reasonable one.
Children, like adults, tend to distrust the individual who
uses words that they cannot understand, who thinks and
talks about matters which are foreign to their interests.
For example, there was the case of the boy with an I.Q.
of 195 who was hooted down at an assembly of the upper

1 HOLUNGWOETH, L. S., What We Know about the Early Selection
and Training of Leaders, from a pamphlet "How Should a Democratic
People Provide for the Selection and Training of Leaders in the Various
Walks of Life?" pp. 16-17, Advanced School of Education, Teachers
College, Columbia University, 1938.

112

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

grades when lie attempted to present a program of
action. The very sentence structure which he used
antagonized the other children. A boy with a much
lower intelligence then took the floor and successfully
explained what was to be done.

Occasionally a child even one with an I.Q. of 195
is able to adapt himself with humor and understanding
to the limitations of average people. Such a one has the
makings of the greatest of leaders. For example, Leta
Hollingworth tells of an eleven-year-old boy with an
I.Q. close to 180 who had decided to run for the office
of class president in the senior high school in which he
was a student. His classmates were approximately five
years older than he. In a speech during the campaign,
one of his rivals said tellingly, "Boys, we don't want a
president in knee pants !" As soon as the applause had
died away the eleven-year-old boy rose, and waving his
hand casually in the direction of the full-length portrait
of George Washington on the wall, said, "Fellows,
kindly remember that when George got to be the
father of our country, he was wearing knee pants/'
Hollingworth reports that the gifted boy was elected.

113

CHAPTER VI

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND
ACIHEVEMBNTS

1. Are such traits as curiosity, alertness, and self-criticism charac-
teristic of intellectually superior individuals?

2. Do the scholastic attainments of gifted children approximate
their mental status?

3. Are gifted children retarded with respect to their grade place-
ment?

Studies of the childhood of eminent men reveal that
in the great majority of cases these individuals stood
out against the background of average children. They
were recognized as being different, as possessing abilities
which by comparison seemed almost nonexistent in their
playmates. They were already marked for greatness.

A visit to a school which has enrolled children of
both high and low intelligence gives one a similar
impression. To go from a room containing a group of
ten-year-old morons to a room containing a group of
ten-year-old gifted children is almost like journeying
from one world to another. Even a visitor untrained in
psychology or pedagogy could not help but realize that
the gifted group was made of finer stuff. In fact this
quick transit from a very dull group to a very bright
group makes one doubt for a moment the psychological
principle that individuals differ not in kind but in degree.
However, the illusion of the difference in kind grows out
of the contrast of the two extremes. The gifted group
would not seem so different if they were being compared
with superior children those with I.Q.'s between 110

114

MEXTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

and 120 or 130. In the discussion, then, of the mental
characteristics of intellectually gifted children it will
be kept in -mind that they possess characteristics which
are common to all, but possess them to such an extreme
degree that they frequently appear as being unique
traits.

MENTAL QUALITIES

Gifted children as a group are characterized by the
following mental qualities: power, broad attention span,
alertness, keen observation, curiosity, self-criticism, a
sense of relative values, initiative, insight into relation-
ships.

Power

Thorndike lists level, range, area, and speed as the
attributes of intelligence. Of these, level the gradation
of difficulty is probably the most important. Gifted
children excel in their ability to perform difficult mental
tasks. It is not at all unusual for one of them to be
reading history at the age of six or beginning to explore
the mazes of calculus at twelve or thirteen. Although
in certain individual cases, one may feel that the gifted
mind is superficial, usually one is impressed by its
tremendous energy. A bright child, possessing this vital
mental energy and most of them have it approaches
a problem with the same steady, assured attitude that
an athlete, conscious of his strength, enters a sporting
contest.

Attention Span

Gifted children possess a wider attention span than
average or below-average children. They are able to
concentrate on one activity for a long period without a

115

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

lagging of interest. This concentration is noticeable
whether the bright child is building a house in his play-
room, looking up material on the American Indian, or
carrying on a discussion with his parents. For example,
there was the gifted child of seven who was troubled by
a statement in his history book to the effect that Chris-
topher Columbus was the first to discover America.
He thought the credit should have gone to the Vikings.
This identification of his sympathies with the Vikings
led him into extensive library research not only into the
history of the Vikings but also into the early history of
the Scandinavian countries. This interest and con-
centration continued for several months. At the end of
that time the child was better informed in this field than
most adults.

The attention span of the gifted child exists not only
in the present but is likely to project itself into the past
and future. Closely associated with the attention span is
the time sense, which is usually present to a remarkable
degree in gifted children. To the average child or adult,
anything that happens before his lifetime is of little con-
sequence. Prehistoric and early historic times are so com-
pletely beyond his comprehension that he is quite likely
to laugh them off. He does not really believe that there
were such eras anyhow. The gifted child, on the other
hand, is usually vitally interested in the past. He is not
nonplussed by the phrase "a thousand years" or even
"a million years." He wants to know what has happened
and he struggles to see what has happened in relationship
to what is now happening and to what will happen.
His attention span is in direct contrast to those of the
monkeys in Kipling's "Jungle Books." The following
lines from that book might almost be a description of the
inability to concentrate which is characteristic of children
of ordinary intelligence :

116

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
AH complete, in a minute or two
Something noble and grand and good,
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

The bright child is- interested in the future as well
as in the past. Occasionally his concern with what has
gone before and with what is coming later results in
insufficient concentration on the present. This is one of
the reasons why the gifted child and adult is some-
times thought of as being absent-minded. He feels that
there are more important matters requiring his attention
than the chatter of his playmates or his teacher's over-
simplified explanations of already familiar material.
The bright child, interested in a wide sweep of events and
in trying to weave them together into a meaningful
pattern, has a number of delicate adjustments to make
with respect to his behavior in an immediate situation.
Most bright children make these adjustments extremely
well.

The intellectually gifted child, interested in the future,
is concerned about such matters as death at a much
earlier age than average children. Parents must use care
in their explanations when this problem arises, for it is
likely that their child's intellectual development is far
ahead of his emotional development and he may become
upset in his attempt to understand that all life ends
inexorably in dissolution. The bright child looks forward
at an earlier age than average children to his own per-
sonal future, He is likely to decide upon his vocation
and to plan his preparation for it with great care. With
his knowledge of the past and of the present and with

117

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

his interest in the future, he is likely to possess a rela-
tively clear vision not only of what is the best program
of action for himself, but also of what is best for society.
Frequently he is wrong, for even the most brilliant
intellects seem insufficient to organize and run a well-
ordered world.

Quickness

Intellectually gifted children possess not only greater
power than average or below-average children but
also more alertness or quickness. The relationship
between power and speed is high. A gifted child under-
stands directions with comparatively little difficulty;
the average child usually has to be told several times
before he sees what it is that he is expected to do. Some
high school teachers make it a practice to explain an
assignment to a class from three to five times in order
to be sure that it will be understood. Even then there
is an excellent chance that some of the dull children
will not know what she means. The brightest in the
class is likely to understand it the first time. For example,
there is the case of the bright girl of ten who was standing
outside a door waiting for a friend to complete her music
lesson. While she stood there she overheard the explana-
tions of the teacher concerning the reading of notes.
When the child came in for her own lesson and the teacher
began a repetition of the explanation, the girl told her
politely but firmly that it was not necessary for her to
spend any time on that. She had heard them once. A
little questioning proved that once was enough.

Observing

Closely related to alertness is the ability to observe
and to remember details. The bright child, though
he may occasionally appear to be absent-minded, actually

118

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

sees and hears a great deal more than the average child.
What the neurological arrangement is that makes this
possible is not known, but the fact remains. The bright
child learns punctuation and spelling not so much from
direct instruction as from indirect learning through
reading. A dull child can go through the grades and
through high school and, in spite of all the direct teaching
and direct contact with books, still not know when to
capitalize or how to spell a simple word.

A housekeeper of a little less than average intelligence
who has spent forty years buying groceries, seeing them
in stores and in her kitchen, spells coffee with one /
and sugar with two g's. A seven-year-old gifted girl
in the home, with only a short period of time for observa-
tion, can spell the name of every article in the kitchen
perfectly. The difference between the woman and the
girl lies in the difference which exists in their respective
abilities to observe. Keen observation largely underlies
the fact that approximately 50 per cent of intellectually
gifted children learn to read before they attend school.
The gifted child cannot easily be kept from seeing sign-
boards, magazine advertisements, letters on cereal boxes,
and so on. He asks a few questions, and he knows his
letters; a few more questions, and he recognizes simple
words; a few more questions, and he is reading, even
though he may be only four years old.

Curiosity

The gifted child is nearly always characterized by
an insatiable curiosity. He has a passion for knowing.
If given an opportunity, he is likely to explore many
subjects in the school curriculum merely for the satis-
faction which he experiences in acquiring new facts.
In these explorations he is somewhat more likely to
select abstract subjects in preference to commercial

119

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

and manual-training work. Even though only a second-
or third-grade child, he may find considerable delight in
looking up material on grammar, or fractions, or natural
history. This boundless curiosity should be encouraged
even though the parent or teacher may find it very
difficult to supply the inquiring mind with personal
answers or with references to source material.

The writer together with all others within earshot
was interested and amused to overhear a conversation
between an obviously gifted boy of eight and his father,
who were having lunch together in a public dining room.
The boy was pushing a discussion of the French Revolu-
tion and the subsequent Napoleonic era to a point
which was embarrassing for his father. It was clear that
the child had no intention of being discourteous or of
testing his father's information; he was eager only to
check up on what he had read and to have it explained.
The father was an intelligent man but knew far less than
his son about the historic period being discussed. Several
times his statements concerning dates and geographical
locations were critically questioned by the child. In every
instance the child was right. The situation was not an
easy or a pleasant one for the father, yet he showed
no sign of impatience, but seemed, rather, to be pleased
with the vitality and range of his child's interests and
information. He was willing to help in any way that he
could and frequently referred the boy to books which
would give him some of the specific information which
he was seeking.

Terman made an objective study of the intellectual
interests of his gifted California group and found, as
would be expected, that they excelled average children
by a wide margin. He says in a concluding statement: 1

1 TEEMA.N, L. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 482, 2d ed.,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

120

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AXD ACHIEVEMENTS

In intellectual interest the mean score of the gifted children at
most ages exceeds the mean of unselected children of corresponding
age by approximately 1.4 times the S.D. of the latter. This is approxi-
mately half as great a degree of superiority as obtains in the case of
intelligence. Stated in another way, about 90 per cent of the gifted
children equal or exceed the mean of unselected children in intellectual
interest.

Self-criticism

The bright child with his wide range of information
and his desire to know the facts is more likely than the
average child to be critical of his own shortcomings.
The possession of a high intellect makes it easier for him
to know when he has made a mistake. For example, in
giving the Stanford-Bluet intelligence test to a dull
child, it is easy to follow the formula of saying after
each answer, whether it is right or wrong, u That's
fine " ; but in giving the test to a gifted child, it is neither
easy nor wise, for usually he will know when he has not
given the right answer and will lose his confidence in the
examiner if praised for an erroneous solution.

This ability to criticize one's self is present in intel-
lectually gifted children at a very early age. Ruth, who
was six years old and in the first grade, had become very
much interested in her art work. She possessed no
special talent in this direction but her satisfaction in
conceiving and painting pictures had excited in her the
ambition to become a great artist. She often referred to
her paintings as the famous pictures by Ruth White.
One day her mother took her to an art museum. With
the care which is characteristic of superior children,
Ruth studied a half dozen or so great pictures for over
an hour. At the end of that time she announced that she
was ready to go home, saying that she did not wish
to look at any of the others. On the return ride the child
was silent for a long time, then turned to her mother

121

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

and said with finality, "Why did my teacher say my
pictures were so good? They're not at all. 77 Ruth had no
more illusions about becoming a famous painter.

The gifted child not only properly evaluates his short-
comings, but also, to the occasional discomfort of some
of his adult associates, properly evaluates his assets.
There has been and is much talk concerning whether
or not bright children should know their intellectual
level. The answer is that they know it anyhow regardless
of camouflage devices used by teachers. The writer
recalls talking with such a child a short time ago and,
in an attempt to suggest to him that there were other
children in his school who could do as well as he, was
met with the matter-of-fact statement, "I have been
carefully watching all the other children for a long time
and I know that there isn't one who can do nearly as
well as I can." This statement was made without
egotism. It was as objective an observation as if the child
had said that he was the tallest member of his class or
could run the fastest. It would seem that in the education
of gifted children it would be best for the teacher to start
with a frank understanding with her pupils that they were
mentally superior. To proceed on that assumption,
rather than to be constantly debating it or even trying
actually to disprove the existing fact, would not only
gain the confidence of the superior child but would also
help him to avoid the danger of thinking too much about
his intellectual equipment. There is a vast difference in
influence upon attitude between recognizing the fact
of possession of superior intellectual ability and then
forgetting about it and being constantly compared
either favorably or unfavorably to other children.

Seeing Relative Values

Highly intelligent individuals are likely to see and
understand the gradations in moral and social values.

122

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Nothing to them is ever wholly white or wholly black,
wholly right or wholly wrong. Possessing this ability,
they are usually more generous and sympathetic toward
the faults of others. They realize that any specific act
is an inevitable outgrowth of a set of complex causes.
The really great humanists are not found among bigots
of limited intelligence but among those who have suffi-
cient intellectual capacity to realize that all values are
relative.

Initiative

Initiative or independence in thinking is characteristic
of the minds of intellectually gifted children. That this
is a desirable trait goes without saying. In school it
manifests itself through a facility in working out highly
individualistic approaches to problems in subject matter.
Such creative approaches should be encouraged, but,
if the teacher knows of a better method, then she should
explain it to the gifted child and recommend that he
substitute it for his own. If he can see that it is really a
better one, he will make the change.

For example, there was the gifted child in the second
grade who had worked out devices which would increase
his speed in addition. When he was asked to add 18 and
8 he would, instead, add 18 and 10 and then subtract 2,
for he had found that he could do this more quickly.
He had found, also, that he could add a long column of
figures more rapidly if he skipped about in the column
adding the larger numbers first. His teacher, upon dis-
covering this, instead of flatly ordering hrm to add his
figures from the bottom up the procedure which she
required of her class took pains to explain to this child
that, although his method was a good one, there were two
excellent reasons for accepting the one which she recom-
mended : first, that by following a more ordered procedure
he was less likely to make mistakes ; second, that it would

123

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

give him needed practice in handling difficult combina-
tions of numbers.

Because of his ability to learn quickly and to create
relatively satisfactory methods for study, the gifted
child often shows an impatience with drill; yet drill is
needed even for brilliant minds. In the teaching of
gifted children the amount of drill can be reduced, but
there is danger in too much reduction. A little mental
discipline will do a great deal to steady the mental
processes of the bright child.

Ability to Generalize

Perhaps the most important mental characteristic
of the bright child is that of being able to see relation-
ships, to make logical associations, to adapt abstract
principles to concrete situations, to make mental trans-
fers between situations with identical elements, to
generalize. Actually all these statements mean very-
much the same thing. Any one of them might constitute
a working definition of intelligence. Thorndike and
Gates 1 have stated the relationship between native
ability and the ability to generalize as follows:

The native ability of a pupil has a pronounced effect upon the
degree of transfer. In most subjects, the brighter pupils, other things
being equal, can make wider use of their acquisition than duller
pupils. Brightness, indeed, means in a considerable measure sensi-
tivity to the factors or principles which are common to many situa-
tions. Not only do the bright pupils isolate the essential elements in a
learning situation more quickly, but they also perceive more acutely
the same elements in new settings. Transfer of experience therefore
occurs more fully among bright than among dull individuals; it is in
considerable degree determined by intelligence.

The marked ability of the bright child to generalize
obviously has a great many implications for his education.

1 THORNDIKE, E. L., and A. I. Gates, "Elementary Principles in Edu-
cation," p. 104, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1929.

124

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
TABLE XVI. A COMPARATIVE PHONETIC ANALYSIS*

Subjects

Number
of sub-
jects

Mean
LQ.

Total words spelled
incorrectly

Number

Per cent
phonetic

Per cent
non-
phonetic

IV A:
Bright

36
36

29
39

100
100

126.4
88.5
-37.9

110.5
89.5
-21.0

140.6
96.8
-43.8

124.9
1.09
92.0
.87
-32.9
1.40

8.8
9.8

11.3
13.7

12.3
11.2

16.3
12,9

2,473

7,724
+ 5,251

2,031
4,415
4- 2,384

1,498
6,262
-f 4,764

6,002
18,401
+12,399

68.9
37.8
-31.1

65.5
46.0
-19.5

74.7
46.1
-28.6

69.2
.401
42.6
.245
-26.6
.470

31.1
62.2
4-31.1

34.5

54.0
+19.5

25.2
53.9

+28.7

30.8
.401
57.4
.245
+26.6
.470

Dull

Difference . .

IV B i
Bright

Dull

Difference . .

VB:
Bright

DuH

Difference

Total:
Bright

Dull

Difference

* CABBOLI*, H. A.: " Generalization of Bright and Dull Children," p. 44, Teachers
College, Contributions to Education, No. 439, Columbia University, New York, 1930.

Because of this ability he is able to apply rules or to
make rules of his own through observations of a body
of facts. He is able to apply what he knows. Occasionally
this ability gets him into trouble, for transfer may be
negative as well as positive. The bright child frequently
makes negative generalizations in reading, pronouncing
words as it seems to him from their spelling they ought
to be pronounced, or in spelling, through spelling words
as they sound. Concerning the second example, Carroll 1

I CABBOLL, H. A., "Generalization of Bright and Dull Children,"
p. 44, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 439, Columbia
University, New York, 1930.

125

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

made a study of the comparative amounts of negative
transfer made by a group of bright children and a group
of dull children. He found, as would be expected, that
bright children were much more likely than dull children
to make phonetic misspellings, while, on the other hand,
the misspellings of the dull child were much more likely
than those of the bright to be wholly illogical (see
Table XVI).

SCHOLASTIC ATTAINMENTS

Variations among children are as great in achievement
in school subjects as they are in intellectual capacity.
Although the relationships between school achievement
and intelligence is far from perfect, it is, nevertheless,
sufficiently positive to make possible sound prophesies
with respect to groups. Gifted children, by and large,
will excel in all the school subjects. This statement, of
course, is made in the light of the realization that there
is overlapping that some gifted children will do poor
school work and some average children, by dint of much
application and, occasionally, through the possession
of a special gift, will do superior work.

The superiority in accomplishment of gifted children
over average children is greater in the abstract subjects
and less in the manual subjects. Terman, in his Cali-
fornia study, asked teachers to rate the school work of
over 500 intellectually gifted children and an equal
number of control children. The ratings were made on
the following 7-point scale.

1 = very superior to average child of the same grade

2 = superior to average child of the same grade

3 = high average

4 = average

5 low average

6 = inferior to average child of the same grade

7 = very inferior to average child of the same grade

126

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

When rated on this scale the gifted and control
children rank as follows:

TABLE XVII. ORDEE OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS WITH RESPECT TO

DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY OF WOEK OF GIFTED AINTD CONTROL

GROUPS*

Subject

All
gifted

All
control

Difference

1 T "Dfthating or ppft^lring ,

2.04

3 88

1 84

2. U. S. History

2.11

3 92

1 81

3. Composition

2 25

3 93

1 68

4_ TjitfiTatiiTft , , .

1.90

3 56

1 66

5, Ancient history

2.04

3 60

1 56

fi. GrflTTiTinfrr.

2.25

3 76

1 51

7. General science

2.35

3 78

1 43

8. Geography .

2 26

3 67

1 41

9. Civics or citizenship

2 12

3 49

1 37

10. Reading

1.92

3 26

1 34

11. Arithmetic

2.52

3.80

1.28

12 Spelling

2 13

3 39

1 26

13. Dramatics

2.40

3.64

1.24

14. Nature study

2.57

3.66

1.09

15. Agriculture .... .,

3.28

3 96

.69

Ifx Singine? .. r -_.

3.24

3.89

.65

17. Folk dancing

2.86

3.45

.59

18 Cooking. . .

3.06

3 63

.57

19 Physiology or hygiene

2.72

3.28

.56

20 TuRtrmnftnt-Hl rmisift - -,-,-.

2 89

3 38

.49

21 Physical training. -,,,,., T

3.25

3.60

.35

22 Sewing

3.11

3.41

.30

23. Drawing

3.62

3.87

.25

24 Modeling

3.48

3.64

.16

25. Penmanship

3.79

3.92

.13

26 Games and sports

3.41

3.52

.11

27. IVfajHial trifling . T . - . ,

3.49

3.60

.11

28. Painting

3.71

3.80

.09

29. Shot) work

3.57

3.50

- .07

* TEBMAN, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, p. 261.

When 565 of the California gifted children were
given the Stanford achievement battery, they earned

127

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

scores considerably in excess of those earned by 1,800
uaselected children who were tested in the derivation
of the norms published for the battery (see Table
XVIII).

TABLE XVIII. MEAN SUBJECT QUOTIENTS FOR 565 GIFTED CHTXDBEN*

Boys

Girls

151.6

146.2

148.3

145.3

144.7

Arithmetic

138.5

135.7

140.2

137.7

* TBEMAN, "Genetic Studies of Genius," p. 291.

It is interesting to note that, although the gifted
children are definitely superior to the control children
in language, reading, arithmetic, and spelling, their
superiority in these school subjects is not so marked as
their superiority in intelligence. The principal reason
for this discrepancy is presumably their lack of oppor-
tunity, since their average acceleration is only slightly
more than one grade, for contact with the more difficult
and advanced subject matter.

This same group of gifted children was given a general
information test and earned scores which were com-
parable to their intelligence-test ratings. In fact, then-
superiority was so marked that all but two of the 291
gifted boys and five of the 242 gifted girls earned an
information quotient above 120. Not a single gifted child
fell as low as the average for the control group.

Stedman has reported on the school attainments of
a group of sixteen gifted children who had been placed
in an opportunity room and given special instruction over
a period of five years. The educational quotients earned
by these children exceed those earned by the Terman

128

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AKD ACHIEVEMENTS

group, presumably because needed adjustments in their
school training had been made. It is significant, as Sted-
man points out, that her pupils, although spending
relatively little time on routine subject matter, not only
invariably excelled the highest available norms for each
subject, but also very nearly equaled what their mental
ages would lead one to expect (see Table XIX).

TABLE XIX. SCHOOL ATTAINMENT OF 16 GIFTED CHILDEEN IN AH
OPPORTTJNITY CLASS*

History

Pupil

I.Q.

Read-
ing
quo-

Arith-
metic
quo-

Science
quo-
tient

and
litera-
ture

Lan-
guage
quo-

Spell-
ing
quo-

Edu-
cation
quo-

tient

quo-

^ tient

tient

140

136

107

133

139

133

120

125

155

142

156

147

142

143

148

155

154

167

160

154

138

144

154

140

142

130

154

150

143

128

138

214

199

206

198

174

207

200

141

124

145

142

128

112

131

120

130

108

137

143

116

100

119

110

122

111

125

126

109

114

117

140

146

148

161

158

142

132

146

140

139

136

138

136

140

134

137

138

143

145

150

146

134

140

143

168

163

171

178

165

154

160

165

129

114

100

135

140

122

110

142

138

153

160

161

140

128

144

146

166

140

158

168

130

135

150

140

138

115

152

146

127

130

131

Average

144

138

153

150

136

133

141

* Adapted from STEDMAN, L, M., "Education of Gifted Children," p. 107, World Book
Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1924.

The reading quotients of gifted children in the lower
grades are likely to be somewhat higher than other
subject quotients. This results in part from the existence
of greater opportunities to learn how to read as compared

129

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

with opportunities to become familiar with the content of
such a subject as arithmetic. Occasionally the reading
quotient of a gifted child exceeds his intelligence quotient.
This is even more likely to occur if his interest in reading
has been stimulated by his home associations.

For example, Eugene Smith, who had been reared in
such a home and who had learned to read at the age of
three, earned, at the age of 8 years 1 month, an eighth-
grade rating on the Gates Silent Reading Tests. His
reading ages on the four types were: Type A, 12 years
10 months; type B, 15 years 4 months; type C, 13 years
9 months; type D, 13 years 9 months. Averaging the
four tests results in a reading age of 13 years 11 months as
contrasted with a mental age of 13 years. This boy at
the time the tests were given was in the third grade
" studying " a third-grade reader and working hard at
devising methods of killing time.

Witty 1 agrees that in the elementary school gifted
children do their best work in reading and in language.
He reports, however, that the 50 gifted children, whose
school histories he has followed for a number of years,

exceeded the norms for children of their ages in all subjects. . . .
The sixth-grade group exceeded January averages for eighth-grade
children in the composite results of the tests, and the composite score
of the seventh-grade group exceeded ninth-grade standards. The
children appear to have a knowledge of educational subject matter
at least two years in excess of their grade placement.

Extremely Gifted Compared with Less Gifted

In the fall of 1938 the writer worked for some months
with the group of intellectually gifted children at
Speyer School in New York City. In the course of
that work the American Council Cooperative General

1 WITTY, P., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education," Part II, p. 405, 1940.

130

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS A^D ACHIEVEMENTS

Achievement Tests were given to the six brightest chil-
dren in the Speyer group, whose average LQ. was 180.3,
and to a less gifted group of six, matched for chronologi-
cal age and sex, whose average LQ. was 138.7. Data
concerning these children, together with a record of
the achievement-test scores which they earned, appear
in Table XX.

TABLE XX. COMPARISON OF SCORES MADE ON AMERICAN COUNCIL
COOPERATIVE GENERAL ACHIEVEMENT TESTS BY Two GROUPS OF
GIFTED CHILDREN

Child

Sex

C.A.

M.A.

LQ.

Social
sciences

Natural
sciences

Mathe-
matics

Score

P.R.

Score

P.R.

Score

P.R.

Extremely gifted group (mean LQ. 180)

11-5

22-2

194

97.5

11-0

19-3

175

25.5

9-8

16-5

170

9-4

1S-8

200

72.5

10-6

18-1

172

10-3

17-6

171

41.5

Average

10-4

18-8

180.3

22.3

57.2

39.5

53.4

21.8

50.9

Less gifted group (mean LQ. 139)

11-8

16-3

139

90.5

11-2

15-8

140

66.5

9-8

13-6

140

9-10

14-1

143

10-9

14-2

132

10-1

13-1

138

66.5

Average

10-6

14-5

138.7

14.3

43.6

31.7

45.3

10,3

9.3

The average percentile rank, in terms of ninth-grade
norms, for the two gifted groups on the three parts of
the achievement battery is approximately 45. In other

131

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

words, these ten-year-old children did about as well as
average ninth-grade children, who are approximately
four years older. The less gifted group, with an average
mental age of 14 years 5 months, earned a mean test
score comparable to their intellectual rating. The ex-
tremely gifted group, however, although it consistently
achieved higher average scores than the less gifted group,
did not do so well as would be expected from its much
higher average mental age.

Leta Hollingworth, in an earlier study, compared
a group with an average LQ. of 165 with a group with
an average LQ. of 145, and found that the former con-
sistently excelled the latter in school achievement.
The differences between the two groups in the present
study, though not great, are pertinent. Remembering
that each unusually gifted child was matched with a
less gifted child for chronological age and sex, it will be
interesting to note certain comparative performances.
On the social-studies test child D, a girl, was the only
member of the less gifted group who excelled her "twin"
in the very gifted group. On the mathematics test, no
child in the less gifted group excelled the one with whom
he was matched in the very gifted group. The two
C's were tied. Child A of the very gifted group, a brilliant
Jewish boy with an LQ. of 194, consistently topped the
series of scores. This is as it should be, since A had a
mental age of 22 years 2 months, the highest among the
twelve children.

PROGRESS QUOTIENTS

Terman 1 mentions the fact that not a single child in
his gifted group of 616 was retarded when retardation
was defined as being in a grade lower than would be
expected on the basis of his chronological age. As a

1 TERMAN, op. ctt., p. 253.

132

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

matter of fact, on this basis four out of five gifted children
are actually accelerated. However, when mental age
is used as a criterion, the picture is entirely different.
On this basis, all but six of Tennan's group of 616 were
retarded. He found the average amount of actual
acceleration to be a little more than one year, or one
grade, which placed them on an educational level far
below their scholastic attainments.

Witty 1 found a similar situation existing among the
gifted children whom he studied. He reports a mean
progress quotient of 116 for this group as contrasted
with a mean LQ. of 153 and a mean I.Q. of 136.

This situation is a serious one and merits careful
consideration. Should the gifted child be given full
acceleration? Should he be placed with others of the same
age, but have his school program enriched? Should he be
segregated in an opportunity class where both accelera-
tion and enrichment are possible? These questions are
important ones and will be given attention in later
chapters on educational adjustments.

Y, op. tit., pp. 405-406.

133

CHAPTER VII
CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Were eminent men and women mentally backward when they
were children?

2. Do intellectually precocious children regress toward mediocrity
as they grow into adulthood?

3. If constancy of development is an established principle, are there
any exceptions?

Thinking concerning the important question of the
constancy of mental development has been considerably
prejudiced by the frequent recurrence of two contradic-
tory assertions: first, that the I.Q. of an individual
remains exactly the same throughout his life; second,
that the LQ. varies so markedly that it is possible for a
child to be at one end of the distribution of intelligence
at a certain age and at the other a few years later. No
psychologist of standing would advocate either of these
two extreme points of view, yet in many lay or student
discussions one or the other is advanced as representing
the thought of a group of scientists. Psychologists,
rather, are concerned with the question of how much the
I.Q. varies from year to year, fully realizing that it does
change but fully realizing, also, that it changes within
limits. The question of the extent of this change has a
very important bearing upon any discussion of genius,
for if it is great, then the whole program of the selection
and education of intellectually gifted children for future
leadership collapses, since this program rests on the
assumption that those who are identified in their early
years as being mentally superior will maintain their

134

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

relative position throughout life. In the following pages
data that have been collected largely during the last
twenty years will be examined to see if the conclusions
of scientific investigations support the principle that
mental growth proceeds at the rate at which it starts.

Nemzek 1 analyzed a number of studies dealing with
the constancy of the LQ. He considered not only inves-
tigations in which the Stanford Revision of the Binet-
Simon Scale was used, but also those which reported
results from the use of group tests. He summarizes his
findings in the following concluding remarks and table:

The results from studies concerning the constancy of the IQ
present a high degree of consistency. As one method of comparing
the results of individual examination with those of group tests, the
reliability coefficients found by correlating test and retest IQ's may
be arranged into a frequency distribution.

TABLE XXI. FREQUENCY DISTBIBUTION OF RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS
FOUND BY CORRELATING TEST AND RETEST I.Q.'s

r's

f (Stanford-Binet)

/ (Group)

.95-. 99

.90-. 94

.85-. 89

.80-. 84

.75-. 79

.70-. 74

.65-.69

.60-. 64

.55-. 59

.50-.54

Median

.832

.846

.889

.885

Q l

,76

.779

.0645

.053

1 NEMZEK, C. M., The Constancy of the IQ, PsychoL Butt,, Vol. 30,
p. 154, 1933.

135

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

The preceding table presents correlations; hence, gives
no information concerning changes in individual I.Q.'s.
Theoretically, a single LQ. possesses a probable error of
5, which means that the chances are fifty-fifty that the
obtained measure lies within five points of the true
measure. This, however, allows opportunity for consider-
able variation; it is not at all uncommon to find that, on
a retest, a child's LQ. is ten or fifteen points higher or
lower than the one first obtained. Miller 1 , analyzing data
gathered by Hirsch, who had reexamined annually for a
period of six years a group of 343 elementary school
children, found that 1736 of the 2400 obtained LQ. dif-
ferences were less than ten points. However, of the
remaining 434 differences, 67 were twenty points or more.

From these figures two deductions can be drawn: first,
that in the great majority of instances the LQ. remained
approximately constant; second, that in a few cases there
was a considerable change. These figures are based on
the test scores of elementary school children. As has been
pointed out before, present-day intelligence tests are
best adapted for use with this group.

R. L. Thorndike analyzed the Stanford-Binet retest
records in the files of three well known New York private
schools: Ethical Culture, Horace Mann, and Lincoln.
Thorndike based his analysis upon those retests which
had been given after intervals of at least two and one
half years. No test record was used if the child was over
fourteen years of age at the time of testing. In the case
of a few of the records used the children were below five
years of age at the time the initial test was given. This
fact would tend to result in somewhat greater LQ.
changes than would occur if all the tests had been given
at a somewhat later age. Thorndike points out that the

1 MILLER, W. S.: Variation of I.Q/s Obtained from Group Tests, J.
Educ. Psychol, Vol. 24, pp. 468-474, 1933.

136

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

mean I.Q, for each of the three schools is approxi-
mately 118.

The amount of change in I.Q. between test and retest
for 1167 children in these three superior schools is sum-
marized in Table XXII. In two of these schools the

TABLE XXII. DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INITIAL AND

RETEST I.Q.*

Amount of change
(difference)

School
A

School
B

School
C

Total

48 to 52

43 to 47

38 to 42

33 to 37

28 to 32

23 to 27

18 to 22

13 to 17 -

105

8 to 12

154

3 to 7

179

2 to 2

176

7 to 3

166

12 to 8

123

17 to 13

22 to 18

27 to - 23

32 to 28

37 to 33

42 to 38 - -

47 to 43 ....

294

404

469

1,167

+1.40

+6.17

+0.65

+2.77

11.65

13.75

12.36

12.89

S D of the mean

0.67

0.68

0.57

0.38

* THOBNTHKB, R. L,, "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education," Part II, p. 355, 1,940.

average gain is much too small to be considered sig-
nificant. In the third however, there is a mean differ-

137

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

ence of 6 .17 points. Thorndike confesses his inability to
explain so considerable an increase.

As in the case of the Miller analysis the Thorndike
data indicate that while, in general, the amount of
change in I.Q. is small in a few instances it reaches
considerable proportions.

Psychologists who have studied the development of
preschool children present conflicting evidence concern-
ing their mental development as measured by tests. A
tendency for these young children to earn higher scores
after a period of time in a stimulating environment is
pointed out in the Iowa studies. Shirley reports in "The
First Two Years" that she finds much uneveness in
development during the first eighteen months, but that
after this period the children whom she studied were
likely to hold their respective places,

Gesell 1 after a ten year study of 30 children, many of
whom were tested during the first year of life, feels
justified in saying :

In no instance did the course of growth prove whimsical or erratic.
The behavior biographies give clear evidence of a high degree of
latent predictability, even in infancy.

Gesell, 2 by way of illustration, gives the following
brief description of the intellectual development of a
gifted boy.

Child 0. P., at the age of three years was clinically adjudged to
be distinctly superior because of the dynamic qualities of his per-
formances, even though his initial intelligence score was not very
extraordinary. On six annual examinations his drawing abilities
proved equal to the average; his IC^s fluctuated widely: 115, 135,
140, 130, 165, 160. Our clinical estimates of his capacity, however,
remained consistently favorable and did not undergo corresponding

1 GESELL, A., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education," Part II, p. 149, 1940.

2 Ibid. p. 152.

138

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

fluctuations. He passed his College Entrance Board examinations at
age 16, after a superior record in preparatory school. He remains true
to the superiority foreshadowed at age three.

Anderson/ on the other hand, points out that intel-
ligence tests are much more satisfactory when used upon
elementary school children. He says,

Infant tests, as at present constituted, measure very little, if at
all, the function that is called 'intelligence 1 at later ages. Preschool
intelligence tests, while they are instruments of some value and
usefulness, measure only a portion of that function. Whether it will
be possible to develop tests at these levels that will measure more of
the function remains to be seen.

LOOKING BACKWABD

There are two ways of gathering facts on the problem
as to whether or not genius maintains its relative place on
the intellectual scale. The first is to look back into the
early years of men and women of recognized eminence to
see if they were mentally precocious children. The second
is to follow the development of children who, at an early
age, have been identified as being intellectually gifted to
observe whether or not they grow into adult geniuses.

As was pointed out earlier, it is commonly believed
that most great men not only come from humble social
and economic beginnings but also as children were
mentally dull. It seems more just to have it that way
rather than to believe that they were bright and success-
ful all their lives. This point of view is aided and abetted
by the difficulty which is experienced in comparing a
certain eminent man with the populace as a whole.
For instance, President Harding has frequently been
referred to as an average man because he did not equal
many other American presidents and statesmen; but

1 ANDEESON, J. E., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society
for the Study of Education," Part I, pp. 401-402, 194(X

139

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

when compared to the actual average man such a one
as would fit the Hollingworth description in the first
chapter Harding is obviously superior. The following
letter, written by a young man of grade school education
whose intelligence is known by test to be slightly above
average, will serve as a reminder of what the intellectual
behavior of an average adult is really like:

Dear John:

Jim and I have about finished work on your automobile.

Except a little more to be done on the fender.

An hour's work or so which we would of done this morning but
it's raining hard.

And I have to go back to Stratton today.

Jim will finish that when it clears up.

And he'll send you his bill.

Yours truely,

Statements similar to those concerning Harding are
commonly made of other eminent men of the present and
of the past. For instance, it is frequently said that Grant,
graduate at the middle of his class at West Point and a
rather mediocre president, was a man of only average
intelligence; yet to have been graduated from West
Point at all required superior mentality. Hitler is com-
monly offered as a man of average intellect who has
attained tremendous power. It is perhaps true that
Hitler does not have so good a mind as some of his con-
temporaries, yet he is obviously far above average in this
respect. Huey Long is a favorite example of a dullard who
attained a high place, yet an examination of the intel-
lectual behavior and school achievement of the boy Huey
indicates an I.Q. of close to 200. There are, of course,
wide differences in the intellectual capacities of men who
have achieved eminence, but it is extremely unlikely that
even one of them was below average, or even average, in
intelligence as a child.

140

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Helen Cohen 1 and Nancy Coryell have edited a volume
containing reports on gifted high school children in the
city of New York. Scattered through the book are com-
ments on the school successes of certain outstanding
graduates. Such instances do not constitute final proof
of the constancy of achievement, but they are interest-
ing examples of the "able man bright child" principle.
The following items are taken at random from the
section on English studies:

Anna E. Bennet, who was graduated there in June 1931, wrote a
number of remarkable poems for the school magazine and won the
interschool poetry contest. She received a scholarship from Adelphi
College where she is now a student. The poems she wrote have
appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Lantern^ Poetry, and Voices.

Esther Horowitz, who was editor-in-chief of the school magazine,
has shown decided literary ability. Shortly after graduation she was
engaged by the Mathilde Weil Literary Agency as critic of poetry.
Contributions of hers have appeared in The New Yorker.

While Alice Glasgow was in Hunter College, two of her plays,
Onentcde and Scherzo, were produced and awarded prizes by the
Century Theatre Club. After graduation, she was teacher-in-training
in the Department of English in Washington Irving. Her first novel,
The Twisted Tendril, a portrayal of the life of Guy Wilkes Booth, was
published by Stokes in 1928.

Claudette Colbert, undoubtedly the most widely known graduate
of Washington Irving on the stage or screen, discovered herself in
the course of her training on the boards of the Washington Irving
theatre. Because of excellent class work in English this student
(then known as Claudette Chauchoin) was recommended for and
took part in LaunceLot George, a one-act play by a teacher of English
in the school. Immediately following this, while still in the school,
she appeared at the Provincetown Playhouse with Alice Rostetter
in the fetter's play The Widow's Veil. This was Claudette's first
professional appearance. In the last term she won a book, the class
prize in Engjish. After graduation in 1920 and her stage success,
Miss Colbert visited the school, by invitation, and talked to the

1 COHEN, H. L., and N. G. COBYEIA, "Educating Superior Students,"
pp. 75, 81, 82, 83, American Book Company, New York,

141

GENIUS IX THE MAKING

students in the auditorium. Her stage and screen successes are so
numerous and so well known that it would be idle to list them.

The Cox Compilation of Biographical Data
The most complete body of information gathered on
this question the intellectual status in childhood of men
who later attained eminence is that of Catherine Morris
Cox and her coworkers. Miss Cox made a careful and
detailed study of all available biographical material on
301 of the most eminent men and women in the world
during the period between 1450 and 1850. On the basis of
her data, the early mental behavior of these eminent
individuals was compared with the standards of behavior
of present-day children as determined by scientifically
constructed intelligence tests. From this comparison,
described at length in "Genetic Studies of Genius/ 7
Vol. II, three experienced judges, Lewis M. Tennan,
Maude A. Merrill, and Catherine Cox, made two I.Q.
estimates for each of the 301 subjects. The first of these
was based upon the mental behavior of the individual up
to age seventeen; the second from age seventeen to age
twenty-six.

Miss Cox 1 presents three conclusions of considerable
significance.

Youtlis who achieve eminence, have in general (a) a heredity above
the average and (&) superior advantages in early environment.

Youths who achieve eminence are distinguished in childhood by
behavior which indicates an unusually high IQ.

Youths who achieve eminence are characterized not only by high
intellectual traits, but also by persistence of motive and effort,
confidence in their abilities, and great strength or force of character.

Since the second of these conclusions bears directly
upon the central problem of this chapter, Miss Cox's 2
elaboration of the bare statement is presented in full.

C. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol H, pp. 215-218,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.
*Ibid., pp. 217-218.

142

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

A corrected estimate indicates that the true mean IQ for the group
is not below 155 and probably at least as high as 165. The average of
the obtained IQ estimates for a small group of cases more adequately
reported than the others is 176 for the first 17 years of life. The
corrected estimate, indicating a nearer approximation to a true IQ,
is for the same group 184. It is probable that a number of the cases
included among the SOI actually ranked in intelligence not far below
the composition scores of several of their number and of these, many
are well above the 200 IQ mark. Arnauld, Comte, Goethe, Grotius,
Laplace, Leopardi, Michelangelo, Newton, Pascal, the younger
Pitt, Sarpi, Schelling, Voltaire, and Wolsey probably rated at
200 IQ or even higher. . . .

The significant conclusion in the present study is derived from
the evidence it presents that the extraordinary genius who achieves
the highest eminence is also the gifted individual whom intelligence
tests may discover in childhood. The converse of this proposition
is yet to be proved.

The biographical material summarized by Miss Cox
constitutes a storehouse of factual material on the
constancy of mental development and of achievement.
From it to take a very few items it is learned that:
Coleridge and Swift could read the Bible at the age of
three, and von Humboldt could both read and write at
the same age. Tasso was using words meaningfully when
he was six months old and began the study of grammar
at the age of three years. Victor Hugo had taught himself
to read before he was six and learned writing and
arithmetic almost as quickly. Longfellow was well into
Latin grammar at the age of seven, and Scott had learned
to read before he was four. At the age of eleven, Scott
made the following translation from Latin:

In awful ruins Aetna thunders nigh,
And sends in pitchy whirlwinds to the sky
Black clouds of smoke, which, still as they aspire,
From then* dark sides there bursts the glowing fire;
At other times huge balls of fire are toss'd,
That lick the stars, and in the smoke are lost:
Sometimes the mount, with vast convulsions torn,
143

GENIUS IX THE MAKING

Emits huge rocks, which instantly are borne
With loud explosions to the starry skies,
The stones made liquid as the huge mass flies,
Then back again with greater weight recoils,
While Aetna thundering from, the bottom boils.

George Sand had learned to write before she was five,
but she never learned how to spell correctly. It was said
of William Pitt that he grasped the meaning of a passage
so readily that he never seemed to learn but only to
recollect, Washington became a professional surveyor at
fifteen, and had the responsible task of surveying the
Fairfax estate when he was only sixteen. Newton was a
silent, thoughtful boy who never played with other
children, but devoted all his leisure time to making inven-
tions. Charlotte Bronte and her sisters were authors while
they were yet children. By the age of ten Charlotte was
writing stories of 20,000 words. At the age of thirteen,
she wrote this letter to a magazine editor:

Sir, It is well known, that the Genii have declared that unless
they perform certain arduous duties every year, of a mysterious
nature, all the worlds in the firmament will be burnt up, and gathered
together in one mighty 'globe, which will roll in solitary grandeur
through the vast wilderness of space, inhabited only by the four
high princes of the Genii, till time shall be succeeded by Eternity;
and the impudence of this is only to be paralleled by another of their
assertions, namely, that by their magic might they can reduce the
world to a desert, the purest waters to streams of livid poison, and
the clearest lakes to stagnant waters, the pestilential vapours of
which shall slay all living creatures, except the blood-thirsty beast
of the forest, and the ravenous bird of the rock; but that in the midst
of this desolation the palace of the Chief Genii shall rise sparkling in
the wilderness, and the horrible howl of their warcry shall spread
over the land at morning, at noontide and night; but that they shall
have their annual feast over the bones of the dead, and shall yearly
rejoice with the joy of victors. I think, sir, that the horrible wicked-
ness of this needs no remark, and therefore I haste to subscribe
myself, &c,

July 14, 1829.

144

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

The following description of the early behavior of
Goethe indicates the kind of criteria upon which Miss
Cox 1 and her cojudges based their estimates of the
intellectual status of the eminent men whom they were
studying. It serves the purpose, also, of bringing into
bold relief the boyhood picture of the man of genius.

Development to age 17.

1. Interests. When Goethe was 4K a puppet theatre, presented by
his grandmother, stimulated his dramatic sense, and at 6K he began
to arrange and conduct plays on this miniature stage. Before he was
8 he and some of his companions developed a passion for writing
poetry. Young Goethe thought his works superior to the others; but
when he found that his fellow " authors " had the same impression
of their verses, he became discouraged and gave up writing for a
time, only, however, to resume activity later, after praise had
heartened him to try again. Intellectual or political discussions
quickened the lad's thought, and the tales of his father's travels
aroused in him the desire for wider horizons. In this stimulating
intellectual atmosphere he enjoyed the balancing advantage of a
first hand knowledge of the arts and crafts as practiced by his towns-
men. At local fairs young Goethe was thrilled by the view of strange
wares from many a far country; on his explorations of the city,
history became a living tale. At the age of 9 he built an altar and
developed a mystical religion of his own in the hope of approaching
God directly and thus worshiping him without priestly intervention.
Between 9^ and 12, he became deeply interested in French. He
studied the language with the French commandant, quartered in his
father's house; he read dramatic theory and criticism; and he visited
the French theatre regularly on a pass presented by his grandfather,
the mayor. In connection with his attendance at the play he learned,
by visits behind the scenes, something of the contrast between the
actors' lives and their professional attitudes.

Dispatched to the university, Goethe (at 16) was, as always, full of
literary and social interests. He read widely, attended the theatre,
and discoursed with his friends. He also devoted considerable tune
to the writing of verses in German, French, English, and Italian,
attempting in his productions something more than the pseudo-poetry
of the day.

, pp. 694-698.

145

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

2. Education, From the age of 3 until he was 6, Goethe attended a
day nursery <>*" kindergarten, and here, according to tradition, he
learned to read. His father had already begun to tell the little lad
and his sister the history of the town. An ABC book was purchased
for young Goethe (aged 4> 2 ') and a year later a catechism with
Biblical quotations was presented to him. At this latter age, he
attended a public school with his sister for several months. . . .
Goethe's training in Latin began when he was 7 and within a few
months he was writing free Latin compositions and learning military
and legal phrases in the language. The corrections in his exercise
books concern errors in orthography and the like rather than errors
in language usage. One of his tutors, who was also a public school
teacher, arranged prize literary competitions in which Goetbe com-
peted successfully with boys in the regular school. A legal friend
instructed the boy in international law, while other associates of his
father and grandfather took an interest in his education along the
lines in which they had specialized. When Goethe wag 9M, the
French were quartered in Frankfort. The French commandant of
the city was quartered in the Goethe house where he attracted an
interesting group of people, especially artists, from whom Goethe
learned something of their art. The prescribed preconfirmation
instruction, which followed in regular course, was thoroughly dis-
tasteful to the 12-year-old boy. More satisfying to him were a variety
of studies carried on at this time including mathematics. English,
drawing, piano playing and at length after much importunity,
Hebrew also. At 14 his reading included law and Latin. From 14 to
17 Ms scientific and pre-legal education progressed; Latin had by
this time been thoroughly mastered.

At 17 Goethe had completed a broad and liberal course of training:
he was familiar with the poetry of the leading nations; his reading of
German, French, Latin, and Hebrew literature had been extensive; he
was conversant with the language and history of the principal coun-
tries of Europe and he knew the political and legal history of Ger-
many in minute detail; he had made progress in the study of theology
and jurisprudence and the natural sciences; he knew something of
drawing and music; he played the piano and the flute; and the artist
Seekatz considered him a promising art student. At 16 he entered the
University of Leipzig as a student of law and literature, for the elder
Goethe intended that the brilliant career as a jurist which he had
failed to achieve for himself should be realized by his son; but young
Goethe wished to be a poet.

146

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

3. School standing and progress. "By means of a ready apprehen-
sion, practice, and a good memory " Goethe soon outgrew the instruc-
tions his father and his other teachers were able to give without ever
requiring or receiving elementary drill in anything. Grammar which
seemed to him a matter of arbitrary rules and exceptions, he despised,
and he learned it only with some difficulty; Latin and geography,
which he learned in verse, he thoroughly enjoyed and hence acquired
readily enough. In rhetoric, composition, and the like he always
excelled. Grammatical exercises, written when little Goethe was 7K
and 8 show thorough and painstaking study and the ability to
express the experiences and impressions of every-day life in natural
and facile Latin form. When his penmanship was rated with that of
other children in the town it stood, on an average, 9th in a group of
SO. At 8J, Goethe began to translate exercises into Latin in imitation
of the historian Justinian similar to those designed by his tutor,
who was also assistant school rector, for the senior class in the
Gymnasium. Thus in his 9th year the lad was competing with boys
of 16 to 22 years. At 8 Goethe learned so readily that he was able to
pick up Italian from overhearing his sister and her tutor, while he
himself was studying his Latin lesson. His rapid progress in French
reconciled his protesting father to his attendance at the theatre when
the French classics were presented. A serious boy, and even at the
age of 10 always the most industrious of them ail, he was annoyed
by the trifling of his playmates.

4. Friends and associates. In consequence of being made much of
by his father's friends, Goethe became self-conscious and somewhat
vain; but even his playmates admitted his actual superiority: "We
were all his lackeys," later wrote one boy two years his senior.
Goethe's intellectual endowment, his skill in narrating thrilling tales,
the distinction of his bearing and manner made him a leader among
his fellows. At the university, many of Goethe's associates were men
of established reputation and ability, ten or more years his senior.
Two girls had in turn won Goethe's passionate devotion before he
was 17; the first when he was 14, the second when he was 16.

5. Reading. When barely 6 years old Goethe began to examine
and read the illustrated Orbis pidus, Merian's illustrated Bible (then
and later a favorite), Gottfried's illustrated chronicles of universal
history and Heidegger's Acerra pkUologica. A little later he was read-
ing Robinson Crusoe, Rie Insel Feteenbnrg, and similar tales. At 8,
he was already somewhat acquainted in his father's library with the
older German poets of the 18th century, the best Latin and Italian

147

GENIUS IX THE MAKING

poets, Roman antiquities, classic works on jurisprudence, books of
travel, historical and philosophical treatises, and encyclopaedias of
all kinds. A little later modern works, forbidden by his father, were
secretly obtained and devoured. Evenings at home were spent in
reading aloud in various edifying works. Bower's History of the Popes
was one book so read and reread in its heavy entirety, for according
to the elder Goethe's plan a work once begun had always to be
finished. In his uncle's library the lad found a delightful translation
of Homer with copperplate illustrations. Virgil came to hand a little
later. While the French were in Frankfort, Goethe (between 9 and 12)
read the works of the principal French dramatists: all of Racine and
Moliere, and most of Corneille. In his 13th year he studied Hebrew
and read much and long in the Bible; at 14 he read chiefly legal and
philosophical books. But he was best satisfied by works in which
poetry, religion, and philosophy were united. At 15 he read among
other things the works of Wieland, French plays, and the dramas of
Leasing. At 16 he was especially impressed by Lessing's Laokodn and
Dodd's Beauties of Shakespeare. To supply the shortcomings in his
prescribed training he had recourse to such encyclopaedic works as
those of Bayle and Gessner.

6. Production and achievement. The free compositions which
Goethe wrote at 7} and 8 include three conversations that possess
genuine creative quality and exhibit a remarkable ability in charac-
terization. The "morning salutations" in German, Latin, and Greek,
written before he was 9, express charming sentiments in artistic form;
but Greek exercises of this period exhibit the faults of a beginner.
At 9Ji Goethe had amassed a considerable collection of lessons and
stories. At 10 he wrote a little play, hoping it might be staged; at 12
he composed a story in the form of letters written in Latin, with a
sprinkling of Greek, English, French, Italian, Yiddish, and German.
In this year a series of controversial sermons so aroused his interest
that he undertook to preserve them by dictation to his father's
secretary, and with the help of a few notes he succeeded for several
weeks in reconstructing what he had heard for the edification of his
father. Gradually, however, interest in this undertaking waned and
the report dwindled into a mere outline.

7. Evidences of precocity. When the Christian world was stag-
gered by the Lisbon earthquake, Goethe, aged 6, heard more than
one sermon devoted to an explanation of this apparent contradiction
of Providence. His comment was as follows: "After all, it is probably
much ampler than they suppose. God knows that the immortal

148

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

soul can suffer BO harm through such a fate." Goethe's father early
recognized his son's unusual ability, and friends of the family enthu-
siastically mapped out careers suited to such rare talents. One wished
to make him a courtier, another a diplomat, a third a jurist. Goethe's
mother, when her son was 9, noting that he was distinguished from
the other boys by his erect carriage, mentioned the fact to him in
praise. He replied that he would later be distinguished from them in
other ways. On another occasion he stated that he would never be
satisfied with that which satisfied others. His more than common
rapidity of development admitted him to confirmation at an unusually
early age (12). Intellectual forwardness appeared in many serious
discussions with his tutor. For example the 14-year-old was inter-
ested to argue at length that there was no need for a separate study
of philosophy, as religion and poetry covered the field. At 16, Goethe
was familiar with the culture of Europe and his interests and tastes
were those of a scholar and man of the world.

LOOKING FOEWARD

The typical intellectually gifted child, possessing at
birth a much greater mental capacity and a slightly
superior physical equipment than the child of average
intelligence, progresses through early infancy at a
relatively rapid pace. The rate of development varies, of
course, with his various abilities. While it is very rapid
for intellect, it may be only slightly above average for
physique or social sense. The median for a group of gifted
children, however, will nearly always exceed the median
for a group of unselected children for any ability.

There is an old New England saying, "Tali: before you
go, born to sorrow and woe." Mentally superior children
born to the sorrow and woe of carrying the major part
of the burdens of civilization are likely to be able to use
several words meaningfully before they can walk. The
age at which the normal child learns to walk is, on the
average, fourteen months, and the age at which he learns
to talk that is, to use one or more words with meaning
is approximately fifteen months. The feeble-minded

149

GENIUS IX THE MAKING

child is approximately two years old before he learns to
walk and over three before he learns to talk. The typical
gifted child uses three words with understanding at the
age of eleven months, and walks at thirteen months. In
both walking and talking, bright children are superior,
but their acceleration is relatively much greater in
language than in physical movement.

The extent to which gifted children maintain their
mental status at or toward the top as they grow from
infancy through childhood into maturity can be deter-
mined only by long-range studies, The two most satis-
factory efforts in this direction are the Hollingworth
Growth Study of a group of intellectually gifted children
in New York and the Terman Growth Study of a much
larger group of such children in California.

The Hollingworth Growth Study

In 1922-1923 Prof. Leta S. Hollingworth, of Teachers
College, Columbia, assisted by a committee from Public
School 165, Manhattan, and Teachers College, initiated
a project of selecting and following the development of a
group of intellectually gifted children. One hundred and
forty-eight such children, identified as having an I.Q. of
at least 133, were chosen. Of this group fifty-six were
taken as a randon sample whose growth would be care-
fully and accurately followed for a period of ten years.
Of these fifty-six only two were missing at the time the
final test was given at the end of the decade.

The follow-up studies which Prof. Hollingworth and
her collaborators made definitely proved that t^e intel-
lectual development of this group of gifted children had
been strikingly constant. One of the earlier reports
appeared in a monograph by Edna Lamson. 1

1 LAMSON, E,, "A Study of Young Gifted Children in Senior High
School/' p. 117, Teachers College, Contributions to Education, No. 424,
Columbia University, 19SO.

150

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Miss Lamson, working with the aforementioned group
of fifty-six, presents data which show a slight increase
in the average LQ. of the group during the first three
years, when it was possible to test them with the
Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale. The mean
LQ. of the group on the first test was 153 1.7. One year
later, the average LQ. for the same group was 156 1.1.
One year after the second test was given, the average
LQ. was found to be 157 1.2. The range also remained
constant, no child, on any one of the three tests, falling
below an LQ. of 135. The first-year range was 135-190,
the second-year range 135-188, the third-year range
137-188. Miss Lamson points out that the standard
deviations for the three distributions were almost exactly
the same. She also emphasizes the fact that all these
children, who were in the top 1 per cent of the population
at the beginning of the series of tests, were still in the top
1 per cent at the end of the series.

Miss Lamson, following the development of these
children into and through high school from which they
were graduated at an average chronological age of sixteen
tested them with the Army Alpha examination in 1929,
when the average chronological age of the group was
fifteen. She found that they were in the top decile of the
high school population when chronological age was held
constant. Since high school students are a selected
group, Lamson says that the scores which her group of
gifted children earned on Army Alpha place them in the
top 1 per cent for an unselected group. The median score
earned by the gifted group on Army Alpha was fifteen
points higher than the median obtained by a group of
252 graduate students at Columbia University.

Hollingworth and Kaunitz 1 report on the intellectual
status of the Hollingworth group of gifted children

1 HOI^INGWORTH, L. S., and R. M. KAJJOTTS, "The Gentile Status of

151

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

approximately ten years after their identification. These
children, now at an average age of 18 years 6 months,

TABLE XXIII. PRESENTING TOTAL DATA otf AGE, SEX, AND TEST

SCOEES OF EVERY FOUBTH CHILD OF 116 INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED

CHILDREN RETESTED AT OR NEAR MATURITY*

Subject

Sex

LQ.

(S-B)

Age

Army
Alpha
score

Form
of
Alpha

Age

Years

Months

Years

Months

178

188

173

181

170

180

167

197

162

192

160

188

157

189

157

189

156

200

154

153

177

152

197

151 -f

184

150

191

147

150

146

153

145

159

145

192

144

171

141

160

141

182

140

189

139

183

138

171

100

138

167

104

136

164

108

135

163

112

133

156

116

133

151

* Adapted from HOLIINGWOBTH, L. S., and R- M. KATTNTTZ, Tlie Centile Status of
Gifted Children at Maturity, J. Genet. Psychol. t vol. 45, p. 109, September, 1934.

Gifted Children at Maturity," /. Genet. PsychoL, pp. 106-120, Vol. 45,
September, 1934.

152

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

with no one less than 15, were too old to be given the
Stanford-Binet test, so Hollingworth and Kaunitz chose
Army Alpha even though, as the writers point out, the
general-information section of this instrument is now at
least partly obsolete and hence somewhat penalizes any
group taking it at the present day. Data on each of the
116 intellectually gifted children are summarized in table
form by the writers. Table XXIII includes the reports
on every fourth child of the 116.

As Hollingworth and Kaunitz point out, an analysis
of the scores earned by soldiers in the American army
during the World War indicates an average of 62.9 points
with the top centile earning 165 points or better* When
Hollingworth and Kaunitz 1 compared the scores earned'
by their 116 gifted subjects with those earned by the
large group of male adults who were examined with the
Army Alpha in 1917-1918, they found that 95 of the 116
subjects, when tested as they approached maturity,
reached the top centile. Nineteen fell at or about the
ninety-seventh centile. Two, both girls, fell below the
ninety-seventh centile. They point out that 82 per cent
of the gifted group fell, at maturity, into the same centile
of the white draft on Army Alpha which they occupied
in childhood among school children on Stanford-Binet.
The remaining 18 per cent very nearly reached this
status. No individual regressed to average.

A later report on the Hollingworth group was made by
Lorge and Hollingworth, 2 In this study the investigators
were concerned with the problem of the extent to which
status on the CAVD scale at maturity is predictable
from status on the Stanford-Binet in childhood. Eighteen

1 HOLUNGWORTH and KATJNITZ, op. dt., p. 116.

* LORGE, I., and L. S. HOLUNGWOBTH, Adult Status of Highly Intelli-
gent Children, Fed. Sem., and J. Genet. PsyckaL, Vol. 49, pp. 215-226,
1936.

153

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

children who had been identified as being intellectually
gifted when they were at or near eight years of age and
who, ten years later, had been found to rate well toward
the top on Army Alpha were now, thirteen years after the
original test, given the CAYD, levels N to Q. Lorge and
Hollingworth conclude that children possessing LQ.'s of
140 and above fall within the upper quartile of the
college-graduate population of the United States when
they are at or near maturity.

The data on the Hollingworth group, then, collected
over a period of more than a decade, show definitely that
these children, at least, have maintained their intellectual
status through the years. There is little reason to believe
that what has been found to be true of them is not typical
of intellectually gifted children everywhere.

The Terman Growth Study

Terman's genetic study of a large group of intellectu-
ally gifted children in California is, as has been mentioned
earlier, the most comprehensive so far conducted.
Terman and his coworkers gathered extensive data on
the 643 cases in what he called the "Main Experimental
Group/ 7 They also studied, although not so completely,
approximately 300 other bright children. These subjects
were selected in 1921-1922, and a full report of then-
progress during the first six years that is, up to 1927-
1928 was made in "Genetic Studies of Genius," VoL
III. Included in this is a chapter 1 which presents data
on the intellectual status of these gifted children six years
after their selection.

The average age of the regular group of 643 cases, at
time of selection, was 9 years 11 months, with only
68 cases under seven years of age. For this reason, a

, L. M., " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. Ill, Chap. Ill,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1930.

154

COXSTAXCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

serious difficulty arose in 1927-1928 concerning the
selection of adequate tests for reexamination purposes.
The Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale could
be used with the younger children only, because it is not
difficult enough to test the mental capacity of superior
adolescents. Terman and his assistants finally decided
to use the Stanford-Binet for those children who, at the
time of retesting were less than thirteen years of age, the
Terman Group Test for those who were between thirteen
and twenty, unless above college freshman standing, and
the Thorndike College Entrance Examination for the
small group of older children and those who were above
the freshman year in college.

TABLE XXIV. COMPABISON OF STAXFORD-BIXET I.Q.'s, 1921-1922 AND

1927-1928*

Boys

Girls

Mean

S.D.

Mean

S.D.

Mean

S.D.

Regulars, 1921-1922 ....

147

8.4

150

11 8

*>7

148

10 4

">4

Regulars, 1927-1927

144

14.5

133

139

15 1

Diff eren ce

6 1

2 2

4 7

S.D. of difference (approxi-

Regulars and outside Binets,
1921-1922.,

146

8.2

149

11.2

148

10.0

Regulars and outside Binets,
1927-1928

143

17 8t

136

15 4

140

Difference

9.6

4.2

7.0

S.D. of difference (approxi-

* Adapted from TERMAN, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. Ill, p. 251.
t The excessively high standard deviation is here due to one case, a boy who scored
198 I.Q. We have reason to believe this boy had been coached before he took the retest.

Contrary to the Hollingworth findings, Terman dis-
covered that there was a tendency for the I.Q/s of those
who were retested with the Stanford-Binet to decrease
(see Table XXIV).

155

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

It is important to note here that while the decrease of
the boys' LQ.'s is very slight, that of the girls is consider-
able. This sex difference consistently appears in reports
on the constancy of the intellectual status of gifted
children.

As Terman points out, the distribution of changes in
individual LQ.'s is of greater significance than changes in
means. He sum in arizes these in the following table:

TABLE XXV, SUMMARY OF I.Q. CHANGES, 1921-1922 TO 1927-1928*

I.Q.'s
lower in
1927-1928

LQ.'s

higher in
1927-1928

All Stanford-
Binet retests
1927-1928

Mean
drop

Mean
gain

Mean
change

S.D.

Regular boys

14
16

16
15

24
25

16
1

10
14

12
1

4
16

13
16

15
14

8.3

11.1
9,3

9.8
10.5

26 f

34f
72f

Regular and outside Binet
bovs

Regular girls

Regular and outside Binet
girls

Total, boys and girls

* Adapted from TBEMAN, " Genetic Studies of Genius," VoL III, p. 26.

t One girl, whose original I.Q. was 192 and whose corrected 1928 I.Q. was 173, was
not included in the tabulation, because she passed every test on the Stanf ord-Binet scale
and hence was not adequately measured.

In further explanation of Table XXV, Terman 1 says:

Five of the twenty-seven regular boys and eight of the total thirty-
eight boys lost as much as 15 points in IQ. Five of the regular boys
and seven of the total thirty-eight boys gained as much as fifteen
points each. None of the regular girls and only one of the entire
thirty-four girls gained as much as fifteen each. There were several
cases of extreme change, two regular boys and four regular girls each
dropping 25 points or more.

1 TBBMAN, op. cit., pp. 26-27.

156

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

A much larger number of gifted children, 399 to be
exact, were examined with the Tennan Group Test. This
instrument is by no means wholly adequate for measuring
the mental capacity of highly intelligent individuals. As
Terman points out, a child capable of earning a score of
180 or better is under a handicap. An examination of the
following table shows that a great majority of the scores
earned by the 399 gifted children fall about 180.

TABLE XXVI. DISTRIBUTION OF TEHRAN GSOUF TEST SCOKES, 1928,
REGUI.AB GBOTJP*

e!3

e!4

e!5

e!6

Bl7

e!8

e!9

Jtr oiiiu scores

216-220

215

210

( f

205

. .

200

. .

* .

195

190

. .

185

180

. .

175

f f

170

B 9

165

160

155

. .

150

t f

f ^

145

. ,

. .

140

135

130

125

120

111-115

Total.

Grand total , 399

" TXBMAX, "Gmetfo Stadias of Genius," VoL III, p. 32.

157

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Terman concludes from an analysis of the scores found
by retesting gifted children with the Terman Group Test
that the average is equivalent to an I.Q. of between 130
and 135. This figure, although showing that the children
still remain well toward the top with respect to intelli-
gence, indicates that there has been a slight decrease in
the average I.Q. In connection with the Terman Group
Test scores, it is interesting to note also that the boys
once more excelled the girls. This fact is consistent with
the observations of Lincoln, in the Harvard Growth
Study, and of Hollingworth in her work with the New
York group of gifted children.

Lincoln, 1 reporting on 109 children, 45 boys and 65
girls, with initial I.Q.'s ranging from 119 to 145, says
that, when his cases were reexamined after intervals
ranging from five to eight years, the girls were found to
have lost more in I.Q. than the boys. Lincoln points out
that during this period 46.7 per cent of the boys gained
in I.Q., the median gain being 8.27, while only 32.8 per
cent of the girls gained, the median gain being 5.36,
On the other hand, 51.1 per cent of the boys lost, the
median loss being 8.25, while 62.5 per cent of the girls
lost, the median loss being 11.54. The girls showed about
14 per cent fewer gains and 11 per cent more losses than
the boys.

In the Holliagworth-Kaunitz study referred to earlier
in this chapter, the authors, in their summaries, mention
the fact that the girls regressed somewhat more fre-
quently than the boys. This regression was not fully
accounted for by the known sex difference between
medians on Army Alpha.

It would appear, then, although psychologists can offer
no adequate explanation for it, that boys are more likely

1 LINCOLN, E. A., A Study of Changes in the Intelligence Quotients
of Superior Children, J. Educ. Res., Vol. 29, pp. 272-275, 1935.

158

CONSTANCY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

than girls to retain in later years a high I.Q. earlier
evidenced.

The oldest of the Terman group of gifted children were
tested with the Thorndike College Entrance Examina-
tion. The scores earned were then compared with those
made by a group of students of typical college ability
entering Stanford University in 1921-1922. This compari-
son shows that only about 11 per cent of the scores
earned by typical Stanford men exceeded the average
earned by the gifted boys, and only 16 per cent of the
scores earned by Stanford women exceeded the mean
earned by the gifted girls.

Witty, in his genetic study of 50 gifted children
previously referred to, reports a marked constancy in
intellectual status. At the time the study was begun in
1924r-1925 the children ranged in I.Q. from 140 to 183
with a mean of 153. At the time of the third study, in
1935, the majority of the group were in college. Witty 1
says that analyses of the scores made on group intel-
ligence tests at that time show that

all the group would fall among the upper 5 per cent of college stu-
dents. These results confirm the observation that those who will be
highly gifted in college and in high school can be identified with con-
siderable accuracy by intelligence tests administered when they are
still children in the elementary school.

SUMMARY

The conclusions of the above studies are in agreement
that, in general, those individuals found to be intellec-
tually gifted during the grade school period will be found
in or near the top 1 per cent of the total population with
respect to intelligence when they reach adolescence or
adulthood; that there are some exceptions does not dis-

1 WITTY, P., "Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education," Part II, pp. 404-405, 1940.

159

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

prove the rule. These exceptions may be in part the
result of certain flaws in the measuring instrument or,
what is more likely, of the intrusion of such factors as
lack of effort or emotional blockings at the time of taking
the test. It is also possible, as Terman points out, that
in a few persons there exists an inherent change-of-rate
factor which causes intellectual growth to proceed
spasmodically rather than constantly. That this happens
in physical growth has long been known. However, it is
important to keep in mind that such a condition is the
exception, not the rule, and that gifted children, like
normal children, tend to develop steadily, maintaining
their relative position on the intellectual scale.

160

CHAPTER VIII
DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

1. Is there any relationship between college grades and later busi-
ness success?

2. What influence do such intrinsic factors as "drive" and "single-
ness of purpose" have when achieving eminence?

3. Are such extrinsic factors as " manner of death " and "period of
activity" important in determining a man's place in posterity?

Intellect is by no means tlie sole determiner of success
or eminence; it is but one of the foundation stones upon
which achievement is built. So interdependent are the
stones in this foundation that it is hazardous even to say
that intellect is the most important ; however, it is certain
that without superior mental capacity, any considerable
success is impossible.

INTELLECT VEESTJS ACHIEVEMENT

It is important to keep in mind this difference between
intellect and achievement; a person frequently has the
first without the second, but rarely the second without
the first in high degree. This point of view is not anti-
thetical to the law of constancy discussed in the preceding
chapter. If an individual known to be intellectually gifted
in childhood becomes a complete failure in adult years,
the cause cannot be found in an appreciably lowered
intellectual level, but lies rather in the absence of other
determiners of success. To point to a Sidas is not to prove
that all precocious children come to nought but merely to
indicate what every student of genius knows, that many
intellectually gifted children never fulfill their promise. A
man may have great material wealth and squander it.

161

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Possession never guarantees wise usage. If he has no
wealth, however, he has nothing either to squander or to
use wisely. All that can be said of intellectually gifted
children is that they have the wealth, the potentialities
for great achievement. Only time and circumstance will
show how their wealth will be used.

The disparity between intellectual capacity and actual
achievement appears again and again from earliest in-
fancy to adult years. For instance, the very bright child
of a year and a half may, because of an intense interest
in play or because of laziness, still have a vocabulary
of only two or three words. Such a case would be most
unusual but is possible and occasionally occurs. The fact
that the child has such a small vocabulary is in itself
not absolute proof that he is not gifted. On the other
hand, if he does have a vocabulary far in excess of that of
average children of the same age, then it is certain that he
is gifted. A similar example can be taken from the field of
reading. A child may be intellectually gifted and yet
not have learned to read at the age of five or six. His
inability to read is not in itself proof that he is incapable
of doing so. On the other hand, if he reads fluently
at the age of five, it is certain that he is mentally superior.
A gifted adolescent may do poor work in high school, but
this is not in itself sufficient proof that he is dull. His
failure to achieve may be the result of a number of
other causes.

A book could be filled with instances of very bright
children who have at different times in their school
careers done very poor work. In many cases these
children achieved on a high level after leaving the
educational world behind them. Then there are other
instances where the bright child did extremely well in
school but failed in later life. For example, there is the
story of two high school boys, one of whom had an LQ.

162

DETERMINED OF EMINENCE

of 135 and the other an I.Q. of 160. In high school the boy
with the lower I.Q. consistently excelled his brighter
classmate. After being graduated from high school, they
went on to college. The boy with the I.Q. of 135 was
graduated at the head of his class, while the boy with the
I.Q. of 160 barely passed his courses. The two then went
into the same law school. Suddenly the brighter boy,
though indolent by nature, realized that here was work in
which he could be really interested; here was information
that was going to be valuable to him in his profession. He
settled down to work for the first time in his life, and
was graduated from law school second in his class. The less
intelligent boy, though working as hard as ever and con-
tinuing to capitalize on a magnificent personality, found
that he could not keep pace with his old high school friend,
once this friend had decided to make full use of his greater
mental capacity. Today each is a successful lawyer.

Although there are many exceptions to the rule, then,
there is in general a marked relationship between intelli-
gence and school achievement. For elementary school
children the coefficient of correlation is approximately
.60; for high school children, .50 ; and for college students,
.45. Any teacher knows that, by being familiar with
the intellectual capacity of his pupils, he can prophesy
with considerable accuracy where they will fall on their
achievement tests. If he knows his students personally,
his prophesies will be even more accurate, for he will have
taken into consideration some of the factors other than
intelligence which determine success in any field.

COLLEGE GRADES AND BUSINESS SUCCESS

Although the layman is quite willing to admit that
there is a relationship between abstract intelligence and
school achievement, he finds it much more difficult to
accept the equally well established fact that there is

163

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

a marked positive relationship between intelligence and
later success, or between school achievement and later
success. For instance, there is the case of the high school
principal who was very proud of the fact that he had
been graduated from college at a position well toward the
bottom of Ms class. He maintained stoutly that to be
number one or number two man in a graduating class was
to court certain failure. It is interesting to note that this
principal never went far in the educational system and is
now in a small position in the hardware business, while
the valedictorian of his college class became a well-known
surgeon,

Some years ago Donald S. Bridgman 1 published a
report on tlie relationship between college grades and
success attained in the American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company by more than 4,000 college graduates
who were employed by that company. Instead of work-
ing with the usual letter grades Bridgman classified his
subjects according to whether or not they were in the
first tenth of their classes, or the first third, or the middle
third, or the lowest third. He found that of the 3,806
college graduates reported on in his studies, 14 per cent
had come from the first tenth of their classes, 40 per cent
from the first and middle thirds, and only about 20 per
cent from the last third. Bridgman found a marked
relationship to exist between scholarship position and
salary earned from the Bell Telephone Company fifteen
years later.

He says:

Fifteen years after graduation the median of the first tenth men
is 20 per cent above that for the whole group, 25 years after gradua-
tion it is 40 per cent and 30 years after graduation it is nearly 60 per
cent. The median of the first third rises steadily but rather slowly

1 BBIDOMAN, D. S., Success in College and Business, The Personnel
Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, June, 1930.

164

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

and only approaches 20 per cent above the entire group median at
25 years after graduation, and is only slightly above it at 30 years
after. The median of the middle third is somewhat below the median
of the whole group and that of the last third falls rather steadily
until at 30 years after graduation it is only 80 per cent of that of the
whole group.

Continuing his study, Bridgman took a single group
for whom he had complete data concerning scholarship,
extracurricular achievement, degree of college earnings,
and so on. This group numbered 1,310, all of whom had
been four or more years out of college. He then studied
the interrelation of these several factors, finding, as
would be expected, that they were positive. In other
words factors such as high scholarship, campus leader-
ship, and early graduation tended to go together. Of
these 1,310 men, 185 were in the first tenth in scholarship.
Of these, 53 per cent were found to be in the first third in
salary and only 18 per cent in the last third in salary.
Forty-five per cent of the men in the first third in scholar-
ship were in the first third in salary and 27 per cent in the
last third, while those who were in the last third in
scholarship were found to be, in nearly 50 per cent of the
cases, in the last third in salary. It is important to note,
however, that 22 per cent of these low-ranking students
were in the first-third salary group. As always, the fact of
overlapping must be recognized.

In his concluding remarks, Bridgman says:

Good scholarship, campus achievement, early graduation, in that
order are significant indices of success in the Bell system . Not
all the members of the groups which were highly selected by com-
binations of these several factors do succeed. It is very evident that
other elements are highly important. What all of these elements are,
we have no way of knowing. They certainly include a man's ability
to adjust himself to the environment of his home and of his business
as distinct from his ability to adjust himself to the environment of
college.

165

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Thus, as Bridgman points out, there are a number of
factors other than college achievement which affect
success, just as there are a number of factors other than
intellectual capacity which determine eminence. These
latter may be roughly classified into two main groups:
intrinsic and extrinsic. This division should be considered
in the light of the realization that the individual is being
constantly affected by his environment and that the
environment, in turn, is different for every individual.

INTRINSIC FACTORS

The intrinsic factors are those which come primarily
from within. Among the most important ones are:

1. Ambition

2. Drive

3. Health

4. Physical size and appearance

5. Race

6. Fluency in speaking or writing

7. Singleness of purpose

8. Ability to get along with people

9. Character

Ambition

The desire to excel is usually found in a man who at-
tains eminence. Marat once wrote that from earliest
childhood he had been " devoured by the love of glory. 77
Saint-Simon developed very early in life an intense
desire to distinguish himself- O'Connell, Irish patriot,
from the age of seven, felt that he would be a great man
and on one occasion was said to have remarked, "I'll
make a stir in the world yet." Thomas Chatterton, even
before he was five, insisted on preeminence, ruling his
playmates autocratically.

The desire to excel can, of course, be carried to such an
extreme that the individual having it becomes anathema

166

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

to his associates. However, when it is equaled or exceeded
by intellectual power and is tempered by kindness and
understanding, it becomes a tremendous driving force.
Few individuals have greatness thrust upon them. In
most cases it is attained only after great obstacles have
been surmounted.

Drive

Second in importance only to intelligence among the
factors which make for great success is what is commonly
called drive. An individual with drive experiences a
compelling force which actuates him to prodigious labors.
It is in this respect that drive differs from ambition;
for to be ambitious is to wish for or to desire without
necessarily pushing on to accomplish that desire. Drive
is so characteristic of genius that it has given rise to
the popular belief that a man can reach any goal if he
will work hard enough. Certainly high achievement
rarely comes to one who has not toiled more than his
fellows. To be sure, if his intellect does not match his
energy then Ms labors may avail him nothing, but if he
has been endowed with superior mentality and then
makes that mentality work to the highest degree possible,
success will almost certainly be his reward.

Frequently, very persistent individuals whose intelli-
gence is not of the highest achieve more than those who
excel them in mentality. Everyone knows of examples of
two young men, seemingly equally equipped, starting
out together in the same business or profession. After a
few years one has achieved striking success while the
other is still where he was at the beginning. It may
be that the one who made progress was less brilliant than
his friend, but through sheer endurance did what the
other man, more dilatory, more complacent, failed to ac-
complish. To be specific, there is the instance of two

167

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

young university instructors, one brilliant but volatile,
the other less gifted intellectually but willing to work
fourteen or fifteen hours a day. The first of these two
never progressed beyond the rank of instructor, while the
second at the end of eight years was a full professor in a
leading American university. The latter could not have
achieved this by hard work alone; he had to have ade-
quate mental equipment, but, almost as important, he
had persistence as well.

Cox, in investigating the relative importance of drive,
makes a number of interesting comparisons between
certain subgroups of the geniuses whom she studied. In
one instance she made the following four classifications:
the ten most eminent geniuses, the ten least eminent
geniuses, the five with the highest I.Q., and the six with
the lowest I.Q.

TABLE XXVII. FOUB TYPICAL GROUPS OF YOUTHFUL GENIUSES*

Last ten

First ten

Lowest LQ.'s

Highest I.Q.'s

Coleridge

Napoleon

Hogarth

Goethe

Murat

Voltaire

Cromwell

Leibnitz

Mazzini

Baeon

Cobden

Pitt (the younger)

Chatterton

Goethe

Murillo

Schelling

Danton

Luther

Murat

Voltaire

Chalmers

Burke

Ney

Haydn

Newton

Bunsen

Milton

Lamennais

Pitt

Cobden

Washington

* Adapted from Cox, C. M., " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. II, p. 181, Stanford
University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

Concerning the comparative persistence of these four
groups, Cox 1 says :

Whereas young geniuses who become eminent men are charac-
terized by the possession to a very high degree of two general factors

1 Cox, C. M,, "Genetic Studies of Genius," pp. 186-187, Stanford
University Press, Stanford University, Calif.,

168

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

of personality, persistence of motive and general intelligence, the
First Ten (the youths who become the most eminent of all) and the
Highest IQ's (the youths who earliest gave indication of superior
endowment) are, with respect to the possession of one of the general
factors of personality, intelligence, significantly above the average of
a group of typical geniuses. With respect to the other factor, per-
sistence of motive, the Highest IQ's rate approximately at the same
point as the Eminent Men while the First Ten rate significantly
higher. It appears further that the Last Ten rate considerably lower
than the First Ten in intellectual traits, but approximate the ratings
of the latter in persistence traits; while the Lowest IQ's rate below
the other subgroups on intellectual traits and also on persistence of
motive. The Highest IQ's exceed the First Ten in desire to excel, but
they are exceeded by them in perseverance in spite of obstacles and
in tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability.

The appearance within the group of "most eminent" men of indi-
viduals who, according to the records, possessed in childhood,
intelligence somewhat below the highest order, is explained by this
conclusion : that high but not the highest intelligence, combined with
the greatest degree of persistence, will achieve greater eminence than
the highest degree of intelligence with somewhat less persistence.

The sources of drive are varied, differing not only
among individuals but also within individuals. Drive may
appear, as Witty 1 points out, as a product of intense
energy, of a desire to achieve, or of psychic and
somatic infirmities. The intense energy is inherited with
the individual's physical mechanism. It may be a direct
result of glandular action, or it may be, as Crile suggests,
a result of so simple a physical fact as the possession of an
oversized coeliac ganglion. Whatever the cause, it is cer-
tainly a known fact that many men are capable of an
amazing amount of work. Edison at eighty-two was labor-
ing sixteen hours a day. Theodore Roosevelt preached
and practiced the doctrine of the strenuous life. Such
dynamic force when combined with high intellect cannot
fail "to make a stir."

i WITTY, P. A., Exploitation of the Child of High Intelligence Quotient,
Educ. Method, VoL 15, pp. 29&-304, March, 1936.

169

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Impelling motivations to achievement frequently come
from certain psychological deficiencies; personal frustra-
tions may provide needed drive. A man may prefer hard
work to leisure time in which to think about his unhappi-
ness. The possible causes of such personal frustrations or
unhappiness are of course multitudinous : the loss of one
to whom he was devoted, a feeling of inferiority because
of social position, need for money, an unhappy marriage,
a desire to excel someone disliked, an inner conflict over
some earlier failure, an urge to attain power to com-
pensate for a feeling of inadequacy. In fact, a very good
case could be made for the supposition that high achieve-
ment is dependent primarily upon psychic infirmities.
The well-integrated person is complacent. Perhaps the
world needs fewer well-integrated people and so less
complacency. Certainly, as Witty points out in the previ-
ously mentioned article, there is considerable doubt as to
the desirability of trying to make intellectually gifted
children conform to the comfortable standards of their
less brilliant fellows. It may well be that they should be en-
couraged in developing an extreme form of individualism.

Physical Defects and Health

Closely allied with the point of view expressed in the
preceding paragraph is the theory that physical defects
constitute an important source of drive. This is the funda-
mental philosophy of the psychoanalyst Adler. According
to his reasoning, the Napoleonic era was a direct out-
growth of the diminutive stature of the great French
general, and the Kaiser's urge to power, which resulted
in the World War, was engendered by Ms withered arm.
It might likewise be argued that Franklin Roosevelt owes
his high place to the fact that he suffered from infantile
paralysis early in his political career. How much does a
Steinmetz owe to his broken back, or a Milton to his

170

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

blindness? Because of their dramatic quality, the impor-
tance of such physical irregularities as sources of drive Is
usually overemphasized. However, it should be remem-
bered that an iniBrmity can be used as a stepping stone to
success.

Physical defects and poor health, however, are handi-
caps which, in the great majority of cases, decrease rather
than increase the chances for achieving eminence. It is
obvious that an individual who possesses the physical
energy which springs from good health has an advantage
over his ailing contemporary. Other things being equal,
the man of forty who has a heart which is functioning
perfectly is much more likely to press on toward great
successes than is the man who suffers from coronary
thrombosis. Likewise, the man whose nervous system
does not betray him in a crisis has an advantage over a
rival whose nerves become so tense when difficulties
arise that clear thinking is impossible. It is true that
some men capitalize on deafness, but a great many more
will find that it is a heavy weight to drag up the high
road to success. A blind senator or a blind university
professor is a dramatic figure worthy of the admiration
which is accorded him; the same man, however, might
have gone much farther if he had retained full use of his
eyes. Surely no man would pray for poor health or for any
other physical handicap in the belief that it was essential
to success. For the most part men who have achieved
eminence owe their achievements, in part, at least, to a
magnificent physical equipment which made it possible
for them to work long hours at top speed.

Physical Size and Appearance

The size of a person exerts considerable influence upon
the opinions that others have of him and upon their
attitude toward him. If he is extremely large, he excites

171

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

others to ridicule or occasionally to pity. If lie is ex-
tremely small, he excites others to pity and occasionally
ridicule, with a dash of condescension. If he is only
slightly below average in height and general physical
equipment, the three attitudes just mentioned are
modified accordingly. The most desirable status with
respect to physical size is to be somewhat superior to the
average but not too superior. The situation here is similar
to that presented in connection with intellect. Admiration
is likely to go to the one who deviates in a positive
direction so long as he does not deviate too far.

Physical size and appearance is of considerable impor-
tance in leadership. It is not by chance that the average
height of the world's leaders is definitely greater than that
for the average. It is without question a determinant of
success. For instance, there is the case of the college board
of trustees which was considering two candidates for the
position of president. The trustees eventually selected the
man whom they said " looked like a president" even
though the one whom they turned down had a better
standing in the world of education. In business, the man
who is large and well built is likely to carry more weight
with his associates than another of equal ability who is
small and quick in his movements. In politics a Jim
Farley holds a considerable advantage over an opponent
who is physically insignificant. Since stature is a de-
terminer of success, it is fortunate that there is a cor-
relation between stature and intellect, for stature then
can serve as an additional aid to those who have the
mental ability to exercise intelligent leadership.

Race

Racial and national antagonisms, whether instinctive
or learned, play an important part not only in inter-
national affairs but also in the affairs of individuals.

172

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

ie inheritance of a black skin carries with it a social
adicap that only a most fortunate and unusual com-
lation of abilities and circumstances can surmount,
-en though a Negro possesses an intellect of a high
ler, he finds nearly all of the avenues to eminence
her wholly or partly closed to him.
Conditions are similar although somewhat less acute
th such other groups as the Indian and the Jew. A
xiing psychologist, interested in gifted children, was
ee heard to say that he never attempted to obtain
ancial assistance for needy Jewish children, regardless
the degree of their mental superiority, because such
investment was not a good risk. This may appear to
a cold-blooded statement, yet it conforms to the facts,
ajiy graduate schools refuse to permit the registration
Jewish young people and many firms, both business
d professional, close their doors against them. Preju-
je against Jews is especially unfortunate in view of
sir high level of intelligence. Perhaps their superior
jntality has been one of the predisposing causes of the
nost universal hatred of their race which has existed
- centuries.

However, this is not the place to discuss either the
ises or the possible eradication of racial prejudices.
Le fact to be faced is that such prejudices do exist,
d that the color of a man's skin, the shape of his nose,
d the texture of his hair profoundly influence his
ssibilities for achievement. To say that intellect, or
aracter, or drive, or even a combination of all three of
3se will insure success is an oversimplification.

Fluency in Speaking or Writing

The ability to speak or to write well has an important
aring on the attainment of eminence. The pages of
story are filled with examples of men and women who

173

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

found it easier to attain greatness because they were
effectively articulate. The pamphlets of Voltaire and the
innumerable speeches of Hitler have played a consider-
able part not only in the careers of these men but also
in the story of civilization. Unfortunately it is not
only the most brilliant individual who is able to express
himself fluently and well. Every teacher has had experi-
ence with the dull child who is a good talker: It happens
less frequently that such a child can express himself with
equal glibness in writing.

The two greatest American orators were Webster and
Bryan. Webster possessed a mind which matched his
oratorical ability, and he stands in history as one of the

TABLE XXVIII. DISTRIBUTION OF 282 EMIJSTENT MEN ACCORDING TO
THE FIELD IN WHICH EMINENCE WAS (PBIMABILY) ACHIEVED*

Field

Eminent men

Fre-
quency

Per

cent

1. Writers (PND)t
Poets, 31 1

52
43

39
27
23
22
13
11
9

18.0
15.0

15.0

14.0
10.0
8.0
8.0
5.0
4.0
3.0

Novelists, Dramatists, 21)
2 Statesmen and politicians.

3. Writers (EHCS)$
Essayists, Critics, Scholars, 31?
Historians, 12) '"
4 Scientists

5 Soldiers

6 Religious leaders

7. Philosophers

8 Artists

9 Musicians

10 Revolutionary statesmen ,

Total

282

100.0

*Cox, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. II, p. 35.

f Writers (PND) include the authors whose fame rests chiefly on imaginative works,
i.e., the poets, novelists, and dramatists.

t Writers (EHCS) include the essayists, historians, critics, and scholars.

174

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

world's great. Bryan's mental equipment was consider-
ably inferior to Ms ability as an orator. Nevertheless,
through the sheer beauty and effectiveness of his speak-
ing, he attained considerable success.

The attainment of recognized eminence is partly
dependent on the extent to which a man's contribution is
available in written form. Of two equally able persons, he
who publishes more will have the better chance of being
remembered, for he has bequeathed to posterity concrete
evidence of his ability. It is for this reason, that Cox
found that writers constituted the largest single occupa-
tional group among the geniuses whom she studied (see
Table XX VIII).

Likewise, the child who can write well has a distinct
advantage over the one who cannot. This advantage is
especially marked in schools where the essay form of
examination is used. As a matter of fact, the importance
of being articulate manifests itself from earliest infancy
to old age. It is one of the most important determiners
of success.

Singleness of Purpose

Occasionally an individual whose intelligence is not of
the first order attains eminence because of his complete
devotion to one idea or to a small group of closely related
ideas. In fact, even a moron, if he applies all his mental
energy toward the attainment of a single limited end, is
able at times to perform astounding feats. Such a person
is commonly called an idiot-savant. If a man with a
superior mind applied himself with the same concentra-
tion to a specific piece of work, he would achieve miracu-
lous results. For instance, there was the case of the
medical student whose intelligence was less than that of
his classmates, though considerably above average. This
student, upon graduating, decided to become a bone

175

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

specialist; he limited his field with great care and devoted
himself to it exclusively. As a result his name is now fa-
mous in the annals of medicine.

It is commonly believed that most geniuses possess
this singleness of purpose or what is more commonly
called a one-track mind. The possession of a one-track
mmd has been, in certain instances, one of the important
determiners of success. It is not, however, a necessary
or even a customary corollary of eminence. Geniuses are
broad rather than narrow in their interests. Perhaps, in
popular thought the one-track mind has been confused
with a marked ability to concentrate, this last being
nearly always a characteristic of eminent men. A Henry
Ford manifests the same enthusiastic interest in the col-
lection of antiques that he does in the production of
automobiles or a Paderewski in the problems of govern-
ment as in playing a piano. Nevertheless, in spite of the
fact that those who attain high places in the world are
usually well-rounded individuals, it is important to keep
in mind that, in certain exceptional cases, singleness of
purpose, concentration on one small area, has resulted in
great achievement.

Social Intelligence

Social sense, or the ability to get along with people, is
perhaps a greater asset to the less important leaders than
it is to those who achieve eminence. However, even to the
outstanding genius it is no handicap to be well liked.
Among eminent men there have been notable instances,
as in the case of both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt,
in which a pleasing personality proved to be a great asset.
While the ability to get along with people is important in
politics and in business, it plays a minor role in the
achievements of a scientist. In fact, because of the popu-
lar picture of him as an unsocial, eccentric individual,

176

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

sociability actually might be a handicap, for people like
their heroes to fit a preconceived picture. Although many
geniuses have unquestionably been lacking in sound
social sense, in terms of central tendency they are a
congenial group.

Character

It is not by chance that geniuses are usually men of
good character; a high moral outlook exerts an important
influence on the achievement of eminence. Pasteur is an
excellent example of a great man who combined intellect
and character in high degree.

The character of Louis Pasteur and his philosophy of life all bear
witness to the moral and social traits of a superior boy. Slowly they
evolved in a pattern of life and work which clearly sets forth unusual
devotion to an ideal the service to humanity. The books that
Pasteur read, the letters he wrote, and the friends he chose all bear
witness to the effective moral traits of his youth. His love of home and
parents, interest in the welfare of his sisters, the meticulous care in
following the advice of his worthy father are indices to the tractable-
ness of his intellect and bear out our theory of reasonable submission
to authority, which is usually seen in the gifted child.

Pasteur, early in his life, habitually worshiped great men, and this
reverence and devotion for the illustrious was a dominant element in
his character. He believed that the spirit of jealousy and suspicion
was alien to manhood at its best and should not be allowed to influ-
ence judgment on a man's work. He was devoted to his friends, just
and generous to his rivals, and patient under trying contradictions
and vexatious oppositions. Sir William Osier has said of him: "In
his growth the man kept pace with the scientist. Heart and head held
even sway in his life. This story will reveal the true side of a great
person hi whom filial piety, brotherly solicitude, generosity and self-
sacrifice are combined with a rare devotion to country. His success
was due to the untiring assiduity with which he worked, never spar-
ing himself, never thinking of himself, but only of what might be
accomplished to benefit humanity/* 1

1 BENTLBY, J. E., "Superior Children," pp. 236-237, W. W. Norton <fe
Company, Inc., New York, 1937.

177

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

EXTRINSIC FACTORS

There are a number of extrinsic factors those outside
the individual and largely beyond his control which
determine to a considerable extent the degree of fame he
attains. Eminence, it should be remembered, is by no
means an inevitable result of great mental ability or even
of great mental ability plus such intrinsic factors as those
previously discussed. Frequently environmental or chance
conditions are the final determiners of whether a man
shall be an outstanding success or remain unknown. The
following list contains a few of the specific conditions
which often play an important role:

1. Economic status of family

2. Size of home town

3. Marriage

4. Age and manner of death

5. Strength of competition

6. Nature of interests

7. Period of activity

Economic Status of Family

The socioeconomic status of the parents of a gifted
boy frequently exercises considerable influence upon his
achievement as an adult. If the parents are living in
poverty, they will be unable to send their boy to college
or, it may be, even to high school. A great many boys
with potentialities for greatness have found their way
blocked by lack of funds.

Examples without number could be given by way of
illustration. For instance there was the case of a grade
school child whose I.Q. was 165. She possessed not only a
brilliant mind but also high social intelligence, being very
popular among her classmates. Investigation of her home
background revealed that her parents were living in
poverty; they planned to take the girl out of school as

178

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

soon as the law would permit and put her to work in her
father's little store. This was done before she finished high
school. Later she married a young man far beneath her
intellectually and is now living in a poverty as hopeless
as that of her parents. Her opportunity to succeed was
cut off by lack of money.

Then there is the story of the boy with an LQ. well
within the top 1 per cent who was a descendant of a
family which possessed a marked strain of intelligence.
His immediate family, however, was so poor that it
required state assistance. The boy had the opportunity
to go through high school and finished as the top-ranking
student in a class of over 300. Further education, how-
ever, was impossible, and at the present time he is
employed as a bellhop.

A third case is that of a boy of a poor farm family who
possessed not only the intelligence but also sufficient drive
to cause T-nm to work his way through school. Since there
was no high school in his home town, he went alone to a
city some 50 miles away and found work which made it
possible for him to continue his education. Toward the
end of his third year, he reached the end of his financial
resources. There was no possibility of help from his
relatives. At this juncture a businessman in the city
loaned "him $10. This seems a small amount, but it was
the turning point between success and failure for this
ambitious young genius. He continued with his high
school course, was graduated at the head of his class,
went on to college, working his way through, and there
also was graduated at the head of his class. He then went
on to medical school and later became an outstanding
physician.

Occasionally a great deal of money in a family will
have the same deleterious effect upon a gifted child as
does a lack of money. If the child feels that his economic

179

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

future is taken care of by the family bank account, he is
deprived of one of the sources of drive economic
necessity. The most desirable economic condition is the
possession by the parents of a moderate income; this
makes it possible for the gifted child to continue his
education as far as he likes and at the same time gives
him the realization that he has a living to make.

Size of Home Town

A minor determiner of eminence is the size of town in
which a man resides. Obviously, the smaller the town, the
more limited the number of opportunities. Also a young
man of genius, situated in a small village, would, in cer-
tain occupations, find the scope of his activities seriously
curtailed. A lawyer, no matter how brilliant his intellec-
tual attainments, would find it extremely difficult to gain
national attention if he were practicing in a town of 3,000
people. A scientist on the faculty of a small college will not
command the attention that goes to a man of similar
achievements in a large university. A political leader in
Presque Isle, Maine, has more difficulty in emerging as a
national figure than a political leaderjLa New York.
Occasionally, of course, a great man, on the building-a-
better-mouse-trap theory, forces the world to come to his
doorstep. Especially successful in this respect were
William Allen White of Emporia, Kan., and the Mayo
brothers of Rochester, Minn.

Marriage

Marriage involves a number of factors which may exert
a critical influence on a man's possibilities for attaining
eminence. Age at time of marriage, number of children,
and, of course, the personality and influence of the wife
any one of these may spell the difference between great-
ness and mediocrity or even failure. For instance, there

180

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

was the brilliant young theological student who married
at the age of eighteen. Before he was twenty he was the
father of a child and before he was thirty, the father of
eight children. Instead of fulfilling the promise of his
youth, this man, carrying family burdens which were
much too heavy for his young shoulders, finally lost his
grip and committed suicide. In this case marriage at
twenty-eight instead of eighteen might well have meant
the difference between recognized greatness and igno-
minious self-annihilation.

Marriage exercises an even more important effect upon
a woman's possibilities for achieving any considerable
success. A few women are able to follow a career while
at the same time carrying family responsibilities. How-
ever, in most instances one or the other usually the
career has to be dropped. Even single women find it
almost impossible to win an eminent place in a man-
controlled world where the belief is still strong that
woman's proper place is in the home*

Age and Manner of Death

A man may have all the potentialities for greatness,
yet if an automobile, for instance, runs over him and
kills him, he has no further chance for realizing on those
potentialities. No one knows how many men of excep-
tional talent have been cut off by death before they had
time to achieve greatness. Who would have heard of
Napoleon, if he had lost his life in battle at the age of
twenty-one? Or what would the name of "George
Washington" mean, if he had been killed with Braddock
in the French and Indian War? Occasionally fate grants a
man too much time, as in the case of Kipling, and the
bright sunlight of his fame fades into the dim background
of a long twilight. Sometimes, as in the case of von
Hindenburg, a long life grants fresh opportunities for

181

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

refurbishing a fame that has been tarnished. A great
general, he suffered from being a leader of a losing cause,
but survived the eclipse and became a much-beloved
president of the German Republic. If he could have died
at the height of his popularity, his position in the eyes of
posterity would have been greater than it now is ; but he
lived on into his dotage, and, while still president of
Germany, became a cat's paw for the ambitious Hitler,
into whose hands he placed the destinies of his country.
The mere fact of chronological age certainly played a
tremendously important part in the success of von Hin-
denburg, in the history of Germany, and in the fate of
the world.

Fame by no means rests upon a carefully considered
opinion by one's contemporaries or even by posterity.
Frequently it is affected out of all proportion by some
unusual characteristic of the individual or by some amaz-
ing event. If a man attacks traditional values with bril-
liant and extreme audacity, as did Jesus, Martin Luther,
Galileo, and Charles Darwin, he impresses himself upon
the popular mind with vividness and finality. It matters
little if people hate him; perhaps they remember their
hates longer than their loves.

If a man's manner of death is spectacular, his chance
for being remembered by posterity is considerably
enhanced, Lincoln's position in the hearts of Americans
was made secure by the fact that his assassination came
so soon after the close of the Civil War. Had Wilson been
shot before the making of the Treaty of Versailles, he
would hold a greater place in popular affection than he
now does. Napoleon, always interested in what succeed-
ing generations would think of him, was fully aware of
the importance of the way in which he spent his last days.
He took every opportunity to dramatize himself as "an
eagle chained to a rock." Occasionally even premature

182

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

death is a determiner of eminence, providing, of course,
that death does not come before the man has already
achieved a relatively high place. The pity that is aroused
by the death of a young man who has already accom-
plished much and gives promise of accomplishing a great
deal more is occasionally so poignant that it exerts a
considerable effect upon the estimation of the man. Even
suicide may increase a person's importance. However, the
best way for a great man to die, if he wishes to insure his
position in history, is either to have himself assassinated
or to die, as Will Rogers did, in a spectacular accident.

Competition

The degree of competition which a man meets during
the period of his greatest activity exerts some influence
upon opinions concerning him. Ideally those in opposi-
tion should be inferior, but not too inferior. To compete
with another of equal ability is to divide the spoils.

The best examples can be drawn from the realm of
sport, where it is easy to make direct comparisons. For
instance, in the case of Tilden and Johnston in tennis,
Tilden's reputation as a great tennis player was helped
considerably by the fact that he was able to defeat again
and again a man who was almost but not quite so good as
he. On the other hand, Johnston had no opportunity to
gain first position because his career coincided with that
of the greatest tennis player that the world has ever
known. If Johnston had been at the peak of his powers a
few years before or a few years alter, his reputation as a
great athlete would have been definitely greater. A
similar situation existed for a number of years in the case
of Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs.

In the world of politics and science, a number of
examples could be offered of the influence of competition
upon a man's reputation. It was unfortunate for both

183

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Disraeli and Gladstone that their careers were con-
temporary. It is unfortunate, apparently, for Mussolini
that his career and Hitler's coincide. Occasionally two
scientists working in the same field make a discovery at
approximately the same time. The public, finding it
difficult to distribute honors, usually bestows the credit
upon one and forgets the other.

Nature of Interest

It is easier for a man to attain world-wide recognition in
some fields than in others. For instance, in literature one's
abilities can be displayed before the world in a manner
which all can understand. On the other hand, it is diffi-
cult for a mathematician, equally gifted, to catch popular
attention. Einstein appears to be an exception, although
even in his case recognition by the masses has not been
given so much to his great intellect as to his physical
appearance and personal idiosyncrasies, which match so
perfectly the picture of a genius which the average man
enjoys and insists on preserving.

A man must be a tremendous success in business before
he is considered a genius, and even then most individuals
would hesitate to apply the term. Henry Ford is as
eminent in his field as Robert Frost is in his, yet he would
not popularly be considered a genius. Two men of equal
ability, each interested in politics, but one in the academic
side and the other the practical side, would experience
widely divergent opportunities for fame.

Occasionally a man engages in a piece of work the
results of which antagonize the masses. It is true, as was
pointed out earlier, that if his conclusions antagonize
them sufficiently, as in the case of Darwin, his fame is
made even more secure. However, if his results are of the
kind that can soon be brushed off and forgotten, his

184

DETERMINERS OF EMINENCE

chances for being remembered are considerably less than
those of one who is, like Edison, a benefactor of society.

Period of Activity

The time or period in which a potentially great man
works is another determiner of success. It makes no
difference how great a general's capacity for military
leadership may be, he cannot become a Napoleon or a
Wellington or a Lee unless there is a war. Obviously, of
two men running for the position of president of the
United States, the one who is elected is presented with a
much greater opportunity for achievement than the one
who is defeated.

Periods of upheaval and war give certain groups of
individuals opportunities for outstanding contributions.
Periods of quiet and peace give other groups similar
opportunities. In times of upheaval and war, generals and
politicians flourish. In times of quiet and peace, scientists
and the industrialists prosper. Artists and writers may be
productive in any period, although they are more likely
to create their greatest works during periods of calm.

It is clear then, that intellectual capacity alone does
not guarantee high achievement. Every characteristic of
the individual, every environmental influence, plays its
role. Occasionally one of these factors, seemingly un-
important, proves to be the decisive determiner of success
or failure.

185

CHAPTER IX
SPECIAL GIFTS

1. Does creative genius in the arts necessarily imply a high degree
of abstract intelligence?

2. Is the possession of a special gift likely to be recognized at an
early age?

3. Is there any relationship between sex and either creative or
critical ability in the arts?

Although great mental capacity is the most important
single prerequisite to genius, there does occasionally
appear an individual who possesses such an unusual
special gift that he attains eminence in spite of a rela-
tively low intelligence. This is not to say that it is possi-
ble for a moron to become a great musical composer or for
a person of less-than-average intelligence to become a
great creative artist. It means rather that, in certain
exceptional cases, unevenness of abilities may be so
marked that a person succeeds on a very high level be-
cause of one considerable talent even though in certain
other abilities, such as intelligence, he may approach
mediocrity. This is especially likely to be true of musicians
and artists, for it is a known fact that the relationship
between abstract intelligence and artistic ability or
between abstract intelligence and musical ability is only
slightly positive. Once in a great while it is true even in
the field of mathematics, as in the case of the lightning
calculator, and in language, as in the case of the child
whose reading age is far in excess of his mental age.

In the present chapter there will follow a discussion of
five special gifts: music, drawing, arithmetical computa-

186

SPECIAL GIFTS

tion, mechanics, language. The first two of these, music
and drawing, appear much more frequently as specialized
abilities than do the remaining three. In fact, it is doubt-
ful if language should be included at all, for the correla-
tion between language ability and intelligence is very
high. However, there are a few cases of children and
adults who show a facility either in reading or in the use
of words for the writing of poetry or prose which so far
exceeds what would be expected from their known mental
age that it may be said to constitute a special gift.

Music

An interesting fact concerning the gift for music is that
it manifests itself very early in life. This may be because
ability in music depends very little upon experience. In
nearly every instance, great musicians have been recog-
nized early as musically gifted children. Mozart is an
excellent example. By the time he was three years old, he
had already demonstrated his unusual talent. Cox 1 in a
biographical study, reports as follows on his early history:

Wlien Mozart was 7 his first published work appeared four
sonatas for piano and violin, one of which showed especially remark-
able taste. Between the ages of 7 and 15 he composed works for piano-
forte and violin, pianoforte concertos, masses and church music,
18 symphonies, 2 operettas, and at the age of 14, an opera. When he
was 12 his first operetta was performed. At 13 he received an appoint-
ment as grand ducal concert master (without salary), and in his first
year of office he composed 20 numbers. At the age of 14 his first
Italian opera was presented with great success. During these years
his musical genius was so prolific that his fingers ached with the work
of committing his ideas to paper, At 16 he received his first salary.
Mozart was a brilliant executive artist as well as a great creative
genius. His first musical tour was undertaken at the age of 6, when he
visited Munich and met there with a very favorable reception. By
his 8th year two more successful tours had been made, the first to

1 Cox, C. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," VoL H, pp. 595-694,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

187

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Vienna and cities en route, the second through Germany. From bis
8th to his 15th year Mozart visited Paris, London, The Hague,
Amsterdam, and Vienna (for a second time). Two tours to Italy were
carried out in his 16th and 17th years. Mozart's letters show the
characteristics of an average pre-college student.

When he was 3 or 4, Mozart began to invent musical ideas; im-
pressed by seeing his sister play, he seated himself at the clavier and
picked out thirds, to his great delight. Even at that early age he
could retain musical passages that he had heard. On one occasion
before his 5th birthday, he learned at half-past-nine at night and
in half an hour a minuet and a trio, pieces requiring independence
of the two hands and some musical comprehension. Before he was 6
Mozart had begun to insist upon the presence of real connoisseurs
whenever he played. His first concerto the little musician wrote down
himself; the written composition was a daub of ink, but there was
real order hi its music. The child exceeded expectations on his first
musical tours, and he was received everywhere as a prodigy; he was
an enthusiastic critic of the playing of others. He played charmingly,
whether with one finger, with the keyboard covered, or in the usual
way. At 7 his extraordinary sense of absolute pitch was discovered,
as well as remarkable skill with the violin and the organ, which he
had never been taught. His repertoire included the naming of any
note played at a distance, improvising in any key on the harpsichord
or organ, and transposing to any key. He could supply the accom-
paniment to a singer without knowing the air in advance, or to a
dictated melody with the use of the clavier. In his 10th year he was
called by Tschudi, the instrument maker, "the most extraordinary
performer in the world," and in the same year he was ;: investigated"
in London by a lawyer who "reported proofs of the boy's decided
inventive power." Compositions from the following year reveal
remarkable ability in elaborating a theme. Locked up for a week by
an incredulous archbishop, and required to prove his ability to write
an oratorio without outside aid, Mozart (aged 11) achieved a brilliant
triumph, a mature musical composition although written with
blotted notes in a childish hand.

It is interesting to note that Mozart's I.Q. is estimated
to have been approximately 150. Biographical studies of
other great musicians, such as Bach and Beethoven,
indicate a like high intellectual level. It would appear that
while eminence in musical composition, at least, is largely

188

SPECIAL GIFTS

conditioned by intellectual capacity, a man may become
a great performer and yet be of average mentality. Wlien
large, unselected groups are measured for intellectual
capacity and for musical ability, the coefficients of cor-
relation hover about zero, usually being slightly above.
The relationship is so low that it is impossible to predict
musical ability from the results of general intelligence
tests or intelligence from the results of musical ability
tests.

Scientific workers in the field of music have been handi-
capped in their investigations by a lack of adequate
measuring instruments. There is no objective test in the
field of aesthetics which is equal in validity to the better
tests of intelligence. The best of the music tests is the
one devised by Seashore, who, recognizing that musical
talent is a complex of many specific abilities, reduced
musical sensitivity to what he considered to be the six
basic elements: pitch, intensity, time, consonance,
rhythm, and tonal memory. He then constructed a test of
each of these elements and had it recorded on a phono-
graph record.

The results of the Seashore tests are largely negative ;
that is, those who make low scores have very little chance
of becoming successful musicians, but those making
high scores are by no means sure of success. As in the case
of abstract intelligence, other abilities than the musical
gift alone are needed to ensure achievement.

It is a mistake to assume that musical talent is a
natural gift, the mere existence of which will inevitably
bring achievement of a high order. Environmental factors
are fully as potent in the case of the talented child as in
the case of the intellectually gifted child. A man will not
become either a great performer or a great composer
without a thorough musical education or without long
hours of arduous labor. There exists here the familiar

189

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

situation: a child may be precocious in music and yet
fail to achieve on a Mgh level in adult life because of cer-
tain lacks in himself or in his environment ; but an indi-
vidual will not achieve on a high level in music without
having inherited the potentialities.

DRAWING

Ability in representative drawing or, for that matter, in
all forms of drawing or art usually shows itself at an early
age. It is interesting to note, however, that manifesta-
tions of artistic ability do not appear so soon as do
manifestations of musical ability. The early appearance
of artistic talent in the great majority of celebrated artists
indicates that it has been inherited. However, as in the
case of music, other factors influence the extent to which
it will be developed.

A study of biographies of famous artists reveals many
interesting facts concerning the relationship between
later achievement and early tendencies. Rembrandt,
Raphael, Murillo, and Rubens were successfully express-
ing themselves through the artistic medium while they
were still adolescents. Of Michelangelo, Cox 1 says :

At school Michelangelo devoted most of his time to drawing, a
pursuit not included in the curriculum and which his father tried to
discourage as he did not wish a painter in the family. Michelangelo
early sought the acquaintance of artists, and took every opportunity
to converse with them. From his fourteenth to his sixteenth year,
during the period of Lorenzo de' Medici's patronage, the youth
devoted most of his time to the study and practice of drawing,

painting, and sculpture At the age of thirteen Michelangelo

was so proficient in drawing that he received a salary although he
was then in the first year of his apprenticeship. His passion for his
art was so strong that every available space became a sketch surface.
It is written that he drew so well at this time that he caused wonder
to all that saw it, and envy to the less generous.

., pp. 543-544.

190

SPECIAL GIFTS

Representative drawing, like music, shows little re-
lationship to intelligence when large ? unselected groups
are tested. However, as was pointed out with respect
to music, it does not follow from this that high achieve-
ment will result from the possession of artistic talent
alone; it must be supplemented by abstract intelligence.
Michelangelo was estimated to have an I.Q. of 160. It
is doubtful if there has ever been a celebrated artist of
average or below-average intelligence.

Relationship between Intelligence and Art Appreciation

In art, as in music, investigators have been handicapped
by a lack of satisfactory measuring instruments. There
does not exist at the present time an adequate test of
creative ability. It has proved to be somewhat easier
to evaluate the ability to appreciate or to judge. The
two best tests constructed for this purpose are the Meier-
Seashore Art Judgment Test and the McAdory Art Test.
Even these, however, are If mi ted in their validity. Carroll
and Eurich, using the two instruments together with cer-
tain intelligence tests, studied the relationship between
abstract intelligence and art appreciation. Their results
coincide with the conclusions of earlier studies by Ayer
and others.

Carroll and Eurich 1 report a coefficient of correlation
between Miller Analogies Intelligence Test and the Meier-
Seashore Art Judgment Test of .26 .02 for 674 college
students and a coefficient of correlation between the
Analogies Test and the McAdory Art Test of .10 .05
for 203 college students. Interested in the question of a
possible difference in the ability to appreciate art be-
tween mentally superior and mentally inferior children,
they matched 43 intellectually gtfted children, with 43

1 CABBOLL, H. A., and A. C. EUBICH, Abstract Intelligence and Art
Appreciation, J. Educ. Psyck&l., Vol. 23, pp. 21^-220, 1932.

191

GEXIUS IN THE MAKING

borderline children and tested them with the McAdory
Art Test. The distribution of the scores obtained appears
in Fig. 5.

It will be seen from Fig. 5 that, although there was a
difference of more than 60 points between the mean
scores of the two groups, there was considerable over-
lapping; actually 63 per cent of the borderline children
(those with LQ.'s of approximately 70) exceeded the
lowest score made by the gifted. Only 9 per cent of these

<l>
3

lf\

65 80 <?5

110

170 185 200

125 140 \J
Score

FIG. 5. Distribution of McAdory Art Test scores of 43 very dull and of 43
very superior junior high-school children. 1

very dull children exceeded the mean of the intellectually
gifted group, and no dull child equaled the best among the
gifted children. On the other hand, no bright child fell
below the average for the dull group. It would appear
from this study that abstract intelligence at the extremes
affects art judgment ability.

The effect of intelligence upon the accuracy of draw-
ings, with respect to the correct inclusion of detail, is
considerable. This would be expected since the more

1 EURICH, A. C., and H. A. CA.EBOLL. "Educational Psychology," p.
184, D. C. Heath & Company, Boston, 1935^

192

SPECIAL GIFTS

intelligent the child, the more he sees. As Goodenough 1
says:

The drawings of bright children are not always or necessarily more
artistic than those of backward children, but they excel in such
matters as the number of items shown, the correctness with which
the parts have been assembled, the relative proportions of the dif-
ferent parts, and in the control of eye and hand movements as shown
by the regularity of the lines and the smoothness of their joinings.

A comparable situation is found in music, where a
brilliant child, though lacking in any real gift for music,
may experience considerable pleasure and success in
learning facts about music. He may even become a
moderately good performer as an outgrowth of a purely
intellectual interest.

Sex Factor

The role played by sex in art achievement is not as yet
very well understood. Two seemingly contradictory
observations have been made: first, that nearly all the
great artists have been men; second, that girls as a group
axe definitely superior to boys in artistic ability. It may
well be that lack of opportunity has kept many artist-
ically gifted women from achieving any marked success.
Even today, when women are more free than ever before
to have careers of their own, family responsibilities and
social pressure block their progress. It may be that lack
of opportunity is not wholly responsible, but that artist-
ically gifted girls, like intellectually gifted girls, are much
more likely than boys to retrogress toward mediocrity as
they approach maturity; or it may be that the ability to
create is more closely linked with the male sex hormones
and the ability to appreciate more closely linked with the
female sex hormones. It is interesting to note that boys

1 GooDBNOtrGH, F. L., "Developmental Psychology," pp. 335-336,
D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New York, 1934.

193

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

who are gifted in art and music are much more likely to
possess feminine traits than are intellectually gifted boys
or unselected boys a fact that blurs the picture still
more. It is possible, though not likely, that an element of
homosexuality profoundly influences all achievements in
aesthetics.

LIGHTNING CALCULATORS

Mathematical ability is made up of many subdivisions,
some of which are more closely related to general intel-
ligence than others. For example, the ability to handle
symbols in a subject such as calculus requires more
abstract intelligence than the ability to make arithmetical
computations. However, even the relationship between
performance in arithmetical computations and intel-
ligence is very high; the fact that it is not perfect permits
the occasional appearance of a lightning calculator of
less-than-average intelligence. In such instances mathe-
matical ability constitutes a special gift.

As Binet pointed out a long time ago, the spectacular
achievements of lightning calculators result from highly
developed habits of computation, with multiplication
being used as the basic operation. By a peculiar quirk of
circumstance, the lightning calculator of low intelligence
is interested almost solely in performing arithmetical
feats. He concentrates every ounce of mental energy that
he has upon mastering the mechanics of computation and
of remembering combinations. Even a dull mind, by
limiting his field of interest, can occasionally achieve
astounding results. It would be a mistake, however, to
assume that all lightning calculators are men of inferior
mentality, for the gift has been possessed by such eminent
individuals as Whately, Gauss, and Ampere. The fact
that the gift appears at a very early age in Whately,
Gauss, and Ampere at three indicates that* the ability

194

SPECIAL GIFTS

is not wholly acquired but is based upon some specialized
inherited mechanism. The dull child inheriting the talent
(and it should be emphasized that the talent rarely ap-
pears) grasps it as his one means of impressing others with
his mental ability. The bright child, finding himself
possessed of the gift, delights in using it as a tool for
broader achievement.

Leta Hollingworth 1 reports as follows on two lightning
calculators who gave every indication of being of low
intelligence:

Jedediah Buxton (b. 1702) seems to be the first such calculator on
record in modern accounts. He lived at Elmton, England, and
"labored hard with a spade to support a family, but seems not to
have shown even usual intelligence in regard to ordinary matters of
life." In 1754, when he was taken to London, to be examined before
the Royal Society, he went to see King Richard HI performed.
"During the dance he fixed his attention upon the number of steps;
he attended to Mr. Garriek only to count the words he uttered. At
the conclusion of the play, they asked him how he liked it. ... He
replied that such and such an actor went in and out so many times,
and spoke so many words; another so many. . . . He returned to his
village, and died poor and ignored." It is further stated that he could
give an itemized account of all the free beer he had had from the age
of twelve years.

Another person who appears to have had a very special gift for
calculation is Tom Fuller, "The Virginia Calculator" (b. 1710).
He came from Africa as a slave when about fourteen years old. He is
first recorded as a calculator at the age of seventy, when he mentally
multiplied two numbers of nine figures each, and performed other
remarkable arithmetical feats. He was totally illiterate, and no
evidence of high general intelligence is given in the various anecdotes
about his case,

MECHANICAL ABIUTY

Early in the testing movement, Thorndike subdivided
intelligence into three classifications: abstract, social,

1 HoLLiNGWORrH, L. S., " Gifted Children," pp. 211-212, Hie Mac-
Tm'TTan Company, New York, 192S.

195

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

and mechanical, the last named being defined as the
ability to understand and to manipulate mechanical
objects. During the years since the time that this classifi-
cation was made, a number of investigations into the
possible relationships existing among the three have been
conducted, with the result that it has been established
that those relationships are positive. The coefficient of
correlation between mechanical intelligence and abstract
intelligence is approximately .30. A correlation of that
size indicates that, although there will be considerable
overlapping in test scores when an unselected group is
measured with a mechanical aptitude test and with an
intelligence test, in terms of groups intellectually gifted
children will do better and the intellectually inferior
children less well in a situation requiring mechanical
ability.

To achieve greatness in the mechanical world, a man
needs a high degree of abstract intelligence. Even the
so-called chance invention requires that the inventor be
able to observe and to make deductions. An apple falls on
the head of Newton, and he gives to the world, as a result
of the experience, a statement of the law of gravitation.
The same apple falling on the head of a moron would
suggest to him only an apple.

In considering mechanical ability, it is important to
make a distinction between understanding and manipula-
tive skill, the former requiring much more intelligence
than the latter. A dull boy might be able to take a clock
apart and then reassemble it without having any appre-
ciation of the principles involved. A bright child might be
able to duplicate the performance, but in addition to that
would be very much interested in the whys and where-
fores. In fact, very often the bright child is so interested
in the principles involved in the creation and functioning
of a mechanical object that he cares but little about

196.

SPECIAL GIFTS

watching it go. His mind is busy while his hands are idle.
In the case of the dull child, the hands are busy while the
mind is idle.

Observations concerning the relative mechanical abili-
ties of bright and dull children are often faulty because
of failure to check both mental age and chronological age.
Since there is such a low correlation between abstract
intelligence and physical equipment, it follows that the
child who is mentally accelerated is going to find that his
manipulative ability has not kept pace with his mental
development. On the other hand, the dull boy of ten
with a mental age of six can use his hands relatively well.
To be specific, if , in a fourth grade, there were a bright
child of seven and a dull child of ten, it would appear to
the casual observer that mechanical ability is negatively
related to intelligence, for the dull child would presum-
ably be able to handle tools better than his younger
classmate.

Education itself is a conditioning factor in the relation-
ship between mechanical and abstract intelligence.
Bright children are more likely to be interested in and to
be taught subjects that are strictly verbal, while dull
children, lacking both interest in and capacity for such
abstract subjects, are encouraged to take up work in
manual training or in similar fields, where special atten-
tion will be given to developing dexterity.

SPECIAL LANGUAGE ABILITIES

The relationship between abstract intelligence and
language ability, including both reading and writing, is
extremely high. However, as in the case of the correlation
between abstract intelligence and arithmetical ability, it
is not perfect and so permits certain kxeeptionp to occur.
Consequently, an occasional child is found to have a
specific language ability or disability markedly-superior

197

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

or inferior to his intellectual level. A superiority in this
respect occurs much more rarely than an inferiority.

Reading

Examples of unusual reading ability among very dull
or feeble-minded children are as scarce as the presence
of lightning calculators among the same group. On the
other hand, a fairly large number of intellectually superior
children are deficient in reading or writing.

Terman reports the case of a girl who was able to read
simple material at the age of two. Since usually a child
needs to reach a mental age of six before it is possible for
him to read, this precocity would indicate an I.Q. of
about 300. When she was tested, however, it was found
that her I.Q. was only 150. Terman points out that
the child had been given special instruction by her
father, but it seems unlikely that this, in itself, would be
sufficient to account for the unusual accomplishment. It
is probable that she inherited a special talent for reading
and that the personal instruction was an effective means
of developing it. As the girl grew older she continued to
excel in reading and in literature, a further indication that
she had been endowed with a special ability.

Goodenough tells a remarkable story of an imbecile
boy with an I.Q. of only 25 who did not enter school until
he was more than ten years old. Unlike most feeble-
minded children, the boy talked a great deal and was
intensely interested in stories. Concerning his reading,
Goodenough 1 says:

Because he was so greatly retarded it was not thought worth while
at first to try to teach >nm to read. But one day, when the teacher
was giving a word drill by means of "flash cards" to some of the
more advanced children, she happened to glance at the corner where
Arthur sat. There on the edge of his chair, all agog with excitement,

1 GOODENOUGH, op. cit., pp. 417-418.

198

SPECIAL GIFTS

hands on knees, body swaying backward and forward as each new
card was shown, he was pronouncing the words along with the other
children. The amazed teacher tried him out by himself and found
that he could recognize and name quite a number of words without
hesitation. From then on he was given a short lesson in reading each
day and in three years time, that is, by the age of thirteen, he had
learned to read easy stories well enough to give him much pleasure.
To be sure his reading ability never exceeded that which an ordinary
child accomplishes by the end of the second grade. If compared with
the performance of the average boy of thirteen his reading would
seem poor enough. But in comparison with what he could do along
other lines, it was extraordinary.

It is difficult to explain such a case of special reading
ability. It may be the result of inheritance of the special
gift or of the concentration upon this activity to the
exclusion of nearly all others; perhaps it is a combination
of both. It is again important to keep in mind that there
is in reading a distinct difference between mechanics and
understanding. The dull child who performs excellently
at reading aloud will not be able to interpret what he has
read on a level beyond his mental age. The situation is
similar to that of the child who has memorized a poem
which he can glibly recite without having the faintest
idea what a line of it means. There was a certain dull
high school boy who had come up through the grades
bearing with him the reputation of being a wonderful
reader. This boy could take a book like Ivanhoe and read
aloud from it without mispronunciations and with ade-
quate attention to punctuation marks, yet he was unable
to pass his high school English courses or his other
courses, either, for that matter because he could not
understand what he had read.

Writing Poetry

Another form of specialized language ability is the
writing of poetry. Poetic ability usually appears at an

199

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

early age, although not at so early an age as music
ability. Tennyson began writing poetry when he was
eight. Macaulay, at seven, began a long poem, "Olans
the Great/ 3 with the following lines:

Day set on Cambria's hills supreme,
And, Menai, on thy silver stream.
The star of day had reached the West.
Now in the main it sunk to rest.
Shone great Eleindyn's castle tall:
Shone every battery, every hall :
Shone all fair Mona 7 s verdant plain;
But chiefly shone the foaming main.

Bryant, at the age of ten, was sufficiently gifted to
write the following, called " After a Total Eclipse of the
Sun 77 :

How awfully sublime and grand to see
The lamp of day wrapped in obscurity.
To see the sun remove behind the moon,
And nightly darkness shroud the day at noon;
The birds no longer feel his genial ray,
But cease to sing and sit upon the spray.
A solemn gloom and stillness spreads around,
Reigns in the air and broods o'er all the ground.
Once-smiling Nature wears another face,
The blooming meadow loses half its grace.
All things are silent save the chilling breeze,
That in low whispers rustles through the trees.
The stars break forth and stud the azure sky,
And larger planets meet the wondering eye.

Now busy man leaves off his toil to gaze,
And some are struck with horror and amaze,
Others of noble feelings more refined
Serenely view it with a tranquil mind.
See God's bright image strikingly portrayed
In each appearance which his power had made.
(Fixed in their hearts cool Meditation sate,
With upraised eye and thoughtful look sedate.)
200

SPECIAL GIFTS

Now bursts the Sun from silence and from night,
Though few his beams, they shed a welcome light;
And Nature's choir, enlivened by his rays,
Harmonious warble their Creator's praise.
The shades of darkness feel his potent ray,
Mine eye pursues them as they flee away;
So from the greyhound flies the tim'rous hare,
Swift as the dart divides the yielding air.

Terman, in his work with gifted children, found a
number who possessed remarkable poetic talent. The
following was written by a girl only five years of age :

THE PLACE I'D LIKE TO BE

The place I'd like to be
Is where the spreading tree

Spreads its shade

And is made

By the gentle hand of God
In the rich, black mud.
And the brooklet ripples down
To the other end of town,
And the roses are in bloom,
And the violets give perfume,
And the blue grass waves like bushes,
And in the brook, here, wave rushes,
But instead a dingy town!

A girl of seven \rrote this :

MY PEAYER

Oh, Master of fire! Oh, Lord of air,
Oh, God of waters, hear my prayer!
Oh, Lord of ground and of stirring trees,
Oh, God of man and of pleasant breeze,
Dear Father, let me happy be
As happy as a growing tree!

Obviously it takes a high degree of abstract intelli-
gence to write such lines as appear in the preceding
selections. The relationship between poetic ability and

201

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

abstract intelligence is much higher than that found be-
tween either musical ability or drawing ability and
abstract intelligence. Terman, in an investigation of the
writing of children, selected fourteen who showed the
most merit. Their intelligence ratings appear in Table
XXIX.

TABLE XXIX. I.Q.'s OP 14 CALIFORNIA GIFTED CHILDREN
TENTATIVELY SELECTED AS OF OUTSTANDING LITERARY ABILITY*

Name (fictitious)

I.Q.

Corrected I.Q.

Age when
tested

188

7-10M

Edith

138

148

13-

Ethel

172

8-10

144

152

12- 3

153

10- 4

134

145

13-10

166

8- 4

Pauline

143

155

12-10

Ralph

152

6- 5

Ruth

141

157

13- 2

170

186

11- 7

Vivian

140

8- 6

Walter . . -

144

148

11- 7

Wanda

172

TEBMAN, L. M-, "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. Ill, p. 365, Stanford University
Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1930.

For purposes of comparison, Terman selected twenty-
eight writers who had achieved eminence in English or
American literature. An estimated I.Q. for each of these,
based on the Cox biographical survey, appears in
Table XXX.

In 1925, Mearns published a number of examples of
pupils' writings in a book called "Creative Youth." It
was rather generally assumed at the time that any group
of children, under wise encouragement and direction,
could do equally well. The fact that Mearns was working

202

SPECIAL GIFTS

TABLE XXX. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS FOB WHOM
JUVENILIA WERE AVAILABLE*

Estimated LQ.
(Based on Data

to Age
Name Seventeen)

Browning, Robert 165

Bryant, William C 170

Burns, Robert. 140

Byron, Lord 160

Coleridge, Samuel T 180

Cowper, William 150

Dryden, John 160

Emerson, Ralph W 155

Franklin, Benjamin , 160

Freneau, Philip M 160

Hamilton, Alexander 150

Hawthorne, Nathaniel 150

Holmes, Oliver W 155

Jefferson, Thomas 160

Johnson, Samuel 165

Keats, John 165

Longfellow, Henry W , 160

Lowell, James R 165

Macaulay, Thomas B 185

Milton, John 155

Poe, Edgar A 165

Pope, Alexander 165

SheUey, Percy B 165

Tennyson, Alfred 160

Thackeray, William M 145

Thoreau, Henry D 155

Whittier, John G 155

Wordsworth, William 160

* TEBMAN, "Genetic Studies of Genius, VoL IIL" p. 366.

with a group of mentally superior children was given
scant attention. A later report on the mental level of the
children mentioned in "Creative Youth" showed that
the I.Q/s ranged from 100 to 157. Since these children
were at an age when the Stanford-Binet LQ. should be
corrected, it is probable that the true quotients were ten
or fifteen points higher. In general it can be said that
intellectually gifted children can be taught to write

203

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

excellent poetry and prose. However, this does not mean
that in later years they will become eminent authors, for
creative literary achievement rests upon a number of
gifts, of which intellect and the ability to understand and
to handle words are but two. A gifted poet will usually
show promise not only in an interest in words but in
such other contributing factors to creative ability as a
vivid imagination, a sensitivity to beauty, and a reten-
tive memory for detail.

Tests

There is at present no adequate objective test of
creative ability in writing. It is likely that there never
will be, for creative ability by its very nature is unique
and cannot be evaluated according to set standards. It is
even difficult to measure the ability to appreciate or to
judge, although some progress has been made in this field.
Psychologists, in attempting to measure critical ability
in the field of literature, have to keep in mind that stand-
ards of excellence change. The best that they can do is to
compare the judgments of the child examined with a
consensus of the opinions of a group of contemporary
critics of established reputation.

Abbott and Trabue have constructed a moderately
adequate test of the ability to judge poetry. The test is
low in reliability and its validity is open to question.
Carroll has constructed a test of prose appreciation, the
reliability of which is .70. This test depends for its valid-
ity upon three criteria: source, expert opinion, the com-
parative performances of groups on different educational
levels. It is interesting to note that examinations with
the Carroll Prose Appreciation Test show a decided sex
difference in the ability to appreciate prose literature. 1

1 CARROLL, H. A., Influence of the Sex Factor upon Appreciation of
Literature, School and Society, Vol. 37; pp. 468-472, 1933.

204

SPECIAL GIFTS

Similar differences are found witli the Abbott-Trabue
Poetry Test. As was pointed out earlier, there appear to
be like differences in art and music. Terman emphasizes
the fact that the seven most gifted child writers in his
group were all girls, yet opposed to that observation is
the fact that practically all the eminent adult writers
are men. This merely indicates once more the important
part which factors other than inherited ability play in
the attainment of eminence.

STJMMABY

Of the five gifts discussed in this chapter music,
drawing, arithmetical calculation, mechanics, language
only the first two, music and drawing, stand out dis-
tinctly as special talents. The relationship between either
of these and abstract intelligence is only slightly above
zero. In each of the remaining three, the relationship is
definitely higher. However, to attain eminence, even in
music and drawing, it would appear that a high degree of
abstract intelligence is needed. Most assuredly this is
true in authorship.

Musical talent appears at a very early age, frequently
before three. Ability in drawing, depending somewhat
more on experience, does not manifest itself until the
child is older, usually just before or during early adoles-
cence. Unusual ability in the use of language, especially in
the writing of poetry, also appears at an early age, gen-
erally before adolescence. Measuring instruments in
these special fields are not nearly so satisfactory as
those used for objectively evaluating intelligence. Noth-
ing of a satisfactory nature has been done to test creative
ability in music, art, or writing, but critical ability in
each of these fields can now be measured with some degree
of accuracy.

205

CHAPTER X
EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

1. Is differentiation of education justifiable?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of acceleration?

3. What is the opinion of gifted children themselves concerning
acceleration?

Educators disagree concerning the advisability of
making special provision for intellectually gifted children.
Antithetical opinions exist among them concerning any
method which may be proposed acceleration, enrich-
ment, or grouping. There is the sharpest division, how-
ever, concerning the plan of classification according to
ability, especially when this involves putting gifted
children in a group by themselves.

ISSUES INVOLVED

There are a number of questions which are raised
whenever school adjustments for gifted children are
proposed. The issues in the following list bear more di-
rectly on the problem of segregation than on that of
enrichment, although, in some respects, they apply to the
latter method as well:

1. Is differentiation democratic?

2. Does differentiation violate the principle of respect for person-
ality?

3. Does differentiation make the bright child egotistical?

4. Does differentiation prepare the child for actual life situations?

5. Do dull children need those who are gifted as examples?

6. Do gifted children need help?

Democracy in Education

Paradoxical as it may seem, there has developed in
America, side by side with an enthusiasm for success

206

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

stories, a cult of mediocrity. This is everywhere apparent
in American social and political structure and, unfor-
tunately, in the educational system. As De Tocqueville
wrote in the last century, "A middling standard is fixed
in America for human knowledge. All approach as near to
it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend."
American schools are adjusted to meet the needs of the
great average group. Direct effort, usually unsuccessful,
has been made to raise the dull child to the standard
considered desirable for the typical student, and indirect
effort, in the guise of ignoring his needs, has been made to
pull down the gifted child toward the middle.

To canonize mediocrity at the expense of superiority
is not sound democratic education. The writer remembers
that, on taking up his duties in his first high school teach-
ing position, he was instructed by the principal to devote
his efforts to the training of average students, the princi-
pal asserting that these were the ones who would at some
future date bear the burdens of leadership. He made the
further statement, heard often in educational circles, that
the bright children needed no special attention because
they could take care of themselves.

A true democratic conception of education penalizes
no group, whether bright or dull, but asserts that every
child should be given an opportunity to develop to the full
extent of his capacity. As Strayer has said, " Every pupil
in the ideal school system is judged by the best which he
can do and not by the median performance of a non-
selected group." The same point of view is expressed by
Harold Campbell, 1 superintendent of schools in New
York, who says :

The school that fails to offer opportunities for the child of unusual
gif ts is fully as neglectful as the school that offers nothing to the child

1 COHEN, H, L., and N. G. COBTELL, "Educating Superior Students,"
p. v, American Book Company, New York, 1935.

207

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

of limited endowment. The school must be as zealous to do for the
genius as for the dullard. There must be special education for the
gifted as well as for the handicapped.

The belief is held by those who feel that differentiating
instruction is undemocratic that the creation of oppor-
tunity classes for the gifted, or even the creation of an
enriched program for them, constitutes special privilege.
Those who hold this point of view concerning democracy
in education interpret equality of opportunity as meaning
identity of educational offerings. A broader conception of
democracy would admit of the existence of individual
differences and recognize that each child must receive the
education best suited to his abilities and needs, in order
that in later years he can better contribute to a demo-
cratic society the service for which he is best qualified.
To force upon all an education planned for average chil-
dren, regardless of individual intellectual capacity, is to
grant special privilege to the central group and to deny to
the bright and the dull their rights. It is as undemocratic
to require a high school freshman with an I.Q. of 75 to
take algebra as it is to insist that a gifted child capable
of reading "Treasure Island" must study a second-grade
reader merely because he happens to be seven years old
and has been placed by the educational machine in the
second grade.

A truly democratic system provides for the education
of all children. It grants no special privilege to the middle
group even though this happens to be the most numerous.
It is wholly impartial, recognizing the needs of the moron
as well as of the genius, or, more significantly, of the gen-
ius as well as of the moron. A democracy needs not only to
draw upon its man power of average intelligence but also
to utilize the smaller contributions of the " hewers
of wood and drawers of water" and the potentially
greater contributions of its men and women of high intel-

208

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

lect. No democratic society can afford to ignore the devel-
opment of its greatest single possession its intellectual
resources.

Respect for Personality

An argument advanced by Kilpatrick and others
against grouping is that it violates the principle of respect
for personality, the assumption being that the dull and
even the average are being stigmatized by a recognition
of the existence of individual differences and a resulting
classification. The concern appears to be, unfortunately,
not with the benefits to be gained by the gifted through
grouping and differentiation of instruction but rather
with the question of how the dull and average children
will feel about it. This is a strange attitude. Children are
segregated for almost any other purpose without objec-
tion. The muscle boys can be put on a football team and
given the benefit of a highly specialized training by a
well-paid staff of coaches. The future purveyors of
tc swing," or whatever it is that radios will be exhaling a
decade from now, can be organized into an orchestra
and given special instruction. Children with dramatic
ability can be assigned parts in plays and experience the
pleasure of public recognition of their talents. Even
feeble-minded children stand a fair chance of being put
into a special class, where instruction will be adjusted to
their limited mentality. All these classifications can be
made without the objections being raised that someone's
personality is being violated; but if a superintendent or
principal organizes his gifted children into a special group
he may expect a roar of disapproval.

The above-mentioned groupings should not be elimi-
nated. It is indeed difficult to visualize a football coach
giving all the boys in his school the same Mnd of football
training and then sending a team, selected at random,

209

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

against an opponent. Such a procedure would be unfair
to everyone, especially to those boys who are good foot-
ball players. It is not undemocratic to make use of the
best available material in an athletic contest ; neither is it
undemocratic to provide for the best available intellects.
There even seems to be a danger in some of the so-called
progressive schools in America that intellectual achieve-
ment may be outmoded. Here it is considered admirable
to be successful in such activities as art, or calisthenics,
or emotional control, and neither the art teacher nor the
gynasium instructor hesitates to praise those who do well;
but in the classrooms the child who is gifted in reading, or
in arithmetic, or in geography soon learns that to allow
his ability to be detected is not socially desirable. In
these fields, praise and rewards go, rather, to the mentally
slow pupil who, as one teacher remarked, "need the
encouragement. J '

Unsound though the point of view concerning the
stigma attached to classification may be, its existence is,
nevertheless, a fact which must be faced by any teacher or
school administrator who is interested in providing suit-
able education for all children. The present attitude being
what it is, it seems desirable to camouflage differentiation
as much as possible. For example, it is unwise to call a
segregated group of superior children "a class for gifted
children." It is better to use some such phrase as "op-
portunity class/'

Grouping within a heterogeneous class can usually be
disguised very easily through the use of meaningless
names and through complete flexibility, permitting the
transfer of children from one group to another whenever
such transfer seems wise. For instance, a teacher may
divide her class, according to reading ability, into " blue-
birds " and "robins," the "bluebirds," being the poor
readers and the "robins" the good readers. No child's

210

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

personality appears to be violated by this classification,
the " bluebirds " never suspecting the basis for it and even
the " robins" being misled by their mental pictures of the
two birds.

Egotism

It is generally believed that the brilliant child is
egotistical. This belief may spring from the feeling of
average children and adults that if they were brilliant
they would be aware of it and make sure that others
knew about it. A similar situation is found in the mis-
conception that men of wealth are forever conscious of
their possessions or that successful writers and artists
delight in reviewing their achievements. The person who
has not won popular acclaim cannot be expected to
understand how those who have achieved actually feel.
During the first flush of success the experience is sweet,
but the bitter-sweet stage comes quickly, and this is
frequently followed by a period that is bitter without any
sweetness.

Gifted children, as a rule, are too busy taking stock of
the world about them and of looking ahead to their future
work to have time for self-congratulation. The average or
below-average child, on the other hand, may compensate
for his mental weakness by affecting a superior manner.
Experienced teachers will testify that in general it is the
dull rather than the bright child who is overassertive.
Concerning this point, Leta Hollingworth 1 says:

The conceit of the gifted need in any case give little concern,
apparently. According to the repeated testimony of teachers, they
are rated much above average children in modesty, whatever the
circumstances under which they have been schooled. There appears
to be a decided tendency among the very intelligent to compare

1 HOLLINGWOBTH, L. S., " Gifted Children," p, 302, The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1926.

211

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

themselves with those above them, instead of with those below them,
in any category of relative standing. One very gifted boy of ten years,
asked to rate himself for achievement, wrote as follows: "I have not
done much, when you think of Darwin and Newton and all the things
they did. 7 '

The more one knows, the more keenly he recognizes his
limitations.

The statement is frequently made that, even though
gifted children are not naturally conceited, to place them
in an ability group would make them so ; yet this has not
been the case, according to those who have had personal
experience with such groups. Goddard 1 says flatly,

The briefest and most conclusive answer to this objection is that
it doesn't happen. Out of some 500 children who have been in the
Cleveland special classes from one to four years, we have yet to hear
of one who has been made conceited.

Stedman 2 says,

Among the many objections voiced to the plan of segregation was
the suggestion that the opportunity to advance regardless of the
progress of the other members of the class might result in developing
selfish, self-centered, egotistical children. An experience of five years
with the class has amply demonstrated the fallacy of this argument.

Coy, 3 in a study of seventeen gifted children who had
been placed in a special class, reports,

It is often said that membership in a gifted class will make children
conceited. We have practically no evidence of conceit except in the
case of Number 11, who had acquired it before he came to the class.

1 GODDABD, H. H., "School Training of Gifted Children," pp. 26-27,
World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1928.

2 STEDMAN, L. M., "Education of Gifted Children," p. 17, World Book
Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1924.

3 COT, G. L., "Interests, Abilities, and Achievements of Gifted Chil-
dren," p. 176, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 131,
Columbia University, New York, 1923.

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EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

If there were a tendency for mentally superior chil-
dren to become egotistical, a heterogeneous class would
provide a more favorable situation for the development of
this characteristic than would a homogeneous class. In
an unselected group, the gifted child is constantly being
made conscious of the fact that he is brighter than his
classmates. Problems which are easy for Kim are difficult
for them; he succeeds where they fail. Put this child into
an opportunity class, where he will be competing with
other^children who possess minds as good or perhaps bet-
ter than his, and his ego will tend to be deflated. For an
individual who has lost sight of relative values through
lack of competition there is nothing better than a contest
with someone who can defeat him. A gifted boy who grad-
uates as valedictorian of his class in a small high school
may be tempted to believe that he will always be at the
top, but, when he reaches college in the fall and finds him-
self in competition with a number of other boys and girls
who also were valedictorians of their classes, he is likely
to awake to the fact that his standards of comparison
were low.

In conclusion, then, it would appear that gifted chil-
dren as a group are somewhat less egotistical than other
children of the same age. It appears also that a differentia-
tion of educational procedures to meet their special needs
eliminates one of the causes of an inflated self-esteem,
viz., the heterogeneous class, in which there is little or no
competition for the brilliant child.

Preparation for Actual Life Situations

An issue frequently raised concerning the grouping of
gifted children for purposes of instruction is that the
grouping creates an unreal situation, one which tbe child
will not find in adult life where, so the argument runs, he
will be associating with individuals of widely differing

213

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

intelligence. This is another example of the curious
habit that human beings have of failing to distinguish
theory from facts. Theoretically, there are no groupings,
no class distinctions, in democracy. Actually, adult
society in America is made up of innumerable tight
little groups. So long as individuals continue to be char-
acterized by wide differences in every trait, groupings will
exist. Even in a town of a few hundred people, those who
are like-minded will seek one another's company.
Grouping, of course, is not always on the basis of intellect,
but in general those with able minds will seek intellectual
companionship. Those with less able minds naturally and
rightly look for their friends among those of like interests ;
they would be bored and restless in the presence of an
intellectual. Therefore, to force a bright child to find his
friends and playmates among children of a wholly differ-
ent intellectual level is to fail completely to train him for
the situations in which he will find himself in later adult
life.

Individuals not only choose friends who are intel-
lectually and socially congenial, but they also tend to
choose vocations in which competition will be limited
to men of approximately equal mental capacity. As
Elsbeth Kroeber remarks, "Candidates for teaching
licenses would find examinations easier if subway guards
entered into competition with college graduates." It is
especially fortunate for the subway guards that they
prefer not only to compete with, but also to associate
with, other subway guards. Certainly not even the educa-
tional philosopher who objects to all groupings would care
to teach a truly heterogeneous adult class made up of
college students, a sprinkling of day laborers, and, per-
haps, an imbecile or two to make the group really repre-
sentative; yet this same philosopher, arguing before his
homogeneous class, maintains that in the public schools

214

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

the gifted child should be required to compete and to
associate with an unselected group of children because
this is the condition which he will find in adult life.

The facts of the case are that in adult life the doctor
associates pretty much with doctors, the college professor
with other college professors, the baseball player with
other baseball players, and the farmer with other farmers.
Perhaps this is not an ideal situation, but it is a more
comfortable and pleasing one than could possibly exist in
a group of individuals chosen at random and forced to
associate intimately with one another. Such a group, as
social and political history clearly proves, is purely
artificial and does not long endure.

Gifted Children as Examples to Others

It is believed by many that a heterogeneous class of
students is desirable because it gives to the dull and
average child an opportunity to imitate and to be stimu-
lated by the intellectually gifted child. It is, however,
very doubtful if the less intelligent children admire their
superior classmates sufficiently to imitate them. It is
more likely that the average child will feel somewhat
uneasy in a class with a very bright child and will com-
pensate for that uneasiness by being critical of him; or it
may be that he will be discouraged by the ease with which
the bright child solves problems that are so difficult for
him, and will ask himself, " What's the use? John always
gets the best grades. Why should I try?"

It is well to think not only of the possibility of the
gifted child's stimulating those who are less intelligent,
but also of his being stimulated by competing with other
children who are as bright as he a situation in which he
would find himself were he in a segregated class. Even
assuming that average children do need to have gifted
children in their classes to serve as examples, it is doubt-

215

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

ful wisdom to require the mental stultification of the
gifted as a sacrifice to possible benefits which others are
supposed to derive from his presence in the class.

Gifted Children Need Help

It is often maintained in educational circles as well as
outside them that the gifted can take care of themselves.
This, for instance, is the point of view usually expressed
by philanthropic foundations when asked for funds with
which to promote studies of the nature and needs of the
bright. As a matter of fact, as Leta Hollingworth 1 points
out, "not only the leaders of philanthropy today, but
political, educational, and other kinds of leaders would
give all to the burdens of society and nothing to the
burden-bearers."

There are two bases for this attitude toward the educa-
tional needs of gifted children. The first is that most
individuals envy and resent those who possess minds more
brilliant than their own. This feeling is common among
teachers perhaps because they are working in a field
where the importance of mind is disproportionately
magnified.

Any high school teacher should hope and expect that
there will be one or more children in her classes who excel
her in intellect. Theoretically, she does expect exactly
that, but emotionally she rebels against it, not because
she is a teacher, not because she is more sensitive than
others, but because she is a human being. The rebellion
is natural and involuntary, and the expression of it,
unfortunately, is seldom curbed. Any psychologist or
teacher with an interest in bright children could tell

1 HOLLINGWOKTH, L. S. f What We Know About the Early Selection
and Training of Leaders, in a bulletin "How Should a Democratic People
Provide for the Selection and Training of Leaders of the Various Walks
of Life," Advanced School of Education, Teachers College, Columbia
University, New York, 1938.

216

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

stories without number of the humiliating treatment
accorded by instructors to those who are intellectually
superior. For instance, there is the case of the teacher
who, upon being told that she had in her class the child
with the highest intelligence in the school, informed the
child publicly that she would now learn her place; that
she might think she was bright but would find here that
she was no better than the others. Then there is the story
of the child of eight whose ears were soundly boxed by
his teacher because he was getting the better of her in an
argument concerning the relative size and position of the
planets. It would be only a half-truth to state that this
represents the attitude of all teachers toward precocious
children, for there are many conscientious and under-
standing instructors who suppress their spontaneous
jealousy and experience an intense pleasure in contribut-
ing to the development of genius.

The second basis for the belief that gifted children
should be left to rely upon their own resources is the
honest, considered opinion that it is better for them and
for society if they are left alone. Witty expresses this
point of view when he voices his concern about the pub-
licity which is often attached to the selection and special
training of mentally superior children. He 1 says,

Publicity centering about geniuses may result in stultifying their
ability and developing undesirable attitudes in these and other
promising children an unnecessary eventuality that would be
ruinous for the children and socially detrimental.

In the same article, however, he recognizes the fact
that something ought to be done for gifted children when
he says in his concluding statement that "the present
social order is neglecting its richest asset, the gifted and
precocious child. 7 '

1 WITTY, P. A., Exploitation of the Child of High Intelligence Quotient,
Educ. Method, Vol. 15, pp. 298-304, March, 1936.

217

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Although the fact is recognized that in certain instances
gifted children may be harmed by too much attention,
this hardly seems sufficient reason for leaving them to find
their way by trial-and-error methods. To say that
' ' Cream will always rise to the top " or ' ' You can't keep a
good man down" is to refuse to face the facts. There are a
great many factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic, as was
pointed out in Chap. VIII, that "will keep a good man
down"; and the obvious retort to the homely simile
concerning cream is that if the housewife keeps stirring
the cream into the milk it is likely to be submerged. The
striking success of men like Lincoln and Garfield, who
achieved on a remarkably high level despite innumerable
obstacles, obscures the loss of many potential Lincolns
and Garfields whose abilities have been crushed by the
weight of an unfriendly environment.

Intellectually gifted children constitute democracy's
greatest wealth. There seems little reason to question
Thorndike's statement that "all competent observers of
the world's work and workers will agree that a very
small number of men and women of great ability and
good will account for a very large fraction of the world's
progress." This being true, it would seem that public
education should feel itself responsible for meeting the
needs of these few. Certainly guidance, educational
adjustments, and, frequently, financial help should be
provided for those who have so much to contribute to
society. Even without such help a great many gifted
children will achieve success and a few may even com-
pletely fulfill their promise; but if society is to realize
fully on their possibilities, educators should see to it that
all such children are given the best possible opportunity
to develop their potentialities. Concerning this duty
Thorndike 1 says:

1 THOBNDIKB, E. L., The Distribution of Education, School Review, p.
345, May, 1932.

O1 Q

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

Doubtless great ability will often manage to get education outside
of schools or to get along without it, but those who can do so much
for the world with so little are the very ones who should be given
more. In the wars we are incessantly waging against disease, misery,
depravity, injustice, and ugliness, we should not provide our best
marksmen with the poorest weapons nor ask our bravest to fight
with their naked hands.

While education cannot make a creative genius;
it can do much to develop one who has inherited the
capacity for great achievement. No form of education will
increase the number of brilliant -minds, but a lack of the
right kind of education can effectively decrease the num-
ber of those who make great contributions to human
society.

ACCELEKATION

For over half a century acceleration has been the most
popular method of adjusting education to the superior
learning abilities of the gifted child. Although full
acceleration has rarely been effected, it has been, and is,
a common experience for gifted children to be advanced
one grade. Occasionally this has been stretched to two,
but seldom to as many as three. When it is remembered
that a child with an LQ. of 150 is capable of doing high
school work at the age of ten, and one with an LQ. of 175
at an even earlier age, it can be seen that the skipping of
a single grade goes only a little way toward adapting the
difficulty of the curriculum content to the mental ability
of the gifted child./

During the last part of the nineteenth century, flexible
promotion was the only method of adaptation. In spite
of present-day enthusiasm for opportunity classes and
enrichment in heterogeneous classes, rapid promotion is
still the most popular procedure. It was first introduced
by W. T. Harris in the city of St. Louis in 1868,

219

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

when he put into operation a plan whereby pupils
could be promoted at short intervals ; even in as brief
a period as five weeks. In 1886 Supt. Shearer, of Elizabeth,
N. J., introduced ability grouping. Each group, bright,
average, or dull, was permitted to set its own pace in
covering subject-matter essentials. Comparable to this
was the Cambridge Double Track Plan, which made it
possible for the brighter children to do the eight years'
work in six, thus permitting an acceleration of two years.
These plans, and many others which attained popularity,
all stressed speed.

Two other widely known plans which emphasize the
importance of the timesaving element are the Winnetka
Plan, developed by Supt. C. W. Washburn of Winnetka,
111., and the Dalton Plan, used at Dalton, Mass. In each
of these the importance of individual instruction is
emphasized. Each permits the child to travel at his own
rate, requiring only that he master the essentials of the
curriculum. These plans, and many others which are
variations of the same principle, indicate a recognition by
school men of the necessity of taking into account
individual differences in learning ability. Although no
one of them adequately satisfies the needs of the intel-
lectually gifted child, the contribution which these
pioneers have made is great.

Jt is entirely possible that acceleration, either partial
or full, is the best means of adjusting the educational
program to the superior child. It has not been and per-
haps never can be scientifically established that gifted
children should keep in step educationally with others of
the same chronological age. The problem still has to be
approached subjectively, and the considered opinion of
one educator is perhaps as good as that of another.
Possibly the opinions of gifted children themselves are as
valuable as any.{

220

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

Advantages

In Chap. I it was pointed out that the youngest child
in an unselected class is usually an intellectually gifted
child. It is true also that the youngest child in an un-
selected class is usually among the top-ranking students
in that class. In other words, the customary partial
acceleration of gifted children does not appear to handi-
cap them with respect to scholastic achievement. This is
true not only in the elementary but also in the high school
and in college. Gray, in a monograph on the undergrad-
uate careers of young college students, quotes a number of
opinions concerning the relationship between chrono-
logical age and academic achievement. He refers to a
statement made by Jones that studies at Northwestern
University show younger students to be superior in
academic achievement; to an address by former Pres.
Lowell of Harvard University, in which he urged that
students be allowed to enter college at an earlier age than
now because the younger the boy, the more likely he is to
be a good scholar; and to Bear, who found that the six-
teen- and seventeen-year-old freshmen at Center College
in 1925 led all their classmates in intelligence-test scores
and scholastic achievement. Gray 1 concludes his survey of
opinion with the statement :

^he majority of educators who have expressed their views in the
literature on the subject seem to favor the early admission of other-
wise well-qualified students to institutions of higher learning, even
though they are younger than those with whom they will have to
associate. . . . Taken as a group, the younger students do achieve
more scholastic success than average or over-age students^

There is little doubt, then, that the truly gifted child
will be able to absorb an acceleration of one, two, or

1 GRAY, H. A., "Some Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of College
Students," p. 9, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 437,
Columbia University, New York, 1930.

221

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

three years without difficulty. Even an acceleration of
as much as four years would not completely bridge the
gap in mental age between a ten-year-old child with an
LQ. of 160 and a typical high school freshman.

An argument that is frequently advanced in favor of
full acceleration is that it makes it possible for the bright
child to compete with others of approximately the same
mental age. (No group, of course, is ever truly homogene-
ous in mental equipment; for that matter, no two indi-
viduals are ever mentally identical, even though their
chronological and mental ages may be the same.) A bright
child, accelerated to a grade in which the subject material
is sufficiently difficult to challenge him, will be less
likely to develop bad mental habits than if he were
required to mark time in a lower grade, where he would
be competing with children of the same chronological
age but where there would be little or nothing in the
subject matter to interest his active mind. Gifted children
respond to the latter situation in many different ways.
They may become lazy; or they may develop a feeling
of frustration, as in the case of David Brown, who at
the age of six entered Grade 1.

/ David could do fourth-grade work with ease, but the
superintendent had an inflexible rule that six-year-old
children entering school must begin at the beginning.
For weeks David was obliged to sit quietly and listen
while his classmates of ajerage mentality struggled with
the task of reading "I see a cat" and attempted to
remember from one day to the next that 2 and 1 make 3.
One day, after months of this disillusioning experience,
David came home and said, "Daddy, I'm caught in a
trap." Many gifted children have experienced this feeling
of being caught in a trap and as a result have developed
an open antagonism toward formal education. It is
possible that acceleration to a more stimulating grade

222

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

level would do much toward eliminating both indolence
and frustration

An argument that is a very important one from the
point of view of the superintendent or principal is that
acceleration places no strain upon the administrative
machinery of the school. All that is required is that the
child be taken from one grade and placed in another.
Moreover, this is a money-saving device, for the shorter
the time a child stays in school, the less it costs to edu-
cate him. These two reasons probably account in large
part for the considerable popularity of this method
among school executives. It has the added, pleasant
feature of being satisfactory to the majority of parents.
* Perhaps the most logical argument in favor of accelera-
tion is that it permits the gifted individual to enter
upon his life's work at an earlier age than would be the
case if he traveled through school at the usual rate. The
saving of from two to four years in time would be espe-
cially valuable to the many brilliant students who wish
to go to professional school after finishing college. For
a young man to have his graduate degree and to be ready
to enter upon his profession at the age of twenty-two
instead of twenty-five might well constitute a consider-
able advantage. A number of individuals who have been
prominent in American life and letters were graduated
at an early age, and it is possible that this fact exercised
some influence upon their later eminence. For example,
Emerson entered Harvard when he was only fourteen,
Longfellow entered Bowdoin at fifteen, and Charles
Evans Hughes was graduated from Brown at the age
of nineteen. More recently, Berle was graduated from
Harvard at the age of eighteen. " Who's Who in America"
contains the n^mes of many men and women who seem
to have made good use of the time saved through early
graduation from 'college, f

223

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

' On the other hand, it is true that many have found
themselves, upon leaving college, seriously handicapped
by immaturity. In this, as in all other situations con-
cerning intellectually gifted children, much depends
upon the individual. If he is accelerated socially and
physically, the chances are excellent that he will not find
early graduation from college a handicap. If, however,
he is retarded either socially or physically, then early
graduation is undesirable and may even prove to be
disastrous. ^

As an example of the first situation, there is the case
of the boy who entered college when he was fifteen. In
physical development he appeared to be eighteen or
nineteen. His social qualities were such that he was
elected president of his freshmen class. He was graduated
with a Phi Beta Kappa key at the age of nineteen and
went on to Yale Law School, from which he was gradu-
ated at the head of his class. He was immediately taken
into a leading law firm and rapidly developed into a very
successful attorney. If this young man had been under-
sized or socially backward, the three years' acceleration
might have been a handicap instead of an asset.

Disadvantages

Although ease of administration, timesaving, and other
advantages of acceleration are sufficiently important to
warrant serious consideration, they are overshadowed
by the disadvantages which are likely to attend a too
rapid progress through school. If a child is advanced
according to a flexible promotion scheme wherein he is
allowed to skip one or more grades, he misses important
basic material. This is one of the reasons why so many
gifted children do poor work in spelling or make errors
in simple arithmetical computation. Most teachers of

224

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

heterogeneous groups have little time to help an ac-
celerated child fill the gaps in his scholastic information.
The most serious disadvantage of acceleration, how-
ever, is a social one, resulting from the discrepancy which
exists between the child's intellectual maturity on the
one hand and his physical and social maturity on the
other. For instance, a ten-year-old boy who is accelerated
five years mentally may be accelerated physically only
one year and emotionally and socially but two years.
The child is capable of doing tenth-grade work, but
actually to place him in the tenth grade might result in
numerous maladjustments. This boy of ten, although as
large as the average eleven-year-old, would be unable to
participate successfully in the athletic activities of fifteen-
year-old children. He would have considerable difficulty,
also, in adjusting to the social life of the school. The
exciting new world of adolescence into which all his
classmates had entered would still be closed to him. A
ten-year-old child, he would be baffled by manifestations
all about him of emotions and social interchanges which
he could not experience. This disadvantage alone out-
weighs all the advantages which can be enumerated in
favor of full acceleration for intellectually gifted children.
/ Terman, 1 taking the point of view that the amount of
acceleration should always be determined by the charac-
teristics of the individual pupil concerned, reports on
a case of unwise acceleration as follows:

ROGEK

For a fifteen-year-old college boy who has been continually in
boarding school from a very tender age, Roger presents an astonish-
ing picture of profound childishness. . . .

Roger was nearly eleven years old when first tested by us, and was
finishing the seventh grade in an exclusive boarding school for boys.

1 TERMAN, L. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. Ill, pp. 262-264,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1930.

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GENIUS IN THE MAKING

The Stanford-Biiiet test gave him at the age of 10-10 an I.Q. of 149
(corrected, 152). A Stanford Achievement Test administered a few
weeks later showed him to be advanced in most school subjects to
the standards of grades several years beyond that in which he was

located Roger skipped the eighth grade, and entered the ninth

grade at the age of 11-3. His progress after that time was at the nor-
mal rate. At 15-3 he entered the junior college department of the
school that he had attended most of the time since the age of ten.

The wisdom of placing a boy of Roger's type in the ninth grade
when he was barely eleven seems to us at least questionable. When
still in the seventh grade he was said by his teacher to be a solitary
child, "decidedly less popular than the average," though his mother,
in filling out the Home Information Blank, was inclined to be
more liberal, assigning him an average rating upon popularity and
leadership. . . .

At the time of our recent follow-up, Roger's situation was rather
pitiful. At an age when most boys are in their second year of high
school, Roger was finishing his first year of junior college. He was
thus three years accelerated. At this time he not only did not look
or act like a college youth, but looked and acted several years younger
than he really was. There were transparent attempts to assume the
role of collegian, but with his round, childish face, short stature, and
wistful expression, his stiff dancing-school bow when he acknowledged
introductions, and bis naive conversation, the effect produced was
that of a young child playing grown-up. He was courteous and re-
sponsive, but ill at ease in the presence of the other members of the
group with whom he took our follow-up tests. The fact of his preco-
cious school advancement was evidently a source of both gratification
and chagrin to him. At one instant he told the examiner with childlike
relish that he was a freshman in junior college, ''though I won't be
sixteen till this summer, and haven't done a bit of studying since I
entered the college." A little later he was confessing that he found
life very dull. "You get so sick of going to movies twice a week,
playing bridge, and then doing the same thing all over again. There's
nothing to do, and I'm left out of everything." And he added plain-
tively, "I can't go out with girls the way the other fellows do because
they would all say the girls were cradle-snatchers." . . .

In our judgment, Roger has neither the maturity, the interests,
nor the attitudes to make him a successful and happy college student
at present. His case is one of the clearest in our entire gifted group
of unwise haste in school advancement.

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EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

Opinions of Gifted Children

Earlier reference has been made to the Speyer School
group of gifted children with whom the writer worked
for a time. In the course of that work two hours were
given over to a parliamentary discussion of the following
proposition, selected and phrased by the children them-
selves: Resolved, That intellectually gifted children should
be allowed to progress through school at their own rate of
speed. Eight children, under the chairmanship of the
writer, participated in this discussion. They were a re-
markable group, since only one had an LQ. under 170.
Their I.Q.'s and chronological ages, together with
identifying but fictitious names, appear in Table XXXI.

TABLE XXXI. AGES AND I.Q.'s OF EIGHT GIFTED CHILDREN
PARTICIPATING IN A DEBATE ON ACCELERATION

Name

C.A., years
and months

LQ.

Miles

11-5

190

Eva

9-5

197

Marv

9-4

184

Ernest .

11-1

175

Nina

10-6

172

Ruth

10-3

171

Donald

9-8

170

Fred

10-7

159

The discussion on acceleration by this gifted group ran
for two hours with an intermission at the end of the first
hour. A stenographer was present and took down in short-
hand every word that was said. Her transcription appears
in the following pages. This material not only reveals
what gifted children themselves think about the desir-
ability of progressing rapidly through school but also

227

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

vividly displays the characteristics of the thinking of
brilliant nine- and ten-year-old children.

PABLIAMENTAET DISCUSSION

Present: The Chairman, Miles, Eva, Ernest, Mary, Donald, Fred,
Nina, Ruth, parents, and guests.

(The children have some prepared comments. They discuss the
number of words contained in their "papers" 86, 72, etc. They
tease Miles, asking him whether he has "2,000 to 5,000" words pre-
pared, but he replies that it is "nearer 200 to 500." Before his entrance
they ask each other whether "the professor" is coming.)

CHAIRMAN: Everyone will be allowed to talk as long as he likes.
You will arise and address the Chair and wait for your turn. Be sure
to address the Chair before you begin speaking. Stand while you talk.
You may say anything you want to say that concerns the subject.

Will Ernest open the discussion by presenting the proposition?

ERNEST: The proposition is: Resolved, That intellectually gifted
children should be allowed to progress through school at their own
rate of speed. "Intellectually gif ted "' means all children of 130 I.Q.
or more. " Own rate of speed" means they should be able to go ahead
as fast as their I.Q.'s will allow them.

I and the group I am working with think that all these children
should be allowed to go through school as fast as they can, because
if they are held back, they might develop a superiority complex.

CHAIRMAN: Are there any comments on this?

MILES: This is only a parliamentary discussion and "resolved"
should not be used.

CHAIRMAN: Are there any arguments? You may say anything you
want to say.

MART: Our opinions?

CHAIRMAN: Or you may refer to material you have read. What is
your point of view?

MART: I rather think that Ernest is mixed up. I am arguing for
moderate acceleration; it would be all right to go ahead one grade,
one and a half grades, or even two grades.

CHAIRMAN: Why?

MART: Well, if you went ahead very far Well, I don't mean any
special child, but there is a child named Betty who was skipped one
grade and then skipped another grade and then she was skipped again.
And she developed an inferiority complex and thought she was very
very wonderful. They would lose their friends and nobody would like

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EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

them and they wouldn't have any fun. Nobody would play with
them. Nobody would care what happened to them, because they were
stuck-up.

MILES: I have an objection to make. The last thing that Mary
brought up was that the child would lose his or her friends. This was
brought out in an article recently in the Times. But in games of skill
a child of high I.Q. could contend with older children because strength
would not be at grips there but brain, and his brain would be as far
developed as the normal or older children's. When it comes to games
of brawn he could associate with children of his own age because he
wouldn't be superior or inferior to them.

MART: Just the same, children wouldn't want to let hum into their
games because he would have an inferiority complex. Because any
person if he gets stuck-up I am sure from experience and stories
and all no one would want him. They can't expect to have friends
if they do get inferiority complexes and affected.

CHAIRMAN : You have made the point that older children wouldn't
want to play with you if you were much younger and that they
certainly wouldn't if you felt stuck-up.

EENEST: I don't tnink anyone would get stuck-up unless they stay
in the same grade, and then they really are better than anybody else.

MARY: Some people do.

ERNEST: Well, I think very few, less than one out of twenty-five.

MART: I know about three.

NINA: I know a lot of people stuck-up because they have been
accelerated too far. One of my girl friends is bragging that she is in
a higher class, j

CHAIRMAN: Mary and Nina are saying very definitely that an
accelerated child will become stuck-up and egotistic; Ernest says that
if they are allowed to stay in the same class they will also become
egotistical because they will be the brightest in the class./

MILES: I want to say that Mary has been using the wrong term.
She has been defining inferiority complex as stuck-up while superior-
ity complex is the word.

If a child were held back in a class of the same chronological age,
he would be doing work outside of school, because the class work
will become boring to him. And as it became more so, he wouldn't
bother taking part in the class discussions or class work and children
would think that the child didn't know the answers. But the real
reason would be because he knew only too well and they were too
boring for him to answer.

229

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

MARY: That may happen sometimes, but not very often. There
was Ruth, another girl I know. She was put in another school
Lincoln or Horace Mann, I thinkand she was very, very bright
and sat in the first row in class and everything, and she always raised
her hand, to show off.

CHAIRMAN: Donald, do you have anything to say?

DONALD: I will have to find something to argue against!

RUTH: I have a friend who is bragging that whenever they have
arithmetic or spelling or any other subjects she always gets ahead
and is bored with it. One time I had one of my books home and she
took the book and copied an example and worked it just as fast as I
did, even though she is only in 4B.

NINA: I don't think that what Miles said would happen often.
They would try to study. If they weren't told that they were better,
they would try to keep up with the children of their own age.

CHAIRMAN: Let me say that if you want to bring in any quotations
or any references from your reading, do so.

ERNEST: Nina just said that she disagreed with Miles because she
thought that a child would have to be told. He wouldn't, because if
he tried to keep up, he would be able to do that much faster than
the others. And then he would just sit around. If he was held back,
he would get bored and would have to find something to do, so he
would do something outside of school and get still farther ahead.

EVA: Miles said if a child was held back, it would make him feel
superior. But if he was left back, he would feel badly.

FRED: When I saw a big boy bigger than Ernest very tall and
old, marching with little kids, I said, "Look at that big gawk; he
must be awfully dumb." They must be ashamed.

CHAIRMAN: This concerns the question of dull children rather than
bright children. We should probably keep to the question of superior
children here today.

MILES: First, I have an objection to make to the way Mary has
been bringing in experience, because she is no expert on I.Q. and we
do not know whether the child was really superior or only between
normal and superior.

Here, in this question of obtaining a superiority complex, according
to Goddard, if the child is kept back and only allowed to go ahead at
the pace of the regular public school child, he will develop a superior-
ity complex and that should be seen from the fact that the child is
able to do better and more work and can see differences from his own
action and those of the others even if he doesn't know he is superior.

230

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

DONALD: Eva said that if a child is left back, he wouldn't develop
a superiority complex. He would, because he has had this work so
much that it has become boring.

MART (heatedly): Miles referred to experience. Why should he
take himself for an example, then?

MILES (excited): If you can point out one instance in this debate
where I have used myself as an example I will give you a dollar for
each one!

(Children are quieted.)

NINA (to Chairman) : At the beginning of this discussion, you said
that we should address you as " Mr. Chairman," and no one has.

CHAIRMAN : It would help if you did that, and if each stood as he
spoke. It would be easier for us to follow.

(The children act accordingly throughout the rest of the discussion
reminding each other when necessary.)

MART: Miles said that he would give a dollar for each one but
this is not a debate , but a formal discussion!

CHAIRMAN: We are concerned with the question given to us by
Ernest. Very often political discussions degenerate into personalities,
but we don't want that to happen here.

ERNEST: Eva and Fred said that a child would develop a superiority
complex by being left back, but we are talking about being held back
to his chronological age.

RUTH: I had a friend who was just promoted when I was being
skipped. And she was supposed to have been skipped also, but the
principal made her stay back, and so this girl started crying and got a
great superiority complex. She started to brag about it, that it wasn't
fair, I told her that I didn't think so either but that I couldn't do
anything about it.

CHAIRMAN: I don't want to direct this discussion too much, but I
think we have talked about superiority enough. I know you have con-
sidered many other possibilities, such as social difficulties, difficulties
in making adult adjustments if graduated from college at 16, 17, or 18.

RUTH: The child labor law says that children under 18 may not
work. If I were accelerated, I could right now be in second year high
school and then, if I went along steadily, by the time I would be 15, 1
would be out of high school; college four years and I would be 18 and
able to work.

MILES: Here I have a big point to bring up in this discussion about
adjustments. In the rehearsals we have had before, some of the chil-
dren have stated that if a child were allowed to finish college much

231

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

earlier, it would be hard financially. I want to bring out that if a child
gets out of college at even 17, he will have all his time available for
attempting to earn a living. He won't have college expenses any
longer. He might not be able to go to work because of the child labor
law, but he can have smaller jobs and be partially independent. Also
if he wants to enter business, he will be gaining experience and then
he can get a major job and hold it. By the time he is of age to support
others, he will have had more experience in doing it and will have a
better chance of obtaining a good job.

CHAIRMAN: Miles has made an excellent argument. Some of you
who are on the other side should try to reply to it.

DONALD: It would be almost impossible to accelerate him seven
or eight years. I think he could adjust himself, if he has the mental
standard to do that.

RUTH: Even if he was accelerated seven or eight years the child
labor law is only for factories and so on. If a child wanted to be a
lawyer, he could go right into law school after college or even if he
wanted to go in a store, he could get some older person than he is to
help him run the store. There would be no law against that.

MART: I think if Nina or anybody wanted to be technical, they
could get a better argument, but I didn't think that was allowed here.

CHAIRMAN : We do want to give facts from authorities, although, in
an informal discussion like this, it is a little more difficult to do than
it would be in a formal debate.

DONALD: If a child went into a profession, he would be glad to have
the extra time. If he was kept back, he wouldn't have any time for it.
If he was going into medical school or law school, each takes three or
four more years. He would be glad to have the extra two or three
years that you are arguing for.

NINA: Two or three years moderate acceleration.

CHAIRMAN: Would some one in your group explain what you mean
by moderate acceleration?

MART: Full acceleration would be three years or more . . .

CHAIRMAN: May I say that Ernest defined full acceleration at the
beginning by saying that it meant intellectually gifted children
should be allowed to%b ahead at their own rate of speed. That is what
that group is arguing for.

MILES: I ask those against acceleration to refute this. Their main
argument centers about financial and social difficulties and adult mal-
adjustments. They are arguing that the child would not fit into the
social world. Any person could see that if they were allowed to finish
college, to get into a profession, and to gain experience, they would

232

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

have a better source of income for the time when they get married.
And I think a person would rather be married to one with a better
source of income than to one kept in school. He would have more time
to save up and also would be able to provide for a family. Here, with
financial difficulties ruled out, social maladjustments are too, because
he would be able to gain money from his experience and he would have
money to get married on.

FEED: You say that he will have more time afterwards. I say: what
will he do in college? He won't have any fun there. Besides that, while
he is in college, he could earn money enough to be able to pay for a lit-
tle by having a little job; besides that, he could save up.

RUTH: I object, because Fred said that he wouldn't have anything
to do. Full acceleration would mean the child would be physically fit.

NINA: He wouldn't be physically fit. Suppose he entered high school
at ten, then, Dr. H. said when she was talking to us, he would have to
have physical education, or a certain amount of it, and he wouldn't
be fit for it.

DONALD : There are many children now in high school not physically
fit even though they are years older. If a person has the mental capac-
ity, he could go in at any age.

FEED : If you went to high school or college a few years younger than
the others Well, did you ever see a nine-year-old wrestle with a
twelve-year-old and come out on top?

EENEST: I have seen many.

FEED: You have no proof, no evidence, no witnesses!

RUTH: Let's see yours 1

FEED: I tried it.

(The children are all very excited.)

CHAIEMAN: I think the point is good but I don't think we should
follow it up any further.

NINA: I don't think we should take Ernest's statement; he has no
proof.

RUTH: If you think Ernest is lying

(This sets off a new storm.)

CHAIEMAN: We aren't going to have any more of this. The points
made were very good, but we don't want to quarrel over them.

MILES: Fred has no evidence himself, but the matter concerns
intellectually gifted children. According to observations made by
many authorities, they develop faster both mentally and physically
more than other children. We can't say that they develop just as fast
physically, but brain plays a big part in brawn. In boxing and
wrestling a man can weigh more, but if he doesn't know where to

233

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

strike, he will never come out on top, because the knowledge of the
other man will tell him how to win the match.

CHAIRMAN: Are there any further comments on this?

RUTH: It was said before that, if he was playing football, the child
who was fully accelerated wouldn't have fun. But full accelerations
don't mean those who are very small. Mary is much taller than I am,
although she is younger, so many people like her could go through
high school.

MART: There aren't many children that are so big. I think nine out
of ten children are average size or smaller.

NINA: I disagree with Miles because if the college had a wrestling
match, the other person would have to know just as much about it as
he would, because if he didn't know about it, how could he get in
college?

MILES: I don't want to quote personal experience, but it stands to
reason that, in a good football team, someone behind the team would
have to look up the plays because two teams would try to match each
other by developing plays, going by trick plays that will win the game,
and here an intellectually gifted child would be the best person to fit
into it because he would be the best fitted to devise schemes, although
he might not be physically fitted to play in the game.

ERNEST: Even though an intellectually gifted child may be younger,
he can play football with the others; you have seen many men as big
as others being knocked out.

NINA: Miles said that maybe he would figure out plays. Suppose he
wants to play football? And, after college, he can't.

ERNEST: Why not?

FRED: If a child is too small, he can be tackled better.

ERNEST: When he is out of college, he could play with those his own
age and weight. Nina said he can't play when he is out of college.

MILES: This statement about not being able to play after college:
He could play with a team of his own age. There would be no restric-
tion; it is just up to himself what he is going to do.

I don't believe that many intellectually gifted children would want
to be football players. They would be interested in chemistry, and so
on.

DONALD: What if he don't play football it would not ruin his life!

NINA: Perhaps a little bit. I don't think there is so much enjoyment
outside of college as on college teams the crowds, the cheering, and
everything.

CHAIRMAN: Let's turn to the social difficulties involved. Fred,
you had some ideas on that subject?

234

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

FRED : I think that if the gifted child is accelerated four years or
more, he wouldn't be able to keep up with the others.

CHAIRMAN: Why not?

FRED : Well, a kid almost all the time has a girl all the others in
college are the same age he wouldn't have any boy friends of his own
age or any girl friends.

DONALD: In the Minnesota Journal of Education it says: "Pupils so
chosen are segregated for class work only and so may associate with
children of their own chronological age."

NINA: Suppose you want to go to dances? You are not invited be-
cause you are too small. Can you picture somebody trying to dance
with someone much smaller!

MARY: It would be very uncomfortable. I saw a girl dancing with a
dog -

MILES: Who has ever seen anyone go out and dance with a dog!
Here we are discussing dancing with human beings. That is irrelevant.
In these social difficulties, what Donald brought up has something to
do with it. He can't go back with children of his own age. We have
often heard of child marriages. If a child gets married, it doesn't have
to be a child marriage.

NINA: I don't think that makes sense!

RUTH : We had a maid who was just about eighteen but she was very
small and she had a boy friend, she had a great big boy friend, and
they went out to dances so frequently.

CHAIRMAN: Some of you had more to say about full acceleration.

DONALD: We are for acceleration, but not to a point that is
harmful.

CHAIRMAN: What do you mean by harmful?

DONALD: As far as the child can take it.

RUTH: To go ahead as far as he can mentally, but not to be harmed
mentally.

MILES: As far as a child can go, and tests will tell whether he knows
what goes before, or not.

FRED: All these are trying to explain is that they think a child
should go ahead as far as he can, without missing anything he would
need.

CHAIRMAN: You must define your terms better. What is meant by
full acceleration?

DONALD: I have defined full acceleration. I say it is to a point where
the child can take it.

MART: I disagree, if he says that we are just for acceleration that
way. If a child could go ahead, then just let him go.

235

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

CHAIRMAN: As I understand it now, those on the affirmative are still
in favor of full acceleration but want to guarantee to the bright child
the right to cover all the needed material before he goes on into high
school or college; they want him to have a chance to get fundamentals.

MILES: If he has the required knowledge to pass the tests with
high marks.

RUTH: I think that acceleration would also mean that supposing
a child would be accelerated five years in every subject except, let's
say, geography, then I should think that he would be allowed to have
the'books. I'm only in the fifth grade English and in the sixth year
history, and so on. I think that's how a child should be, so that he
would be able to go ahead in all his subjects.

NINA: Last time I think it was Donald that asked the question of
the negative team what a child is supposed to do, if he is only ac-
celerated a few years, if he has finished the work earlier. I think he
should be allowed to work on some subject that would ordinarily be
out of school.

DONALD: That would be developing a superiority complex to the
children in his class. He would get so bright that he wouldn't play
with them.

MARY: Some children do study out of school. Lots take piano les-
sons, dancing lessons, and all sorts of lessons. Frances does, Thelma
does, Barbara, Jack, I, and others. Lots of children do it, so I can't
see how anyone should get stuck-up about it. And if you take other
lessons out of school, please tell me where you can get them if you
don't have a tutor!

CHAIRMAN: That is a good point to get enrichment at home.

DONALD: He would develop a superiority complex. If he stayed out
of school, they would be so far advanced in the other subjects, what
would happen to him?

NINA: I don't think he should stay out of school. Here we are hav-
ing different subjects. At the other schools they don't study outside.
I didn't. Maybe some do. We have units. There may be more than one
bright child in the class and the others might try to keep up with
them.

MILES: In the point that Mary has brought out, I want to make a
comeback to it. She has brought out music. I have Hebrew lessons out
of school. She says something like enrichment. In half the class in most
schools the children study these different things. But the point is that
if you haven't a good ear for music and can't play, it doesn't mean that
you have to sit down and sulk the rest of your life; there are things
you will have to use all kinds of arithmetic; if you want to be a good

236

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

salesman, you will have to know English, etc. Those are subjects
which most people don't take out of school. The things you (Mary)
brought out are not important unless you are becoming a maestro or
something.

R,UTH: There is not a child I don't think in the two Terman classes
that don't have one special thing like music

FRED (bursts out): I don't take any!

RUTH (resuming) : That is, only one or two, out of fifty. They might
not develop a superiority complex for music. But I know that I could
read a lot in my father's library. Then if there was a child like that he
would develop a superiority complex if he was allowed to go at modi-
fied acceleration only. But if he went at full acceleration he could take
those books and read them and go at his own rate of speed.

(Donald and Fred have been drawing. Chairman comments on this.
The boys stop.)

MARY: Donald said that if they took lessons out of school, it would
give them a superiority complex. But that can't happen in anything
besides music and dancing and drawing and handicrafts and military
things, because well, so far Donald or anybody hasn't been able to
answer my question: Where could they get lessons in other things
unless they had a private tutor?

DONALD: Let me see now

NINA: It may not be the right thing to do, but I start to disagree
with Mary, because I know a lot of children whose mothers and fathers
could help them. If a child is bright, he could help himself. This may
not be a good thing to do, to oppose my own side, but it is true.

CHAIRMAN: You have a good point there.

FRED : To bring up Mary's point. I think if a boy was better than
anyone else in dancing lessons or telling stories, he could just come out
with all he knows, he'd think he was so smart.

DONALD: I want to answer Mary's point. Where could he develop a
superiority complex? There are arithmetic, history, and the other
subjects.

CHAIRMAN: Mary is suggesting a good substitute, enrichment in
the home, through the home library, dancing lessons, music lessons,
etc. I suggest that you four negative people stick to it.

DONALD: What about poor children? What about the children in the
South? Maybe they haven't a good book to their name! They don't
have books.

MARY: Don't I know! I've lived there! Mr. Chairman, there are
libraries all over the world, even where there are poor children. And if
they lived way off they could walk or hitch-hike to the libraries.

237

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

FEED: We are talking about the Southern country boy and he
hasn't any books or libraries. But he can go through the woods and
learn a lot about nature.

DONALD: Still he isn't advanced in his other school subjects.

NINA: Sometimes children inherit some of their knowledge from
their parents. And so if the parents didn't know enough to earn enough
money to buy books, how can the child know enough to want
books?

CHAIRMAN: It is true that there is a relationship between size of
library and intelligence of children ; you have hit upon something which
Prof. Bagley pointed out a long time ago.

MARY: He could study some kinds of arithmetic, addition and sub-
traction, if his mother or someone explained to him. He could say:
"There are four purple flowers (using vase on library for example)
and four yellow flowers," and so on. Or if he said, ' 'If I have picked ten
red flowers and three got crushed, how many would I have?" He
could get a little arithmetic in. He could get English when people come
to visit and when he went into towns or cities, because everyone does
go in sometimes. He could get his own family history.

CHAIRMAN: I don't think this point needs to be added to because
she has made it very clearly: it is possible to learn outside of school.

RUTH: I have a very good friend in the South who has never been in
town. They haven't any schools down there. And also I object because
well, I don't think we are going through with full acceleration, yet
my mother teaches me some of the work in high school and my father
knows enough to teach me something about law; I take music lessons
and my parents try to teach me English; we have a maid that's
German and I am learning German; and I am going to learn Russian
and Hebrew; and French we have at school; and I am taking dancing,
dramatic, and art lessons BO what more do I need for full acceleration!

MILES: Mary says a child could learn by himself. From the reports
of very eminent men, when a child is born he is no better than an ape.
He has to be taught in order to learn. Otherwise he stays just as dumb
as the day he was born. If you say he is going out in the woods and
know things without a tutor, then you are mistaken: if he comes in
contact with children who have had tutors he will have an inferiority
complex.

MARY: Well, first, Ruth was arguing for our side and now she is on
the other side. Then, in answer to what Miles is saying, I didn't say
that he would go out by himself and learn things; I said if Ms mother
told him about different things, then he certainly could learn it,
because if he didn't then someone else would turn up to teach him.

238

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

FEED: About Ruth. First she said that she had a friend in the South
without schools or cities. But then directly after that she brought up
tutoring at home by the parents. This is just what the girl would get.
Then, Miles says if a boy went out in the woods he wouldn't think
anything of it. I think he would see flowers and colors and birds and
would learn to appreciate them and love them. He would want to
know who made them, and everything.

DONALD: He wouldn't know enough to do it.

NINA: In answer to Miles's statement about being born without
knowledge : what about his parents? Are they deaf mutes or something?
A child learns to talk, at least, from his parents. He wants to inquire
about different things from his parents.

EENEST: In answer to Fred. Well, instead of that, I think a boy
would take it all for granted. He would probably see them every day
and would probably take them for granted.

CHAIRMAN: May I raise this question, Wouldn't the amount of
learning vary among different children? We are speaking of intel-
lectually gifted children.

MILES: I would like to make some definite answers to Mary, Nina,
and Fred. When a child opens his eyes, he is very young and he hasn't
any intelligence. His intelligence is marked according to how much he
has for his age. He may have a lot relatively, but, in relation to the
intelligence of older people, he has very little and he wouldn't have
enough to think why they were there. The second time he saw them he
wouldn't think much of it either and as time went on he would be
used to seeing it and he wouldn't be used to asking questions, because
he would take it for granted because even when he was born they were
there.

Then, Fred stated that a child would get an education from his
parents, that he would learn to speak, etc. Yes. He would learn the
things that the parents through necessity had remembered, but you can
ask plenty of school teachers in New York City and they don't
remember things. For example. I asked one about square root and she
didn't know. The other things his parents will have forgotten because
they haven't had occasion to use it.

FEED: Miles's first statement: He said that a child kept seeing these
flowers and wouldn't notice them. I think there are so many things in
the woods and so many things about them that each day he would
learn a little bit more.

MABY: Miles said that when a baby was born he might have, say,
100 or 200 or 300 brain power but older people have more: but how do
they get it without learning?

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GENIUS IN THE MAKING

CHAIRMAN: This may help to clarify the matter: the issue is between
formal education in schools and the education which we get more or
less indirectly through experience and through the casual teachings of
other people. Miles is for formal education and Fred, for instance, is
for indirect teaching.

RUTH: I object. First, when Fred said that I was .only taking this
friend and then showing that you could get languages and everything
at home. That doesn't make a person brighter, because even if you go
abroad and see things as, let's say, he is going in a store in France and
didn't know arithmetic and gave the man a five-dollar bill he
wouldn't know how much change he should get. Suppose the store
keeper wanted to cheat him or was dumb. If he took my money, and I
knew I deserved some change, I could point it out to him.

CHAIRMAN: In order to give you time to prepare yourselves, let me
say that I am going around the table and give each of you a chance to
tell what he thinks should be done. We will have a moment longer for
general discussion.

EKNEST: I have another answer for Fred's statement. You live in
the city and see houses every day do you think who built them ?

RUTH: Would you if you weren't gifted?

FEED: No, because most of them in my city are just the same. But
the woods are always different.

NINA: First of all, I would like to ask Miles to give Mary a dollar,
because at the last discussion he said he would for every time that he
took himself for an example and he took himself for an example just
before, when he said he went to some New York teachers about square
root!

In answer to Miles again, I want to ask him did he ever wonder
about houses when he first saw them?

CHAIRMAN: We will take time for just one more reply and then give
each a chance to give his position.

MARY: Since some of my opponents said that they probably would
take flowers and things for granted, some might take arithmetic for
granted and just learn it because they have to and so even if they do
go to school and get taught they don't take a great interest in arith-
metic all the time.

CHAIRMAN: I am going to ask each of you for your personal opinion.
Ernest?

ERNEST: I am still for the affirmative, that each child if he has a
high I.Q. should be able to go ahead as far as he may, going by tests
and results on tests.

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EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ACCELERATION

May I reply to Fred? You said that you love to go out in the woods
well, that's because you do live in the city and there you won't find
many trees and flowers, but one who sees them every day would love
to come into the city just as you would to go into the country.

NINA: What are we talking about now? About last Thursday or
what?

CHAIRMAN: Do you think an intellectually gifted child should be
fnT1y accelerated?

NINA: I don't believe they should, because suppose a child were
eight and were put into high school, as someone already said, what
fun would they have? They wouldn't be able to take part in any
games, they wouldn't have the ability to. And if they went into col-
lege at eleven, they wouldn't be able to do anything either. If they
were put ahead one or two years even although he could go farther, I
think if he weren't told that he could go ahead more he would try to
study outside of school, and that's all right as long as you don't boast
in school.

DONALD: I am still for the affirmative. I want to bring up the A.Q.,
the Achievement Quotient. If the Achievement Quotient is also good
enough that he can achieve in high school and college program I think
it would be all right.

RUTH: I am still for the affirmative because I think that if a child's
got the ability even if he isn't tall he will feel he has and will hate the
other children and all his surroundings if he is kept at modified
acceleration.

I have two more statements. First of all jokingly, maybe on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, on WHN at 7 o'clock there is a
program and you will get an Emerson radio if you bring up a question.
I think I will send in this question we have been discussing.

And also, to the statement that Fred made that he loved to go into
the woods. There are so many different kinds of things in the woods
that the only reason he does is because he knows about everything
and the rest he could pick up, but if he didn't know anything about it
then there are so many different kinds of trees, leaves, and everything,
that he wouldn't know anything.

FRED: I am for modified acceleration. I think that a gifted child
should be accelerated a few years because when a person is young,
between the ages of four and seven, he grows very rapidly and age is a
great difference, but when he gets older, ten or eleven, there isn't so
much difference in height and unless he is very short or very tall there
isn't much difference. So if he is accelerated a few years, he can make

241

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

up to this in high school and will be just as big as the other boys on the
teams.

MARY: I am still for modified acceleration because I think it would
be all right. Like in this school, you go ahead as fast as you can but you
do the grades just the same. In the regular school, if you are skipped
once and go on for a little while, you could be skipped again. But more
than two years would be silly. If the child could take more than that
the parents could teach them at home. My mother lived near Mexico
and she is going to teach me Spanish. I am for different lessons outside
of school, and in school if they don't have anything else to do; if it is
a school like this, he could get books from the library upstairs and
there would not be time to get bored, and I think there should be more
schools like this one.

MILES: I am the last speaker here and I would like to answer all the
negative team's arguments, but first I want to rid myself of a debt.
When I made that statement I used the teacher as an example, not me.

In answer to Mary: The child would take it for granted, and I am
going to ask her if she can remember what she saw the first time she
opened her eyes and I will give you a dollar!

Fred's statement was arguing for full acceleration. I believe that
full acceleration will not hurt under the conditions we have set down.

I believe that most of the negative-team arguments have been
pushed down. I have answered the question of maladjustment. Others
have answered the other arguments. And about growth and develop-
ment, if a child were put ahead it has been answered that in games of
brawn he could stay with children of his own age and in games of skill
he could go with older children. If it is as Fred says, but I don't
believe it is quite the way he says it, then to push him ahead entirely
wouldn't be bad from the point of view of physical development: Fred
says that a child doesn't grow ntuch when he gets older. I don't believe
that any school would give any child a physical-development program
that would tax him to the maximum; I think they provide for a
margin of safety.

(Discussion is officially closed here, but the children continue with
animation as they return to their classes.)

242

CHAPTER XI
EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of enrichment in a
heterogeneous class?

2. How may the home contribute to an enrichment program?

3. What principles should govern the conduct of the special class?

As the defects of acceleration, in terms of skipping
grades, have become more widely recognized, various
methods of enrichment of the program of studies for
intellectually gifted children have increased in popularity.
Those who favor a policy of enrichment feel that a broad
and well-integrated body of knowledge is a much better
foundation upon which to build a career than is a period
of three or four years of time saved.

Details concerning the several kinds of enrichment
programs belong in a book on teaching methods rather
than in one on the psychology of gifted children. Conse-
quently, this chapter will deal in broad outline only with
the problems involved in such a program. The most
important question has to do with the relative merits of
enrichment within the heterogeneous class and enrich-
ment within the special class. Either procedure has much
to recommend it.

INTRACLASS GROUPING

Grouping within the heterogeneous class liquidates
many of the objections which were dlscu&sed at the begin-
ning of the preceding chapter. Neither pupils nor parents
are likely to feel that a child has been stigmatized because
he has been asked, in company with a few other children,

243

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

to give additional time to arithmetic drill or to feel that a
bright child's head will be turned because he has been
asked to make a special report. Intraclass groupings
rarely excite resentment because the emphasis is placed
upon subject achievement rather than upon intellectual
capacity. It is much easier for a parent to admit that
Mary is a poor reader than to grant that her I.Q. is only
75. From the practical standpoint, this is an extremely
important advantage of differentiated instruction within
a class made up of children of varying intellectual levels,
as opposed to a system which involves segregation. No
theory, however good, will work in a democracy unless it
has the support of the public.

Flexibility

Intraclass grouping is characterized by flexibility.
Under this plan a child who has shown that he cannot do
so much or so difficult work as the others in the group of
which he was originally a member can be transferred to
another little group without administrative red tape.
Moreover, this plan makes grouping within the subject
itself relatively easy. A certain amount of unevenness in
achievement is characteristic of all children, a fact which
makes classification according to subjects desirable. A
child might be doing such excellent work in history that
he would be placed in the rapid group and given an op-
portunity to broaden his knowledge in that field. The
same child might be doing relatively poor work in arith-
metic and so be placed with a slow group which was giving
special attention to drill.

The typical gifted child is superior to the average in all
subjects, but there are a number of individual cases of
marked unevenness. For instance, it frequently happens
that a bright child does poor work in handwriting or
spelling; in a system of intraclass grouping, he would be

244

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

placed with, the slow group in these two subjects. His
placement there would help to keep the other children
from feeling that the groupings were arbitrary and prej-
udiced. As an example of the sort of attitude that this
kind of classification builds up, there is the reply of the
fifth-grade boy who, when asked who was the brightest
child in his class, said, "Well, I don't know. David knows
the most about arithmetic, Martha is the best reader, and
I think I know the most about history." Feeling that you
"know the most about history" is perhaps a more
desirable slant than feeling that you have the highest
intelligence.

Use in Rural Schools

A strong argument in favor of enrichment within the
heterogeneous class is that it is the only possible method
in small school systems. The one-room country school,
which has by no means gone out of existence, has had
more than its share of criticism during the last two
decades, but in this school the gifted child frequently
had and has better opportunities for development
than his city cousin. The degree of opportunity provided
him depends to a considerable extent, of course, upon the
vision of his teacher. The attitudes of many eminent
individuals of today concerning the benefits which they
derived from their years in the little red schoolhouse
are not based wholly on nostalgia; in many cases they
come from a realization that there they enjoyed a freedom
in intellectual exploration which would have been denied
them in the typical urban educational factory.

Modification of Curriculum and Methods

The disadvantages of intraclass grouping are many and
serious. Under this plan it is difficult to modify either the
curriculum or the methods of teaching. The subjects

245

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

studied by a heterogeneous class are determined by
tradition and by the needs and interests of average chil-
dren. There is little or no opportunity, for instance, to
introduce into the middle grades such subjects as biog-
raphy and French as a means of broadening the scho-
lastic and informational background of mentally superior
children. There is little opportunity, also, for modification
of methods, no matter how eager a teacher may be to help
the bright children in her class. Knowing that the aver-
age children need a large amount of drill, she feels forced
to put the superior children through the process whether
they need it or not. Knowing that detailed explanations,
often repeated several times, are needed by average chil-
dren, she is forced to make the bright child sit and listen
attentively while what is already simple to him is being
simplified.

A favorite method of enrichment within the hetero-
geneous class is that of asking the bright members of the
group to do more work such as, in English, bringing in
additional book reports or writing extra themes or stories.
Some bright children, previously trained in laziness and
observing that their more fortunate though less intelligent
classmates have less to do, resent this as unfair. If these
children were in a special class, where all were doing a
considerable amount of work, this attitude would not be
so generally found. The gifted child, like a contestant in
an athletic event, desires and needs competition. One of
the serious disadvantages of the heterogeneous class, inso-
far as the gifted child is concerned, is that it provides little
or no competition.

The principal objection to enrichment for gifted chil-
dren in the heterogeneous class is that in most cases it
fails to work. Teachers are human beings with all the
failings of human beings. Consequently, most of them
prefer teaching procedures which require the least amount

246

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

of time. They find it much easier to treat the class as a
unit than as a loosely organized group of subgroups and
individuals. Mass education is infinitely simpler than
individual education. Whenever there is time or thought
for variants, the pressure from parents, school officials,
and children is all in favor of more help for the dull.
Teachers, even those with vision, are not keeping their
bright children in at recess and after school for special
help even though in many instances these children would
welcome the additional guidance; rather, it is the children
of low mentality, who, much against their will, profit
by the extra attention. There is, the country over, very
little actual enrichment for intellectually gifted children
in the heterogeneous classes of the public schools.

Teachers who do make provision for individual differ-
ences in their classes do so in many and varied ways.
Hymen Alpern, in a report appearing in "Educating
Superior Students," gives the results of a questionnaire
which was sent to the modern language department in
each of the senior high schools of New York. One o| the
questions in this questionnaire was as follows: "If your
department is too small to warrant grouping of pupils by
differentiated classes, how do you provide for the varying
ability of students within each class?" Alpern 1 lists the
following answers from those who made such provisions :

Individual coaching is done by teachers and the brighter pupils.
Teachers hold conferences with the pupils, their grade advisers, and
their parents. While the abler students are preparing some project,
the teacher gives intensive drills to the slower pupils. Teachers grade
questions to suit the ability of individuals. Questions on new matter
are asked of the abler pupils first. Additional work is assigned to
bright pupils. Segregation into three groups rapid, average, and
slow is practiced. Homework assignments are differentiated. Ad-
justment of recitation devices is made giving slower pupils simpler

1 COHEN, H. L., and N. G. COBYELL, "Educating Superior Students,"
pp. 215-216, American Book Company, New York, 1935.

247

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

exercises to work out and sending poorer pupils to the board for
review or very simple work. The project method is used, or individual
instruction, or supervised study, or supplementary reading for bright
pupils. Slower pupils are seated in the front of the room. Outside
reading is assigned to brighter pupils. Brighter students do original
work for the language clubs. "Make-up" classes are arranged for
slow pupils. Bright pupils make up special notebooks, or look up
illustrative material. Bright pupils contribute to the school foreign
language paper. Bright pupils report to the class on special topics
concerning which they have made independent investigation and
reseazth.

/In response to the question "In what respect does the
work done with bright students differ from that with
average students?" Alpern 1 summarizes the replies as
follows :

One school states that it makes no difference except in one special
college preparatory class. In this class there is more oral a,nd aural
training and sight reading. Three schools state that bright pupils
are encouraged to activity in language clubs. Six schools state that
the pace is quickened. Of these, five take less time for a given amount
of work; one increases the amount of work done in a given time.
One department states that the bright group does supplementary
work during one regular class period a week while slower pupils
are receiving drill and doing individual work. Six schools state that
the bright pupils have an enriched course. Six schools state that the
bright pupils do additional supplementary reading. Six schools state
that the bright pupils are given more oral work. Two schools
state that the bright pupils do more creative work. Seven schools state
that the bright pupils do more reading (not supplementary). Four
schools state that the bright pupils do more composition work.
Three schools state that the department aims at more individualiza-
tion with the bright student. Several departments report that the
bright students are encouraged to correspond with students in foreign
countries.

. Osburn and Rohan 2 present a program for enrichment
in "Enriching the Curriculum for Gifted Children."

1 IUd, pp. 216-217.

2 OsBTON, W. J., and B. J. ROHAN, "Enriching the Curriculum for
Gifted Children," The Macmillan Company, New York, 1931.

248

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

These writers, believing that neither segregation nor
acceleration is desirable, seek to broaden the school
life of the gifted child by making it possible for him to
participate in absorbing constructive activities. They do
this through a variety of school clubs, which are open to
high-ranking students. Osburn and Rohan feel that these
clubs not only serve as a stimulus to scholastic endeavor
but also provide opportunities for discovering and devel-
oping individual aptitudes and for exploring vocational
interests.

ENRICHMENT AT HOME

Since gifted children tend to come from a superior
socioeconomic level, it is possible and in many instances
desirable for them to acquire at home the needed enrich-
ment of the school program. Instruction so received is not
often direct, as in most cases parents do not have much
time to devote to teaching their children; but a great
deal can be done indirectly through conversation and
reading. For example, there is the case of the gifted boy of
ten who became interested in history. He read all the
books in that field that were in the home library, discus-
sing them at length with his parents. It is possible that
this unhampered, undirected kind of enrichment is more
valuable than a well-organized program would be.

There have been a number of famous instances of men
who received their early education at home. Frequently
the requirements set up by the parents are of the most
rigid kind. More often enrichment at home is largely a
matter of encouragement and of making available oppor-
tunities for contact with worth-while books and with
cultivated people.

The most famous instance of a successful program of
home training is that of John Stuart Mill, great English

249

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

philosopher. Cox 1 reports on Mill's early education as
follows:

Until he was 14, Mill was educated at home by his father. He began
to learn Greek at 3; and from then to his 9th year he studied Greek
classics, making daily reports of reading. At the same time under his
father's direction he read innumerable historical works. At 7 he read
Plato; at 8 he began the study of Latin. Before the end of the year he
was busily reading the classical Latin writers. He did not neglect
mathematics: at 8 his course included geometry and algebra; at 9
conic sections, spherics, and Newton's arithmetic were added. In
the latter he " performed all the problems without the book and most
of them without any help from the book/' At 10 and 11 both mathe-
matical and classical studies were continued; astronomy and me-
chanical philosophy were also included. In fluxions, begun at 11,
Mill was largely self-taught. One part of his course, the writing of
English verse, he heartily disliked. At the age of 12, philosophy and
logic, inculding argumentation, became important parts of the
program. Daily debate with his father, who taught him above all
things to accept no opinion unchallenged, was a most stimulating
exercise. At 13 a complete course in political economy was under-
taken with intensive supplementary reading. Young Mill attended
also a course of lectures on chemistry at the royal military college.
In spite of the wide variety of subjects and the early age at which he
started to study them, Mill's education was not one of cram; com-
plete understanding was made to precede, or at least to accompany,
every forward step. Self-conceit of a sort was guarded against, for the
boy never heard himself praised; moreover, he had no one with whom
to compare himself except his father, and this comparison was
always humbling to his own pretensions. His father's frequent request
for the definition of words used accentuated young Mill's sense of
ignorance.

Instruction at home played an important part in the
education of such men as Thomas Macaulay, Thomas
Edison, Karl Witte, Louis Pasteur, and Charles Lind-
bergh. Thomas Edison's teacher considered that the boy
was dull, if not actually half-witted, and placed him at the

C. M., "Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. II, pp. 707-708,
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926.

250

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

foot of his class. She complained that Thomas was forever
asking questions that had nothing to do with the lesson.
His first school report was so bad that his mother, a
former teacher, decided to educate him at home. Under
her sympathetic and understanding instruction, he
soon demonstrated his great mental powers. Before he
was twelve years old, he had read such books as Gibbons'
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/' Hume's
"History of England/' and Burton's "Anatomy of
Melancholy." When he was eleven years old, he became
interested in chemistry and physics, in which latter field
he was later to display remarkable genius. One stands
aghast at the thought of what the world might have lost
if Thomas Edison had been deprived of the rich education
which he received at home.

The help which Witte, Pasteur, and Lindbergh received
was of a more indirect nature. The fathers of each
of these men provided an intelligent and understanding
companionship. In each case the father's position was
such that contacts with people of culture were available
to the growing boy. It is often overlooked, for instance,
that Charles Lindbergh's father was a Congressman and
that each year, from the time that Charles was five until
he was fifteen, he spent some time in Washington, where
he played with Quentin Roosevelt and made other similar
friends and where he had the opportunity of meeting men
distinguished in public service.

Home training has also proved to be helpful to many
gifted children of the present. Stedman 1 reports, after
five years of personal experience in working with a group
of young geniuses in a special class, that those children
who came to her with a background of home teaching
possessed a large fund of general information. She says

i STEDMAN, L. M., "Education of Gifted Children/' Chap. XV, World
Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1924.

251

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

that the home-trained gifted child, even though he has
had no formal school education, can at the age of nine or
ten do sixth- or seventh-grade work in an opportunity
room. Occasionally some of these children need special
help in certain of the mechanical subjects such as hand-
writing and, less frequently, arithmetic. This is to be
expected since, as a group, they are more accelerated in
content subjects than in tool subjects. Almost any gifted
child, if given encouragement and if provided with oppor-
tunities at home, will have amassed, at the age of nine or
ten, an extraordinary amount of information and will
have developed a facility in oral and written expression
that is comparable to the typical high school student.

Concerning the means used by parents to educate
their children, Stedman 1 says:

The method of teaching employed by the parents of our gifted
children has usually been favorable to the development of individu-
ality. "Let the child be free," "Loose him and let him go," is the
essence of their educational philosophy. Teaching has been incidental,
informal, and exceedingly effective because administered in response
to a "felt need" on the part of the child. The mechanical processes
have been taught through games originated by the parents and by
the use of much concrete material. Self-activity and self-expression
in some definite concrete way have been fostered. The gifted child
usually has a hobby which he is permitted to indulge, such as writing
books, painting, modeling, inventing toys or mechanical apparatus,
and numberless other creative activities. These interests lead to
investigation, wide reading, visiting libraries and museums, collecting
data, using the research method, and attacking problems in a scientific
manner.

It must be kept in mind, however, that a large per-
centage of intellectually gifted children come from homes
which can contribute little to their cultural development.
Children of such homes must depend upon the school to
satisfy their intellectual needs.

., pp. 184-185.

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EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

PRINCIPLES or EDUCATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN IN
SPECIAL .CLASSES

| The segregation of intellectually gifted children into a
special class makes it possible to meet their specific
educational needs more adequately than in a hetero-
geneous classf This can be done through a far more
complete adaptation of curriculum content and methods
of instruction than is possible in any unselected group.
The special class, too, makes possible a combination of
acceleration and enrichment. The amount of acceleration,
as was pointed out earlier, should always be dependent
upon the characteristics of the individual child concerned.
For the typical gifted child, two years is not excessive,
but in certain instances no acceleration at all should be
permitted and in others as much as three years can be
absorbed. In a special class the amount can be determined
upon and then carried through without any basic mater-
ial's being skipped! At the time this acceleration is taking
place, the child is benefiting from an enriched course of
study in which a broad base rather than a high altitude is
emphasized.

In the adaptation of curriculum and methods to the
abilities of gifted children, it is necessary to keep in mind
that they differ from other children not in kind but in
degree. Consequently, many of the principles underlying
an enlightened education for average children are basic
also to an education for mentally superior children. In
the following discussion, emphasis is placed upon those
fundamentals which are of greatest importance in the
conduct of a special class.

Needs and Interests of Children

There has been going on for a long time in American
education a conflict between those who maintain that

253

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

education is preparation for life and those who maintain
that education is life. At present the battle appears to
have been won, insofar as theoretical discussion is con-
cerned, by the latter school, but in actual practice the
former is still far stronger. In this debate, as in most
arguments, the man who stands in the middle, between
two extremes, is most likely to be right. The middle-of-
the-roader takes the stand that the curriculum should
avoid unduly emphasizing either preparation for adult
life or the interests of the immediate present, but should
rather be made up of material which will be both utili-
tarian and interesting which will on the one hand
provide the child with information which will be basic to
his adult activities and on the other be so selected as to
have meaning for him. It is relatively easy to apply this
principle to the education of gifted children, for they are
more interested than average children in the kind of sub-
ject matter which is usually considered as an important
part of the preparation of the child for adult life.
fin the education of gifted children, and of all others, for
that matter, no subject should be included in the cur-
riculum because of its supposed disciplinary value/* As
Thorndike has said in this connection, " Whatever is
valuable mainly as general training for the mind may be
eliminated.! The education which enables great abilities
to do their proper work will give sufficient general train-
ing to their minds/ 7 If a gifted child happens to become
interested in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic, let him
study it because of that interest and for the values which
he may in later life derive from his knowledge of the lan-
guage. Greek to a Greek professor is as utilitarian a tool
as a noe is to a farmer. It should be kept in mind in the
education of gifted children indeed in the education of
all that no sharp line can be drawn between the utili-
tarian and the cultural.

254

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

Rich Background of Associations

I The special class provides an excellent opportunity
for providing gifted children with a rich background of
associations. Time which would in the typical hetero-
geneous class be given to drill, or to doing nothing, can
here be devoted to intellectual excursions of great interest
and value. The gifted, more capable than the average
in acquiring their experiences vicariously, will with a little
direction cover an amazing amount of ground. In this
process of collecting facts, so satisfying to the gifted
child that frequently he reads the encyclopaedia just for
the fun of it, care should be taken that some meaningful
creative use be made of the information gathered./There
are already too many people who possess the kind of
intelligence which easily acquires and retains facts and
yet are unable to integrate them. It is one thing for a child
to know the name and date of a battle and quite another
to have those facts woven into the pattern of his thinking.
The following story will serve to illustrate an instance in
which this transfer was made.

A six-year-old boy with an LQ. of 170, who had al-
ready read a good deal of history, was reporting at home
one afternoon on a battle royal which had occurred at
school that day. It appeared that one of the older boys
had been maltreating a number of smaller children. On
this day a gang from the primary grades banded together,
attacked the bigger boy in a body, beat him soundly, and
dragged him off. Said this gifted second-grader, who had
participated in the fight, " We Waterlooed Danny/' This
child's associative background waa functioning perfectly.

f
Standards of Achievement

^fOne of the objections to leaving gifted children in
heterogeneous classes is that in such classes the accepta-

255

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

ble standards of achievement are necessarily low. In the
special class high standards must be set and every effort
made to see that the children reach themf Norms for the
usual achievement tests have little value in gauging the
accomplishments of highly gifted children beyond show-
ing that they have mastered the regular work of the
school up to a certain grade level. These tests reveal much
concerning altitude of achievement but little concerning
breadth. To evaluate properly the results of the enriched
curriculum of the special class, tests which sample the
contents of that curriculum must be used.

It is an unwise procedure for any child to compare his
school achievement with the achievement of his class-
mates. It is much more unwise for a gifted than for an
average child to do this. If he wishes to make compari-
sons, let TIITYI do so with his own previous work; or,
through his knowledge of biography, with the early
achievement of men who became great. Such comparisons
will tend to keep him modest and to spur him on to greater
endeavors.

Learning to Think

tf A great deal has been said and written concerning the
importance of teaching children how to think, f The
results of attempts to instruct average and below-average
children in the art of straight thinking are meager; as a
matter of fact, they are none too positive with gifted
children. Even the most intelligent of men arrive at their
conclusions along pathways of emotion as well as of
reason. Although intellectually gifted children and adults,
even jurists and scientists, are by no means unemotional
thinking machines, their conclusions are, nevertheless,
based to a much greater degree upon processes of logic
than are the conclusions arrived at by less intelligent
individuals.

256

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

i Special-class children will be found eager to do their
own thinking. /Although they should be encouraged in
this self-reliance, they should also be made to realize that
it is important, in doing one's own thinking on any prob-
lem, to become familiar with the facts relating to that
problem and to consider the opinions of authorities* Gifted
children, having met with little competition from other
children and often in conversation with adults found
themselves the better informed, frequently tend to con-
sider themselves as authorities. For instance, in connec-
tion with the parliamentary discussion appearing in the
preceding chapter, one of the boys remarked most con-
fidently that some day he wanted to have a long talk with
Prof. A on the education of gifted children, because he
felt that the point of view of the professor, who is an
authority in this field, was wrong, and he wanted to set
him right. It was with some difficulty that the boy was
convinced that before he argued the matter with Prof.
A, or even with the members of the debating group, he
should go to as many sources as possible to find out what
research workers had learned and what leading educators
thought concerning the question to be discussed.

Development of Creative Resources

Not all gifted children possess sufficient imagination to
be truly creative. However, no child can be creative on a
high level without being intellectually gifted. To illus-
trate this point there is the case of the eleven-year-old
girl who disliked school, was considered stupid by her
teachers, and greatly preferred the out-of-doors, especially
ranch life and horses. She developed a remarkable talent
for sculpturing, filling her home with horses which she had
made. One day she remarked that she could visualize
every part, every muscle, of a horse's body. An intelli-
gence test showed that she had an I.Q. of 145. Without a

257

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

high level of intelligence she could not have visualized
"every muscle in the horse's body."

All subjects in the gifted child's curriculum can be
made to serve as media for the development of his
creative ability, with English probably being the most
useful, since most gifted children are proficient in the use
of language. Art and music are less promising, although
the teacher should always stand ready to encourage the
pupil who has a specialized talent. Creative imagination
in any field is, by definition, original. The child who pos-
sesses it should be encouraged in every way possible,
but care should invariably be taken to leave him un-
fettered by rigid requirements.

Physical Exercise and Play

I In "the education of gifted children emphasis should be
placed upon physical exercise and play activities. These
are especially needed by the bookish child of high mental-
ity, the one who has become so entranced by the things of
the mind that he has overlooked the importance of social
development and of the need for a strong body. Physical
exercise in the special room and play among the segre-
gated children themselves should be a part of the daily
program. Participation in the athletic and social activi-
ties of the school as a whole should be required. The chil-
dren in the special class have been segregated for purposes
of instruction only; there is no reason why they should not
participate in the normal school life of unselected children

Training for Social Responsibilities

Gifted children should learn early in life that the pos-
session of superior mentality carries with it great re-
sponsibilities. The human race has never been in greater
need than it is today for men of superior intellect who are
more eager to serve society than to serve themselves. Man

258

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

has built for himself, largely during the present century,
great social and economic structures before which he now
stands like the creator of Frankenstein before the colossal
creature whom he had brought into being. The difficult
problems which have followed in the wake of industrial-
ized, urbanized life can be solved only by the best minds
that can be mustered, and even they may not be equal to
the task. Gifted children should be made conscious of
these problems and given to understand that society looks
to them for a solution.

Drill

One of the important modifications of methods in
leaching a group of gifted children is the reduction of
drill. This does not mean that drill should be eliminated,
for even gifted children require a certain amount of
repetition in mastering essentials. In the special class
approximately one-half as much drill is needed as would
be required for children of average mentality. This is a
considerable saving both in time and in freedom from the
boredom which a gifted child is likely to experience in a
heterogeneous class. There are few situations so trying
to an active, eager, questioning mind as to be forced to
hear over and over a fact already known.

Occasionally teachers or gifted children, somewhat too
conscious of the impatience of their pupils to get on to
difficult problems, have not required enough drill. As a
result, the work of these children may be shot through
with errors in such fields as arithmetical computation,
spelling, and handwriting. For example, the Speyer group
of gifted children, previously referred to, were unex-
pectedly faced one day with the task of spelling causally
with the following result:

Ruth: causily
Ernest: causely

259

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Donald: causilly

Ernest: causuly

Ruth: caussily illy

Donald: tlly

Nina: causelly

Donald: causilly

Ernest: causeley

Donald: causilly

Ruth: caussilly

Miles: either causilly or causally

Ernest: -ally!

Miles: -ally

New Subject Material

{ In enriching the program of studies for the Speyer
School group of gifted children, Leta Hollingworth
added three new subjects: French, biography, and what
she called "the evolution of common things." The study
of biography is especially interesting and valuable for
gifted children, who like to read about men and women
who have achieved eminence and who like also to gather
information about the social forces at work during the
periods when the world's great figures were active. It
contributes also to the social development of the child.
Through knowing the lives of statesmen like Disraeli,
Lincoln, Bismarck, Charlemagne, and Cardinal Richelieu,
he understands more fully how to influence and direct
others. By becoming familiar with the life stories of great
scientists, he becomes conscious of the necessity of fre-
quently making great personal sacrifices. It would be
possible to build a complete curriculum for gifted children
with the single subject, biography, as the core! Carlyle
once said that "history is the essence of innumerable biog-
raphies." This statement is true not only of history but
also of art, literature, music, science, and all other fields
of study./

' 260

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

Emotional Education

Leta Hollingworth, 1 in discussing a program of emo-
tional education, lists five of the special problems of
general conduct which most intelligent children face, and
then considers ways of helping them to arrive at solu-
tions. The five problems are as follows : (1) to find enough
hard and interesting work at school, (2) to suffer fools
gladly, (3) to keep from becoming negativistic toward
authority, (4) to keep from becoming hermits, (5) to
avoid the formation of habits of extreme chicanery.

In connection with negativism toward authority,
Hollingworth reports a conversation which she had with
a ten-year-old boy, whose I.Q. was 165 and who had been
sent to her as a school problem.

What seems to be your main' problem in school?

Several of them.

Name one.

Well, I will name the teachers. Oh, boy! It is bad enough when the
pupils make mistakes, but when the teachers make mistakes, Oh, boy I

Mention a few mistakes the teachers made.

For instance I was sitting in 5 A and the teacher was teaching 5B.
She was telling those children that the Germans discovered printing,
that Gutenberg was the first discoverer of it, mind you. After a few
minutes I couldn't stand it. I am not supposed to recite in that class,
you see, but I got up. I said, "No; the Chinese invented, not dis-
covered, printing, before the time of Gutenberg while the Germans
were still barbarians."

Then the teacher said, "Sit down. You are entirely too fresh."
Later on she gave me a raking-over before the whole class. Oh, boy!
What teaching!

Professor Hollingworth granted that the teacher was
in error, but urged the boy to remember that he must

1 HOLLINGWORTH, L. S., "How Should a Democratic People Provide
for the Selection and Training of Leaders in the Various Walks of life?,"
pp. 21-23, Advanced School of Education, Teachers College, Columbia
University, 1938.

261

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

learn to " suffer fools gladly." The boy, grasping in his
resentment at the word "suffer," replied:

Yes, that's it. That's what I say! Make ? em suffer. Roll a rock on
'em.

Summary

The principles underlying the educational program of
gifted children in a special class may be summarized as
follows :

1. A curriculum content based on the needs and interests of the
children themselves

2. An enriched associative background

3. Insistence upon high standards of achievement

4. Encouragement in independent thinking

5. Instruction in scientific methods of attacking problems

6. Provision of opportunities for doing creative work

7. Requirement of participation in play and athletic activities

8. A program of character training

9. Training for coming social responsibilities

10. Provision of opportunities for exploration

11. Arrangement for increased use of libraries, museums, etc.

12. Requirement of participation in the extracurricular activities
of unselected children

13. Reduction but not elimination of drill

14. Inclusion in the program of studies of such subjects as French,
biography, and argumentation

15. A program of emotional education

THE TEACHER

The success of a special class for intellectually gifted
children depends to a very large extent upon its teacher.
The qualifications for leading a group of youthful
geniuses include, of course, those which are necessary to
good teaching everywhere, together with a few addition-
al requirements which are needed to meet the exceptional
situations inherent in the special class.

262

EDUCATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS: ENRICHMENT

The teacher of gifted children should herself possess
superior intelligence. She cannot be expected to have
greater innate ability than the brightest child in her
group, but surely she should excel the lowest in mental
capacity. Being highly intelligent herself, she will pre-
sumably possess a large fund of general information upon
which she will be obliged to draw heavily in teaching a
gifted group. She cannot be expected to know more than
each and every child in her class, but she may be ex-
pected to have a sufficiently wide range of knowledge to
command the respect of the group. Anyone who has
attempted to teach gifted children will realize how diffi-
cult a requirement this is.

The teacher of gifted children should be modest and
yet confident. She should be interested in her pupils and
enthusiastic about their projects. She should be as free
from jealousy as is humanly possible, realizing at the out-
set that it is not going to be a disgrace to discover that
on many subjects her eight- or ten- or twelve-year-old
charges are going to be better informed than she. This,
too, is a difficult requirement and one rarely met even by
teachers of special classes.

Such a leader should be thoroughly trained in educa-
tional psychology and in modern educational methods.
She should have a thorough knowledge of individual
differences and of the characteristics and problems of
children of superior mentality. She should also have had
teaching experience, preferably with normal children.
She should, however, be open-minded and ready to make
original approaches. Instruction in a special class can
follow no set pattern.

The qualifications of the teacher of intellectually
gifted children in a special class may be summarized as
follows :

263

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

1. Intellectually gifted

2. Well-informed

3. Modest but confident

4. Interested in children

5. Free from jealousy

6. Positive in personality

7. In good mental and physical health

8. Possessed of a sense of humor

9. Open-minded

10. Interested in social problems

11. Thoroughly trained in pedagogical methods and in educational
psychology, especially in the psychology of individual differences/

12. Experienced in teaching j

264

CHAPTER XII

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A TYPICAL
INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILD

Every individual is so uneven in his abilities that no
one can be designated with scientific accuracy as "an
average man" or as "a typical gifted child/' For prac-
tical purposes, however, such descriptive phrases are
acceptable. A feeble-minded child whose behavior, in
general, conforms to that which is known to be char-
acteristic of the majority of morons may be considered
as being typical of that group. A man whose attainments
approximate those described by Hollingworth earlier in
this book may be looked upon as an average man. A
child whose mental, physical, and social traits are similar
to those which are known to be representative of preco-
cious children may be considered as a typical gifted child.

The biographical material which follows constitutes
an attempt to construct a picture which conforms to
established facts concerning the development of a gifted
child during the first decade of his life. Robert Adams is
not an actual child, but a hypothetical case; the story of
his first ten years is, in a sense, a summary, a recapitula-
tion of this book. However, all figures, tables, and quota-
tions are authentic, being taken from case studies of
gifted children whose I.Q.'s are approximately 150. It
is especially important to keep this fact in mind with
respect to the excerpts from the writings of gifted chil-
dren which will be included in the following pages. These
are in every instance reproduced exactly, with the excep-

265

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

tion of proper names, which have been changed for
obvious reasons.

DEVELOPMENT DURING INFANCY

Robert Adams was born on May 15, 1930. His parents
were of Scotch-English descent. His father, who had been
graduated from Harvard Law School in the top 10 per
cent of his class, was a successful Boston attorney. His
mother was a college graduate of moderate intellectual
attainments. Robert's parents were not wealthy but had
sufficient income to provide the cultural as well as the
physical necessities of life.

Robert was born in a hospital under normal conditions.
His weight at birth was 7 pounds 14 ounces, nearly J
pound more than the average weight of unselected boys
at birth. His length was 19 inches, and the circumference
of his head 12^ inches. The obstetrician in attendance
pronounced the baby's condition to be excellent. At the
end of a two weeks' stay in the hospital, he was taken
home.

The First Year

By the end of the first month of his life Robert gave
some indication of accelerated development. This was
most noticeable with respect to motor ability. He had
already performed such acts as rolling from stomach to
side and from stomach to back. He had even lifted shoul-
ders, chest, hips and legs from the table at one time with
only his forearms and stomach resting on the table.
He smiled occasionally, probably a manifestation of in-
ternal contentment rather than of social understanding.
When an adult stood near him and talked to him he
watched intently and appeared to be pleased. When a
colored rattle was moved vertically or horizontally or in
a circle he followed it with his eyes.

266

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

Early in the second month of his life Robert lifted his
body completely off the bath table and rested on his
forearms and knees. He hit a rattle which was held hang-
ing about 4 inches from his face several successive times
with his right hand. The movements appeared to be
voluntary. At the age of about five weeks he could be
depended upon to greet his mother with a social smile.
During this second month he learned how to hold a spoon
by the handle and would struggle toward a sitting posi-
tion which, however, he was unable to attain. At the
end of the second month he would intently regard his
face in a mirror and occasionally smile at it; also, at
the end of the second month, he was observed to carry
a spoon to his mouth.

At the end of the third month Robert's health was
excellent, as indeed it had been since birth. He slept
soundly for about fifteen hours out of each twenty-four.
His sensorimotor development had reached a point
which approximated that of an average child of between
four and five months. He was distinctly aware of stran-
gers at this age, crying if taken up by one. He watched
individuals soberly, tending to concentrate on their
eyes.

At the age of four months Robert was able to sit
alone and unsupported for brief periods of eight or ten
seconds. He was able to pick up toys which were suffi-
ciently near him, such as those on the tray of his high
ch^ir. He was much more socially inclined than formerly,
smiling and leaning toward any other child who came
near.

At the age of six months Robert's motor development
was equal to that of the average eight-month-old child.
In language he easily reached the eighth-month level,
vocalizing in short, sharp syllables but not yet using
words with meaning. His social behavior was not quite

267

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

so advanced, being only a little in excess of what would
be expected of a six-months-old baby.

At the age of eleven months Robert was given the Kuhl-
mann Intelligence Test and earned a mental age of 15.6
months, which gave him a Kuhlmann I.Q. of 141. Tests
given in later years showed this to be too low, for
Robert's rating at an age when intelligence tests are most

BHh 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52

Age, weeks
FIG. 6. Weight chart of Robert's first year.

dependable indicated an I.Q. of between 150 and 160.
However, at the age of eleven months Robert passed all
the tests on the six-month level, four of those on the
twelve-month, three on the eighteen-month, and two on
the two-year level. The child now used meaningfully two
words, dada and bye. His health continued to be
excellent.

At the age of one year Robert had a vocabulary of
twelve words, a somewhat larger number than is typical
of an average child of eighteen months. The words which

268

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

he used with full understanding were as follows: dada,
mama, Nonna (for nursegirl), baby, bye-bye, bowwow,
duck, flower, yes, no, boy, toes. Occasionally he put two
of these words together in a phrase as " bye-bye dada."
He could indicate on command his hair, ears, eyes,
mouth, toes, and hands. At that age he had not yet learned
to walk but could stand alone for a brief period.

Robert's physical development during his first year,
although by no means so accelerated as his mental
development, was distinctly above average. Except for
a brief period from his second to his tenth week, his
weight at all times exceeded the norm for boys of his
age (see Fig. 6).

The Second Year

Robert took three steps unassisted when he was thir-
teen months of age. He continued to manifest marked
facility in language, using the full sentence "I see you,
dada" at the age of sixteen months. At the age of seven-
teen months, he had a vocabulary of 74 words, which
included the following:

frog, flag, sand, shell, stone, water, bird, shoe, sock, suit, supper,
sweater, wall, coat, milk, book, boat, horse, mouth, sunshine, towel,
and soap.

At the age of eighteen months he had added the follow-
ing words:

outdoors, gone, arm, foot, eold, door, fly, doctor, jar, hand,
zipper, cereal, height, pajamas, apple, out, bear, parrot, truck, home,
car, cauliflower, bowl, hair, chair, block, girl, shadow, spoon, joint,
screw, barrel, button, telephone, jump, airplane, handkerchief, high
chair, shelf, eggs, potato, paper, brush, belt, dress, bottle, button,
world, rock, melon, light, cow, man, flashlight, pin, blanket, rain-
drops, swing, bacon, hat, glasses, windmill, tree, blue, thank you.

At the end of his second year Robert weighed 35
pounds and was slightly less than 3 feet tall. He had

269

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

maintained the physical superiority noted in infancy.
His health had been very nearly perfect during the entire
period, chicken pox constituting his only illness. He still
manifested only slightly better-than-average sociability.
Although he was cheerful and placid, he tended to be
somewhat shy and cautious in his relations with stran-
gers. In intellectual development he approximated that
of the average three-year-old. He could enumerate
objects in pictures without difficulty and could point
upon request to various parts of his body. In language he
showed a somewhat greater precocity than would be
expected from his mental level. This special gift, so
noticeable at the age of one year, when he had the
unusual vocabulary of twelve words, had remained
relatively constant. At the age of two years he could
recognize all of the letters in the alphabet except
q, x, and z, and spoke in phrases and sentences.

On Robert's second birthday a record was made of
everything that he said during a half-hour period. The
boy was in his playroom among his books and toys at the
time, which accounts for many of the bizarre references
which appear in the following transcription.

See geyser. Mountain. Another mountain. What's next the geyser?
Waterfall. What's next to geyser? Boat. Eailroad tracks. Another
waterfall. House. Another house. Grand canyon. Take a book out.
Take a book out. Mummie take a big book up. Murnmie put the big
book on the davenport. Mummie put the big book on the geyser.
Bobby carry big book. Daddy take the green book out. See "B,."
See "K." See "0." See another "0." See "B." What's there?
Candle; balloons. What's there? Christmas tree; chu-chu train,
'nother chu-chu train, tops, 'nother top, truck and another truck,
and little boy. Lion. Little boys on wagons. Swing on gate. Horsie
and another horsie; carriage; baby in carriage. Giraffe and zebra and
monkeys and bears and lion. Stars. Daddy take other book out.
Show letters. I see "A." I see "L." I see "E." I see "R." I see "V."
Oh, ball! Play ball with daddy! Oh, my! See new truck. Bobby take
truck down. Rooster make truck go. Pull truck. Daddy show clouds

270

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

on the rug. Bobby carry truck downstairs. Make a truck go. Make a
truck go. Make the rooster go. Flowers in picture, windows, other
windows, doors, roof, chimney. Daddy pile blocks way up on top
yellow block, now blue block, now orange block, now red block. Make
a truck go. Make a rooster go. Engine, coal car, boxcar, caboose.
Daddy make a top go. Mummie answer telephone. Doll in cradle.
Put doll in cradle Dere's Tinkle. Daddy stop the auto, all go out,
went walking along and walking along, came to window, looked in
window and saw bunny. Daddy take the baby out. Put blanket on
baby. Ball! Daddy pile blocks way up on top. Girls in shoe. Rooster;
hen; chicken. See boat. Elephant, goat, dog, jaguar, horsie; now put
the elephant in the dish. Make the truck go. Piggie and wolf. Daddy
pile the blocks way up on top. Bout the outdoors again. Play ball
with daddy. Bobby lay down side daddy on davenport and daddy
tell stories. Put ball in truck and make truck go. Went outdoors.
Wagon got all muddy. Put auto up on book and daddy tell about the
pheasant. Daddy and Bobby looked at pheasant till auto came by
and pheasant ran down over bank to river and daddy and Bobby
couldn't see the pheasant more. Daddy got wood and daddy got
paper and brought beside the fireplace and fire was hot. Wood was
daddy's. Bobby played in living room and watched fire daddy made.
Mummie smell flower. Put flower down on table. Make a truck go.
Pull ball in truck and make the truck go. Daddy put the cows in
barn. Bobby put the cow in the barn. Jump, jump in the barn. And
all the cows. Daddy help the cow. Water, silo, tree, farmer. Put the
cows in the barn, then the red cow. Daddy help the cow. Then the
other red cow. Daddy help the cow. Daddy put the cow in the barn.
Daddy put silo, farmer, cow, tree, another tree, another tree, another
tree, another cow, another cow, another cow all back.

PRESCHOOL PERIOD

* During the next four years Robert continued to
develop with striking constancy. In physical character-
istics he maintained his superiority in height and weight,
his weight being somewhat excessive for his height. With
respect to motor coordination he was but little, if any,
above average. This may have been the result of an
inherited predisposition, his size, or his preoccupation
with intellectual interests. Socially, especially during the

271

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

latter part of the preschool period, Robert found it
necessary to work out adjustments to problems which
had arisen because of the difference between his mental
age and that of his playmates. Their aimless movements
and inability to concentrate on any game for more than a
brief time disconcerted him. Although continuing to
play with other children when opportunities arose, he
took recourse in elaborately planned solitary games and
in association with imaginary companions. This was in
no sense abnormal, but rather a reasonable and adequate
solution to some of his early social problems.

Early Reading

At the age of four Robert was given the Stanford
Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale and earned an
IQ. of 146. At this age Robert became interested in
reading. He needed no teaching, but only someone to
answer his questions. Earlier he had learned his letters
from cereal packages and from advertisements which
caught his eye. A considerable period elapsed between
learning to identify letters and learning to read words,
but shortly before his fourth birthday he began to ask
questions concerning the signboards which he saw as he
rode along with his parents on automobile trips. Because
signboards were his primer, the first three words which he
learned to read happened to be "Four Roses Whiskey. 77

The boy 7 s library was well stocked, and in a short time
he began reading simple books. Since he was especially
gifted linguistically, he soon mastered these and went on
to more difficult material. By the age of five, he had
read the Gates-Huber and the Elson-Gray Readers as far
as Book Three. At five, he became interested in pre-
historic animals and read eight or ten children 7 s books in
this field. He even attempted to gather information
from adult books such as Wells' "Outline of History."

272

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

Shortly before and for some time after his sixth birth-
day, Robert's interests made a natural transition from
prehistoric animals to geography. His parents, who never
forced him but stood ready to encourage and to supply
source material on whatever subject at the time inter-
ested him, gave him a globe and two atlases. These were
soon worn out and new ones had to be supplied. The child
amused himself by drawing rough maps and by learning
the location of all the countries in the world, their capitals
and more important cities, their rivers, mountains, and
climates.

The study of prehistoric animals and of geography had
aroused his interest in the various eras and he referred
to them by name, easily and naturally, his sense of time,
like that of most gifted children, being excellent. Rob-
ert's ability to handle figures, however, was not nearly
so marked as his sense of time or his facility in language.
This was presumably due in part to the fact that his
parents were giving him no formal training; to compute
accurately requires drill.

Achievement in School Subjects

Although standardized achievement tests do not ade-
quately sample the breadth of a gifted child's fund of
knowledge, they do indicate where he stands in compari-
son to other children with respect to his grasp of essential
school information. During the summer after Robert
was six, he was given " a Stanf ord-Binet Intelligence
Test and several achievement tests from the Stanford
battery. The results appear in Table XXXII.

There are a number of facts of interest in Table
XXXII. It can be seen that Robert's educational age
almost exactly equaled his mental age in spite of the fact
that he had never attended school. His grade level, at a
chronological age of 6 years 3 months, was 3.8. This had

273

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

been raised somewhat by his exceedingly high score on
the geography test. In language usage, also, he was
exceptionally superior, a natural outgrowth of growing
up in a home of culture. He rated lowest in arithmetic
computation, but even in this subject he proved that
he was ready to begin third-grade work. All Robert's
information had been gathered incidentally without
formal training of any kind. The gifted mind learns
without apparent effort.

TABLE XXXII. ROBEBT'S RATING ON CERTAIN OF THE STANFORD

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
C.A., 6 years 3 months, M.A., 9 years 6 montlis

rp__j._

E.A.

Grade

lests

9.4

3.8

Geography

Yrs. Mos.
10-10

4.9

Spelling

10- 6

4.6

Language usage

10- 7

4.6

Reading (average)

9- 2

3.6

To note details

10- 1

4.4

Word meaning

10-

4.15

Word meaning

9- 2

3.45

Understand directions

9- 4

3.8

To predict outcomes . .

3.5

Paragraph rn finning . ....

9- 2

3.45

Paragraph meaning

8- 9

3.35

General significance

8-10

3.4

Sentence reading

8- 9

3.35

Word recognition .

8- 9

3.3

Arithmetic reasoning

3.3

Arithmetic computation

8- 7

3.1

During the summer of 1936, when Robert was six,
his parents began to wonder what would happen when
he went to school. Would the first-grade material be so
boring to him that he would lose his intellectual inter-
ests? Should an attempt be made to persuade the school

274

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

principal to place him in a grade commensurate with
his mental age? If this were done, would he be able to
make the necessary social adjustments?

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PERIOD

Robert's parents decided that they would make no
effort to have Robert begin his school experience in an
advanced grade. Consequently he began his work as a
first-grade pupil. There was, of course, little for him to do
insofar as subject matter was concerned, but he was
tremendously interested in the social aspects of his new
world. The interrelationships existing among the other
pupils fascinated him. He was acquiring nothing new
academically, but he was learning very valuable social
lessons.

The organization of the school was as interesting a
problem to him as anything in mathematics could have
been. He was eager to learn all the rules and to know
just how everything was done. He was equally interested
in observing various means by which children broke these
rules with impunity or, if they were caught, in what
manner they were punished.

His knowledge of what should be done exceeded his
ability to do it; his social intelligence was greater than
his sociability. At first his classmates looked upon him as
being a little odd, but, because he was naturally warm
and eager, they soon learned to accept him.

Dictation as a Medium of Expression

During this period Robert was obtaining a valuable
social education at school and an intellectual education
at home. He had added to his interest in reading a delight
in dictating stories. At the age of five he had dictated a
series of travel narratives about a boy of three which
eventually reached about 8,000 words in length. The

275

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

speaking vocabulary of a young gifted child is considera-
bly greater than his writing vocabulary. Moreover, his
mind works so much more rapidly than his hands that
he is likely to become impatient with the mechanical
business of putting down thoughts on paper. Conse-
quently, in many ways the material which a gifted child
dictates is a better indication of his linguistic ability
and of his capacity to think than is the material which
he actually writes.

A comparison of the results of the two methods of
self-expression is interesting. When Robert was six-and-
a-half years of age he wrote the following on a typewriter :

STOKY OF THE PIGEON

In Winter days the pigeons were quite cold. One day the leader of
the pigeons was flying over the top of a bidding. He was swooping
quite close to the bulding. In a moment he saw some sheltered
lowered eaves where they could sleep during the cold Winter days.
Then he told all the other pigeons about it. They shouted goody,
goody we can lie there until Winter is over. After that they thought
he was the best pigeon in the world.

At about the time when Robert wrote the above brief
story, he dictated a dozen or fifteen much longer ones.
Of course, in the dictated material, the spelling and
punctuation is that of the one dictated to; the words,
however, are Robert's own, exactly as he spoke them.
The following is a sample of one of the shorter, dictated
stories:

How SPECKLED HOBSIE CAME TO ME

Back in the olden days of the Eocene Period there lived a family
of three-toed horsies. All died but one called Speckled Horsie. He
lived on through the Oligocene and Miocene Periods. In the ice age
of the Pliocene Period he had quite a struggle to live but he dug a hole
before -the Ice Age was at its height, gathered some food, and went
down in it so he did not suffer very much. After the ice went back, he
came out and lived on and on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on,

276

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

on, until at last one time he was standing on the banks of the Atlantic
Ocean near Chesapeake Bay's mouth when down swooped Santa
Glaus on the night of the twenty-third of December, 1936.

"Will you let me take you up to my observatory at the North
Pole?" asked Santa.

"I'd love to go up there," said the Little Horsie.

So the next night, which was Christmas Eve, Santa Claus swooped
down to Boston, taking Speckled Horsie as a present to a little boy
who was living there. But in a letter the boy had left at the foot of
his bed he said he wanted part of his presents to be left at his other
home in Vermont. So Santa Claus took the Speckled Horsie to
Vermont and left him there,

On Christmas day the little boy found Speckled Horsie and has
always kept him and loved him ever since, especially because he is
so old.

Accelerated and Retarded

After the Christinas holidays of his first year in school,
Robert, upon the recommendation of the principal, was
accelerated to the second grade. The work here was
almost as easy for him as it had been in the first grade.
It did include, however, some materials in arithmetic
upon which he found it necessary to drill. He was now
accelerated a year and a half, taking chronological age
as a reference point, but retarded about the same amount
in terms of mental age. In physical size he slightly
exceeded the average boy in the second grade; socially,
he was somewhat younger.

Continued Interest in Writing

Robert maintained his interest in writing, continuing
to do somewhat better than would be expected of a
child with an I.Q. of 152. Shortly before his seventh
birthday, he wrote the following letter to his father.
(This was written, not dictated.)

Dear Daddy,

I liked your letter very much. I hope you will write me about the
mines.

277

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

I like the sun lamp quite a lot only it gets me very hot, and I am
peeling from it.

Mother bought me "Robinson Crusoe." I began it where his ship
got wrecked and I liked that quite a lot. I liked also where the boat
comes and rescues him. I think he should have gotten everything for
himself instead of from the ship.

I am perfectly well and could go to school but Mother has a little
cold and Mary has a bad one so there is nobody to take me. I am
looking after them, and I went downstairs to get the mail and up-
stairs for the menu.

Mother said you were starting April 27 so when does that mean
you'll be back?

With love,
Bobby

Robert's ability in art was slightly below that of
average children of the same age. With the self-criticism
which is typical of gifted children, he came home one
day and remarked that he was glad that his teacher had
taken the pupils' Easter paintings from the wall because
his was the worst one there.

Robert, like most children, was interested in keeping
a diary. Gifted children differ from those who are
average in that they begin their diaries at an earlier age,
and keep them in somewhat greater detail. Robert
began his before he was six and continued with it for
about two years, at the end of which time his interest
waned. The following is his entry for May 11, four days
before his seventh birthday.

I woke up this morning at 7:56H and got up to read at 8:11. 1 got
up at 9:00 and got dressed. Then I had breakfast without Hot-Cross
Buns. Then I looked at my Atlas until quarter of twelve. Yesterday
night Mother and I made an agreement that I should only drink a
quart of milk a day because I had been drinking over two quarts of
milk. (But return to today's history) Then I went for a walk just
after it rained. I watched the make-up vessels on the "Midlaw archi-
pelago of rivers" in the gutters, and went home. Then we talked
about Germany and had rest. I am going to write a list of the coun-

278

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

tries' empires after I finish this. We read "Hiawatha" last night and
read a lot of funny names, here are some of them, Gitche-Manito,
the Mighty, (the great Spirit) The Ojibways (an Indian tribe)
Mudjekewis (an Indian) Kaebyun (the west wind) Wabun (the east
wind) Kabibanokka (the north wind) Shawandasee (the south wind)
Mishe-Maukwa (the great bear of the Mountains) Shingabis (the
diver) .

Reading Interests

During the summer after he was seven in May Robert
lived a normal, active life, playing whenever possible
with other children, especially with those who were some-
what older. He continued to read and to write a great
deal. His own library at this time numbered approxi-
mately 300 books. In addition, he had the unrestricted
use of his father's library. Robert kept in a bookcase in
his bedroom the volumes which were his favorites. They
constituted a catholic collection, ranging from the very
youthful "Four Little Kittens" to Sir James Jean's
"Through Space and Time." Of course this seven-year-
old boy was incapable of reading and understanding all
of "Through Space and Time." There were pages in it,
however, which he could read and understand and which
excited his imagination and curiosity. Robert had read
many of these favorite books of his several times. Among
the volumes which were given this repeated attention
were "Science Stories, Book III," "The House at Pooh
Corner," "The Bastable Children," "Heroes of Civiliza-
tion," "Grammar Can Be Fun," "Homes and Habits of
Wild Animals," "Robinson Crusoe," "New Pictorial
Atlas of the World," "World Atlas," "Sonny Elephant,"
"The Earth for Sain," "Men Who Found America,"
"Wind in the Willows," "Famous Explorers," and "The
Jungle Books." Of these the first of the two "Jungle
Books" was named by Robert as being the book in his
library which he liked best of all. The complete list of

279

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

favorite books chosen from among several hundred by
this gifted boy was as follows:

"Aesop's Fables"

"Alice in Wonderland"

"A Modern Journey Put-together Book"

"Animal Pets"

"Art Stories, Books II and III," by William G. Whitford, Edna
B. Liek, and William S. Gray

"The Bastable Children," by E. Nesbit

"Beasts of the Tarpits," by W. W. Robinson and Irene B. Robin-
son

"The Beginners' American History," by David Montgomery

"Cinderella"

"The Earth for Sam," by W. Maxwell Reed

"Electricity Comes to Us," by Rose Wyler and Warren W.
McSpadden

"Fairy Grammar," by J. Harold Carpenter and Alice Hoben

"Famous Explorers," by Jennie S. Kates

"Four Little Kittens"

"Four Little Bunnies"

"Four Little Puppies"

"Grammar Can Be Fun," by Munro Leaf

Hammond's "Modern Atlas of the World"

"Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales"

"Heroes of Civilization," by Joseph Cottier and Hayna Jaffe

"Homes and Habits of Wild Animals," by Karl Patterson Schmidt

"The House at Pooh Corner," by A. A. Milne

"The Junior Outline of History," by I. 0. Evans

"Manners Can Be Fun," by Munro Leaf

"Maple Sugar Time," by Royce S. Pitkin

"Men who Found America," by Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson

"Motor Days and Motor Ways"

"New Pictoral Atlas of the World"

"Old Rhymes for all Times," by Cicely Mary Barker

"Robinson Crusoe"

"The Rootabaga Stories," by Carl Sandburg

"Safety Can Be Fun," by Munro Leaf

"Science Stories, Book III," by Wilbur L. Beauchamp, Harriet
M. Fogg, and William S. Gray

"Seacoast Region of New Hampshire"

280

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

"Sonny Elephant," by Madge A. Bingham

"Story of Earthquakes and Volcanoes," by Gaylord Johnson

"The Sun-egg," by Elsa Beskow

"Sunshine and Rain," by Willard Frasier and Helen Dolman

"Talking Leaves," by Julius King

"Through Space and Time," by Sir James Jeans

"Trains and Ships"

"The Two Jungle Books," by Rudyard Kipling

"Wait for William," by Marjorie Flack

"Wind in the Willows," by Kenneth Graham

"World Atlas"

Intellectual Status at Age Seven Years Six Months

When Robert was 7 years 6 months of age, he was given
a Stanford-Binet intelligence test. The four I.Q.s ob-
tained from previous examinations were: 141 (Kuhl-
mann), 146 (S-B), 150 (S-B), and 152 (S-B). At the age
of seven and a half Robert passed all the tests on the ten-
year level of the Stanford-Binet Scale.

RESPONSES TO TESTS ON TEN-TEAK LEVEL

1. Vocabulary: Robert gave satisfactory definitions of twenty
words. A few of these, verbatim, follow:

a. puddle: a very little pool of water.

b. envelope: Something you put a letter into and a stamp on.
Really a paper folded.

c. copper: What pennies are made of. A kind of metal.

d. dungeon: A deep dark prison underground.

e. nerve: Something in your body that carries messages back
and forth.

/ Mars: Mars is a planet.

g. priceless: Something so costly that it can hardly be paid for.

2. Absurdities:

a. Answer: It couldn't be. If it were down hill all the way to
the city, it would have to be up hill all the way back home.

6. Answer: That isn't true. The more cars he had the slower he
would go, because there would be more weight.

c. Answer: She couldn't have killed herself. Somebody else
would have had to cut her into eighteen pieces.

d. Answer: I think it would be serious if 48 people were killed.

281

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

3. Drawing Designs from Memory: Robert reproduced each of these
correctly.

4. Reading and Report: Although 35 seconds are allowed for the
reading of the passage in this test, Robert read it without error in
20 seconds. He remembered twelve of the specific details read.

5. Comprehension: Robert gave satisfactory answers to all three
of the questions included in this test. In his reply to &, he explained at
length how he would prepare his men if he were going on an explor-
ing trip, or how he would think out in detail a story that he was
going to write.

6. Naming Sixty Words: Robert named 82 words during the
allotted 3 minutes, organizing them into related groups.

Robert passed the first, second, fourth, sixth, and
eighth tests on the twelve-year level and the second
on the fourteen-year level. This gave him a mental age
of 11 years 7 months and an I.Q. of 154.

At the time when the above test was given Robert was
in the third grade, accelerated in terms of chronological
age, though considerably retarded in terms of mental
age. His interest in observing the workings in the educa-
tional machinery had waned and he was becoming
impatient with the hours which he had to spend in wait-
ing for the other children to do their work. Although he
was still not so advanced in arithmetic as in other
subjects, he was ahead of everyone in his grade and was
usually the first to complete the day's assignment. Then
he waited until the others finished or used the time in
writing comments or in working out his own enrichment
techniques. The following sample is an exact copy of one
day's notation. The words in the left hand column are
those which he listed as ones to be included in a paragraph
which he then set himself to write.

class In my class the children have

children trouble with seven times four. Our

trouble teacher has gone over it about

times forty thousand times. I hope you

282

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

teacher ' know the answer! Twenty-eight.

forty When she goes around the class in

thousand numberwork, when she comes to

answer seven times four, the pupils always

eight stop. No amount of going over can

around make them remember. 1 hope some

numberwork day they will be able to say it

pupils quickly.

stop

amount

going

remember

hope

quickly

Robert continued, however, to find at home satisfac-
tions for his eager mind. Among his voluminous papers,
this item on Copernicus was found :

CHEEBFUL COPERNICUS
1473^1543

"What!" everybody cried "the earth not the center of the universe.
We great men not the center of attraction. We won't believe it. You
say we are of insignificant in size. You take us away from our shining
center, you make us wabble around the sun, like a moth around a
lamp. Outrageous!" (This was all about 1503 J

Copernicus knew outrageous meant foolish! So he couldn't help
laughing. "It is true" said Copernicus at last very cheerfully, almost
laughing. "And" continued Copernicus "You will believe it in time
when someone else as great as I will make you believe it. For I am
great and shall not be forgotten."

The quotation in the first paragraph of the preceding
passage was written down as Robert remembered it from
a book which he had read. The remaining material is
his own comment.

283

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

Ability in Music

During the year following his seventh birthday Robert
began taking lessons in piano. He progressed at a
moderate rate of speed but showed no unusual talent.
He was much more interested in composing music than
in playing it. His compositions possessed some promise

afegp

SB*

(Jf Li

I j j ;

*M '

^M~-

f s f

-]-

)

t \

*- / I ">

/ /

a (

/ "ft

7 4

Fia. 7. Composition by Robert at seven years of age.

but showed no indications of musical genius. In a period
of three months he composed twenty-two songs. These
like his stories were an outgrowth of intellectual energy
and of an urge to create. One of Robert's compositions is
reproduced in Fig. 7. It is included here because it indi-
cates the kind of work that can be done by a seven-
year-old gifted boy who is not especially talented in
music.

284

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

First Chapter of a Book

At about the time of Ms eighth birthday, Robert
decided that he would begin a book. He refused to write
it in longhand, saying that it would take too long. He
said that he had carefully planned the entire story and
wanted to tell it in the quickest way possible. Conse-
quently an adult member of his family consented to act
as stenographer.

It is true that dictated material does not possess the
scientific accuracy that written material does. However,
as was pointed out earlier, it does present a better picture
of the richness of a gifted child's thoughts, for in dictating
his mind can run free, unhampered by the necessity
of coordinating the flow of ideas with the mechanics of
writing. The phrasing in Robert's "The Adventures of
Two Little Turtles" is everywhere his own. However,
as he dictated, he was asked leading questions which
tended to cause him to elaborate on his theme somewhat
more than he would otherwise have done. The spelling
and punctuation are, of course, those of the adult who
wrote down what Robert dictated. The story eventually
ran to 15,000 words. The first chapter follows:

THE ADVENTURES OF Two LITTLE TURTLES
Chapter One
The Escape

Once upon a time there were two turtles living with a little boy in
Whitingham, Vermont. They lived in a bowl which was black and
they had two rocks to rest on, one for each turtle. They were fed
ants' eggs mixed with other things, and once in a while they were
given lettuce. Lettuce was like candy to them because they hardly
ever had it.

One turtle was bigger than the other and the other turtle was littler
than the other. Their shells were white. The bigger turtle had a crow
painted on him and under the crow were the words Wizard of Oz.

285

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

On the littler turtle's shell were painted two bunnies and beside them
were the words Alky Oop.

Before they had been put in the big black bowl they had been put
in an aluminum pan. The little boy put them in the black bowl be-
cause Alley Oop had jumped out of the aluminum pan. Before they
were in the pan, they were in a Maxwell House coffee can, which got
rusty. Before they were bought by the little boy, they were in a big
glass bowl in a florist's shop, and that was all the little boy knew
about them.

One night about quarter past eleven Wizard of Oz said sleepily to
Alley Oop, "Do you remember when we used to live in Mexico with
our dear mother and father?"

"I don't remember very clearly/' said Alley Oop, even more
sleepily, "because I didn't have my eyes open when we came away.
But I remember what you have told me about it."

"I was just thinking about it," said Wizard of Oz, stretching. "It
was very sad we had to come away. I wonder if we could ever get
back again."

"Oh, we never could, I don't believe," said Alley Oop. "We're
very far from Mexico."

"We might try," said Wizard of Oz, wide awake now. "Let 'me
think. . . . I've seen people come in and go out of those holes over
there. Why cannot we go out, too?"

"That's an idea," said Alley Oop. "But how shall we get through?
They're all closed now."

"Well," said Wizard of Oz, "I don't know myself. But I was just
thinking that if we could get out of this bowl, we might go over there
and see if we could find a way to get through, and start back to
Mexico."

"But if we did get through," said Alley Oop, thoughtfully, "we'd
need a map to find our way by along the roads, and we'd need to
know how to keep from getting killed by those bangs we hear outside."

"Yes, I had my eyes open before we left Mexico," said Wizard of
Oz, "and mother showed me clearly how to make a map of the United
States and Mexico. So I can draw us a map on this rock. Then we
can listen to anything wise that the mother tells her little boy when-
ever he is going out, and I can write the rules down for us. We'll see
tomorrow night if we can get out of this bowl."

"That is a fine idea," said Alley Oop, getting sleepy again, "I'm
going down to the bottom of the bowl and get a nap before we
start."

286

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

"While you're doing that," said Wizard of Oz, "I'll make our
map. You be sure to get a good sleep because we're going to have a
very busy day tomorrow."

So Wizard of Oz made the map. He showed the Atlantic Coast
states, the southern end of Mississippi and Alabama, the north, east,
and south of Texas, and all of Mexico, and the Gulf of California.
On the western side of Mexico he put a big square, half in the Gulf
and half on land, and beside that he wrote, "Where We Used to Live
and Where We Want to Live Again." He did not draw any lines
because he knew he and Alley Oop would not follow roads. They would
have to go into the woods sometimes to find water, and they would
travel where it was woody because turtles like that kind of country.

By the time he finished the map, it was seven o'clock in the morn-
ing, and Alley Oop woke up.

"Good morning, Wizard of Oz," he said. "Have you made your
map?"

"Yes," Wizard of Oz answered. "Now you remember we are
going to listen very carefully to what the mother says to the little
boy when he goes out to play."

All that forenoon they didn't hear any rules at all. Wizard of Oz
was a little worried. But that afternoon the mother wanted the little
boy to go down to his grandmother's on an errand. Wizard of Oz's
ears were practically falling off he was listening so hard, hoping to
hear some rules. At last he heard the mother say, "Be careful. Look
out for the cars. Stop and look in all directions before you cross the
road."

"Thank goodness," said Wizard of Oz, and he wrote down on the
rock which he had not used for his map these words in big letters:

Look out for cars. Stop and look in all directions before crossing
a road. t

"Have you got any rules yet?" asked Alley Oop, who had got
tired from listening so long and had been dozing on the far side of the
bowl,

"Yes, sleepyhead," said Wizard of Oz. "Now you wake up, and
stay waked upl We've got a big business. I've got one rule at least.
Now let me tell you that!

"Look out for cars. Stop and look in all directions before crossing a
road.

"Now you come over here, and stay here, and listen for rules, while
I eat, And don't fall asleep, either!"

"I'll try very hard," said Alley Oop, good-naturedly.

287

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

So Alley Oop listened. Whenever he felt sleepy, he shook the
sleepiness out of him. But he didn't hear any rules. When Wizard of
Oz finished eating, Alley Oop ate, and Wizard of Oz listened. But he
didn't hear any rules.

Now it was almost six o'clock.

"Next, Alley Oop," said Wizard of Oz, "we'd better each eat a piece
of lettuce and go down to the bottom of the bowl and sleep. I'll wake
you up at ten o'clock. And try to wake up fast, when I call you,
because we're leaving at eleven o'clock!"

After a while, the clock struck ten, Wizard of Oz had been awake
about five minutes and was just getting the sleepiness out of him
when he heard Alley Oop say, "I'm awake! You needn't wake me
up!"

"What a smart Alley Oop!" said Wizard of Oz. "You woke up
early, for you!"

"I woke up of excitedness," said Alley Oop.

Wizard of Oz said, "Well "

"I shall be so glad to get out of this water," chattered Alley Oop.
"They haven't changed it for a quite a long time, and it's dirty."

"I think it's quite dirty, too," laughed Wizard of Oz, "but be a
little patient. We'll be in fresh, clean waters on our journey. But now
we've got to get ready. I've got to see if I can balance those two rocks
on my shell."

"But what can I take?" asked Alley Oop, all excited. "I can't go
without carrying anything."

"You're to take the food," replied Wizard of Oz.

"But the food box isn't in the bowl," said Alley Oop. "How can I
tell whether I can balance it?"

"Be patient. Be patient. Be patient," said Wizard of Oz. "You ask
me one question right after another. I can't answer them so fast. I
have to think! But I can answer this one. As soon as I see if I can
balance those two rocks, we're going out and get the food box. That
will prove two things: first, that we can get out of the bowl, and,
second, that we can carry our supplies."

"All right, but let's hurry," said Alley Oop.

Wizard of Oz turned around, and found the rocks. He lay down
between the rocks in the bottom of the bowl.

"Please push one of the rocks onto the front of my shell, close to
my head," he said to Alley Oop.

Alley Oop did, but it was quite hard work because Wizard of Oz
was just about Alley Oop's size when he lay down.

288

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

Then Wizard of Oz said, "Now please put the other rock on top of
that."

Alley Oop had to stretch very hard to get that rock on, but he
did.

"Now we'll see if I can walk with them on my shell," said Wizard
of Oz.

He got up on his legs slowly and carefully and took a short step,
then a few others, and his steps grew a little longer as he got used
to his load. At last he felt sure that he could balance it all the way to
Mexico if he could get out of the bowl.

"Now, Alley Oop/ 7 said Wizard of Oz, "You climb up and hang
onto those rocks so they won't fall off. Push them right against my
head. And I'll give you a ride."

"Wonderful," said Alley Oop excitedly, so he climbed on.

Then Wizard of Oz stretched, and stretched and stretched, very
hard and carefully, and at last he got both his front paws on the side
of the bowl. Even more carefully, he pulled his body with its heavy
load up over the side of the bowl and hung on with his back feet,
holding his load against the back of his head, until he got his front
feet onto the shelf which the bowl stood on.

"All right," he said then, panting. "You can get off now, Alley Oop.
When I'm on a level the rocks will stay balanced."

"With all this pulling and stretching and shoving and bouncing,"
said Alley Oop, "I've forgotten what we've come out for."

"Well, if you aren't light-headed," said Wizard of Oz. "We've
come out to go to Mexico! Now see if you can balance the food box,
you little dummy!"

Wizard of Oz took Alley Oop's paw and they started walking across
the rug toward one of three holes which sometimes were open but now
were closed. Wizard of Oz did not walk as fast as he could because he
was leading Alley Oop, who could not go quite so fast. Finally they
came to one of the closed holes.

"I wonder if it pushes open," said Wizard of Oz.

He pushed and pushed, but it did not open.

"I wonder if you have to pull it," suggested Alley Oop.

"That's an idea," said Wizard of Oz. "It isn't tight closed. I can
get my paw in the crack and pull."

And the first hard pull he gave swish! the door came open!

"You showed us how to get out, Alley Oop," said Wizard of Oz.
"That was pretty smart of you. I hope you'll make suggestions like
that all the way to Mexico."

289

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

But Alley Oop was too little to understand praise and did not ex-
actly know what Wizard of Oz was talking about. So he tried to
change the subject.

"We're in a very big room," he said.

"Not so terribly big," answered Wizard of Oz. "Wait until you see
how big the world is !

Now they walked toward another crack.

"We'll try pulling this/ 7 said Wizard of Oz.

And he pulled very hard, and heard shk-shk-shk. Then the door
came open.

"Here's a big step, down," said Wizard of Oz. "We shall have to
stretch for this one!"

And now they were in the wide world.

"It's very dark," said Alley Oop.

"But there is light above your head," said Wizard of Oz. "Look
up!"

So Alley Oop looked up.

He saw many lights. Nearly all were little and round with points on
them. Those seemed to be winking their eyes at him. A few were round
balls without points and these did not wink at him. Perhaps they
didn't have any eyes. And there was one very large ball with no points
but with zigzag marks all through it. That gave the most light of all.

"They are funny lights," said Alley Oop, "but they are quite
beautiful."

"And they will light us all the way to Mexico," said Wizard of Oz.

So the two little turtles set out into the wide world.

The preceding story is sufficiently unusual to indicate
a special gift. Most of the greatest contributions to civili-
zation have been made by those individuals who, inherit-
ing and developing a special ability, were able to make
full use of it because it rested upon a base of high intelli-
gence. The man with a special gift but with inferior
mental capacity is likely to become either eccentric or
neurotic; the man with superior mental capacity but
without a special gift may scatter his energies or, per-
haps, become a nonproductive scholar. Genius might well
be defined as the possession of great mental capacity
together with a special ability.

290

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF A GIFTED CHILD

In the Middle Grades

Robert entered the fourth grade in the September after
he was eight. His class was made up of unselected children.
His teacher made a few tentative efforts at differentiation.
Robert was encouraged in his writing and reading but
otherwise was given little opportunity either for accelera-
tion or for enrichment. This situation continued during
the remaining two of the ten years of his life here being
considered. Robert acquired almost no academic benefits
from his years in the early grades. However, the social
education which he received in school was invaluable.
He learned how to get along with other children and how
to lead by stratagem instead of by force. He learned the
routine of institutional activities and came to understand
how valuable it is to save personal strain by relaxing
within the framework of a system.

Association with other boys brought with it an interest
in physical activities, including wrestling and fighting.
This new interest was reflected in a few of the stories
which Robert wrote during this period. These were not so
ruminative, so introspective, as the earlier ones had been,
but showed delight in rapid action. The following para-
graphs are taken from one of these stories:

So on he went to Big Horn Creek, where he found hoof marks that
forded the creek. He followed these up the canyon, until the going
was so rough he had to dismount. All of a sudden a roar sounded up
the canyon. Down came a landslide right in front of him! Up the high
wall of the canyon Jim jumped to a path barely a foot wide with a
thousand foot drop on the left side, and the side of the mountain
straight up on the right side.

Suddenly a rock crashed down and wiped out the trail behind Jim.
" What a pretty mess I'm in now! Guess I'll go on ahead."

Jim walked on a ways till he came to a cave. As he walked in a
voice ordered, " Reach fer the sky, Cowboy!" You can bet Jim
reached for the sky, and said, "Well, what do you want? I suppose

291

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

you're the guys that burned my place up. Well, that's what I call a
darn neat job for a bunch of polecats like you. I'll sure skin you rats
when I get away!"

AT THE END OF TEN YEARS

When Robert reached the end of the first decade of his
life, he was, as he had always been, a strong, healthy boy
with a positive, striking personality. His intellect cor-
responded roughly to that of the average child of fifteen.
He was original and resourceful and showed considerable
ability in applying his intelligence to concrete life situa-
tions. He was very ambitious and yet critical of himself,
properly evaluating his defects as well as his assets. He
had supreme confidence in his intellectual powers but was
not arrogant. He wanted to be a leader and, although not
the most popular boy in his class, was sufficiently well
liked to be occasionally elected to a class office. He con-
tinued to show an ability in writing which exceeded that
which would be expected on the basis of his mental age.

Robert was somewhat taller and heavier than other
ten-year-old boys and in nearly all other respects was
physically superior. However, he was already having
some trouble with his eyes and the school nurse recom-
mended that he wear glasses. Although now capable of
doing tenth-grade work, he was in the fifth grade, where
there was nothing to challenge him intellectually. He was,
however, acquiring an excellent education at home
through a broad reading program.

During the first decade of his life Robert, inheriting
great mental ability and a special gift in verbal expres-
sion and surrounded during these formative years by a
favorable home environment, had developed with marked
constancy. There is every reason to believe that he will
continue to maintain his present pace and in future years
make an outstanding contribution to society.

292

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

AI>AMS, F., and W. BROWN: "Teaching the Bright Pupil," Henry
Holt & Company, New York, 1930, 249 pp.

BAKER, H. J.: "Characteristic Differences in Bright and Dull Chil-
dren," Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, EL,
1927.

BENTLEY, J. E.: "Superior Children," W. W. Norton & Company,
Inc., New York, 1937, 331 pp.

BRIDGMAN, D. S.: Success in College and Business, The Person. /.,
Vol. 9, No. 1, June, 1930.

BURKS, B. S. r D. W. JENSEN, and L. M. TERMAN : " Genetic Studies of
Genius," Vol. Ill, Stanford University Press, Stanford Uni-
versity, Calif., 1930, 508 pp.

CARROLL, H. A.: "Generalization of Bright and Dull Children,"
Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 439, Columbia
University, New York, 1930, 54 pp.

CATTELL, J. McK.: Families of American Men of Science, Popular
Scientific Monthly, Vol. 86, pp. 504^515, 1915; Scientific Monthly,
Vol. 4, pp. 248-262, 1917, Vol. 5, pp. 368-378, 1918.

COHEN, H. L., and N. G. CORYELL: "Educating Superior Students,"
American Book Company, New York, 1935, 340 pp.

Cox, C. M.: " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. II, Stanford Univer-
sity Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926, 842 pp.

COY, G. L.: "The Interests, Abilities, and Achievements of a Special
Class for Gifted Children," Teachers College Contributions to
Education, No. 131, Columbia University, New York, 1923,
194 pp.

DUFF, J. F.: Children of High Intelligence. A Follow-up Inquiry,
Brit. J. PsychoL, Vol. 29, pp. 413-439, 1939.

FINCH, F. H., and H. A. CARROLL: Gifted Children as High-school
Leaders, J. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 41, pp. 476-481, December, 1932.

FREEMAN, F. S.: "Individual Differences," Henry Holt & Company,
New York, 1934, 355 pp.

GALTON, F.: "Hereditary Genius," The Macmillan Company, New
York, 1914; original ed., Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London, 1869,
379 pp.

293

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

GESELL, A.: "Infancy and Human Growth," The Macmillan Com-
pany, New York, 1928, 418 pp.
GODDAKO, H. EL: "School Training of Gifted Children," World

Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1928, 226 pp.
GRAY, H. A.: "Some Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of Young

College Students, " Teachers College Contributions to Education,

No. 437, Columbia University, New York, 66 pp.
HOLLINGWORTH, L. S. i An Enrichment Curriculum for Rapid Learners

at Public School, 500: Speyer School, Teachers College Record,

Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 296-306, January, 1938.
HOLLINGWOBTH, L. S.: Comparative Beauty of the Faces of Highly

Intelligent Adolescents, Fed. Bern, and J. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 47,

pp. 268-281, December, 1935.
EOUJNGWORTH, L. S.: Do Intellectually Gifted Children Grow

toward Mediocrity in Stature?, J. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 37, pp.

345-360, 1930.
HOLLINGWORTH, L. S.: "Gifted Children," The Macmillan Company,

New York, 1926, 374 pp.
HOLLINGWORTH, L. S., and R. M. KAUNITZ: Centile Status of Gifted

Children at Maturity, /. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 45, pp. 106-120,

September, 1934.
LAMSON, E.: "A Study of Young Gifted Children in Senior High

School," Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 424,

Columbia University, New York, 1930, 117 pp.
LANGE-EICHBATJM, W.: "The Problem of Genius," The Macmillan

Company, New York, 1932, 187 pp.
LEHMAN, H. C., and P. A. Witty: The Play Behavior of Fifty Gifted

Children, /. Educ. PsychoL, Vol. 18, pp. 259-265, 1927.
LINCOLN, E. A.: Study of Changes in the Intelligence Quotients of

Superior Children, /. Educ. Res., Vol. 29, pp. 272-275, December,

1935.
LOMBROSO, C.: "The Man of Genius," Charles Scribner's Sons, New

York, 1891, 370 pp.

LOBGE, L, and L. S. HOLLINGWORTH : Adult Status of Highly Intelli-
gent Children, Ped. %n. and J. Genet. PsychoL, Vol. 49, pp.

215-226, 1936. *"

NEVILL, E. M.: Brilliant Children with Special Reference to Their

Particular Difficulties, Brit. J. Educ. PsychoL Vol. 7, pp. 247-258,

November, 1937.
OSBURN, W. J., and B. J. ROHAN: "Enriching the Curriculum for

Gifted Children," The Macmillan Company, New York, 1931,

408 pp.

294

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

PATEKSON, D. G.: "Physique and Intellect," D. Appleton-Century
Company, Inc., New York, 1930, 304 pp.

Report of the Evaluating Committee on the Education of Gifted
Children in Secondary Schools: National Committee on Coordi-
nation in Secondary Education, J. Educ. Soc., Vol. 13, pp. 112-
119, October, 1939.

STEDMAN, L. M.: " Education of Gifted Children," World Book
Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1924, 192 pp.

TERMAN, L. M. : Educational Suggestions from Follow-up Studies of
Intellectually Gifted Children, J. Educ. Soc., Vol. 13, pp. 82-89,
October, 1939.

TERMAN, L. M. : " Genetic Studies of Genius," Vol. I, Stanford Univer-
sity Press, Stanford University, Calif., 1926, 648 pp.

Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of
Education, Parts I and II: Intelligence: Its Nature and Nurture,
Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, HI., 1940.

Twenty-third Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of
Education, Part I: The Education of Gifted Children, Public
School Publishing Company, Bloomington, HI., 1924.

White House Conference. Special Education: The Handicapped and
the Gifted. D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New York,
1931. ^

WITTY, P. A.: "A Study of One Hundred Gifted Children," State
Teachers College Studies in Education, Vol. I, No. 13, Emporia,
Kansas, 1930, 44 pp.

WITTY, P. A. : Exploitation of the Child of High Intelligence Quotient,
Educ. Method, Vol. 15, pp. 298-304, March, 1936.

295

INDEX

Abbott and Trabue, Poetry Test,

204, 205

Aberdeen University, 69
Ability grouping, 220
Abstract intelligence, 14, 195-197,

205
Acceleration, 206, 219-242, 249,

277, 282

advantages, 221-224
disadvantages, 224-226
full, 219, 222, 228-242
opinions of gifted children, 227-

242

partial, 220, 228-242
Achievement, constancy of, 141
extracurricular, 165
vs. intellect, 161-164
and psychic infirmities, 170
in school subjects, 273-275
standards of, 255, 256, 262
Achievement Quotient, 241
Achievement tests, 6, 8, 9, 39, 130-

132, 163

Adams, John, 29
Adenoids, 80, 81
Adler, Alfred, 170
Age-grade status, 6, 9
Agricultural class, and eminence,

31,32
Alpern, Hymen, 247, 248

questionnaire, 247
Ambition, 166, 167
American Council Cooperative
General Achievement Tests,
130-132
American Indian, I.Q. of, 22, 23

American Museum of Natural His-
tory, 60

American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, 164

Ampere, Andr Marie, 194

Ancestral inheritance, laws of, 27,
28

Anderson, J. R, 139

Anthropologists, 20, 60

Anthropometric tests, 73, 74

Antisocial tendencies, 94, 95

Army Alpha and Army Beta, tests,
21, 151-154, 158

Art, 57, 258, 260, 278
(See also Drawing)

Athletics, 75-78, 262

Attention span, 115-118

Average or normal group, 4, 5, 10,
11, 47, 49, 61, 74, 75, 91, 139,
140, 246-248, 256
schools adjusted to, 207, 209,
211, 220

Bach, Johann Sebastian, 188
Baldwin, Bird T., 66, 73, 74
Baldwin- Wood norms, 64
Barnard College, 64, 76, 77
Barnes, E., 66
Bear, E. H., 221
Beauty, and intelligence, 72, 73
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 188
Bell Telephone Company, 164, 165
Bennett, Anna E., 141
Bentley, J. E., 177
Berkeley, California, 22, 34
Berle, A., 223

297

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Binet, Alfred, 14, 194
Binet-Simon Scale, 18, 135, 151

(See also Stanford-Binet

Tests)
Biographical sketch, intellectually

gifted child, 265-292
Biographical survey of genius (see

Cox, Catherine Morris)
Biography, 260, 262
Biologists, 19
Blatz, William E., 40, 41
Boas, Franz, 65-67
Bonaparte family, 26
Borderline groups, 4
Boys, gifted, 63, 64, 76, 78, 81, 101-

103, 111, 152, 155-159, 193,

194, 205, 206

Bridgman, Donald S., 164-166
Bright children, 125, 126, 192, 196,
197, 207, 211, 244^246

(See also Intellectually Gifted

children)

Bronson, Edith, 82
Bronte, Charlotte, 144
Brown, M., Ill

Bryan, William Jennings, 174, 175
Bryant, William Cullen, 200
Buckingham, B. R,., 14
Burk, F., 67
Burks, Barbara, 44
Burt, Cyril, 94, 95
Business success, college grades

and, 163-166
Buxton, David, 97, 98
Buxton, Jedediah, 195

CAVD scale, 153, 154

California, gifted children (see

Terman, Lewis M.)
California, University of, 34
Cambridge Double Track Plan,

220

Campbell, Harold, 207
Carlyle, Thomas, 260

Carroll, H. A., Ill, 125, 191, 192,
204

Carroll Prose Appreciation Test,
204

Carter, H. D., 42, 43

CatteU, J. Mc.K, 31, 32, 39, 293

Center CoUege, 221

Cephalic index, 71, 74

Character, 94-97, 168-170, 177

Chatterton, Thomas, 166

Children, gifted (see Intellectually
gifted children)

Chronological age (C.A.), 4, 44, 49,
75, 76, 97-99, 107, 132, 151,
182, 197, 220-222, 235
and academic achievement, 221
factor in tests, 11, 12, 55, 56

Clarke, E. L., 32

Cobb, M., 29

Cohen, Helen, 141, 207, 247

Colbert, Claudette, 141

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 143

College-entrance tests, 50

College grades, and business suc-
cess, 163-166

Columbia University, 64, 69, 76, 77

Common sense, 13, 14

Compensation, theory of, 55, 57, 58

Competition, 183, 184
needed by gifted children, 246

Conformity, 89

Copernicus, 87, 283

Coryell, N. G., 141, 207, 247

Cox, Catherine Morris, "Genetic
Studies of Genius," 30, 31,
95-97, 142-149, 168, 175, 187,
190, 202, 250

Coy, G. L., 212

Cranial measurements, 68-72

Creative ability, tests of, 204, 205

Creative resources, development
of, 257, 258, 262

Crile, G. W., 169

Crime, mental defectivenesa and,
95

Curie, Eve, 92, 93

298

INDEX

Curie, Marie, 92, 93
Curiosity, 119-121
Curriculum, 245, 253-264

Dalton Plan, 220
Darwin, Charles, 182, 184
De Tocqueville, Alexis, 207
Death, age and manner of, 181-183
Democracy, in education, 206-209

need to salvage gifted children,

Dempsey, Jack, 76
Diaries, 278, 279
Dictation as medium of expression,

275-277, 285
Differentiation, camouflaged, 210

pf education, 206-213
Dionne quintuplets, 39-41
Diseases, frequency of, 78-80
Disraeli, Benjamin, 184, 260
Dolichocephaly, 71
Drawing, 190-194, 205

intelligence and, 191193

sex factor, 193, 194
Drill, 124, 244-248, 255, 259, 262
Drive, 166-170

importance of, 168, 169

sources of, 169-171, 180
Dull-normal groups, 4, 49, 58, 61,
72, 118, 121, 125, 126, 192,
195-198, 207, 209, 211, 220,
246, 247, 256

identification, 8

Economic necessity, a source of

drive, 180

Economic status of family, 178-180
Edison, Thomas A., 169, 185, 250,

251
Education, as conditioning factor,

197
genius developed by, 219

Edwards, Jonathan, 27
Edwards, Richard, 27
Egotism, 211-213
Einstein, Albert, 184
Elementary school, 163, 275
intelligence tests, 136, 139, 159
mental growth in, 50
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 26, 27, 223
Eminence, factors, determining,

166-185

extrinsic, 178-185
intrinsic, 166-177
intelligence and, 161-166
Eminent adults, character traits,

95-97, 168-170
distribution of, 174
early years, 139-149
environment, 39
heredity, 30-32, 39
I.Q., 142-149, 159, 168, 169, 203
persistence and intelligence, 168-

170
(See also Cox, Catherine

Morris)

Emotional education, 261, 262
Emotional stability, 85-88
Enrichment, 206, 236, 237, 243-

264
within heterogeneous class, 243-

247, 255, 259
at home, 249-252
intraclass grouping, 243-249
within special class, 243, 246
Environment, capacities modified

by, 36
changed, effect on I.Q., 48-53,

138
effect on I.Q., Iowa studies, 48-

53, 138

home, and I.Q., 44, 45
interaction with individual, 36,

53, 166
role of, 35-53
Envy, 55, 58, 59
Ethical Culture School, 136, 137
Eurich, A. C., 191, 192

299

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Extracurricular activities, 111,112,
165, 262

Faber, EL, 65-67

Families, of geniuses, 25-34, 38, 39
Winship and Davenport

study, 27
of gifted children, 91-94, 178-

180

Faraday, Michael, 87, 107
Farley, J., 172
Fathers, of eminent men, 30-32

of gifted children, 32-34
Feeble-mindedness, 3, 4, 14, 27, 62,
69, 72, 149, 150, 198, 209, 265
transmission of, 25, 38
Finch, F. H., Ill
Fluency in speaking or writing, 166,

173-175

FootbaU, 76, 97-99, 209, 210, 234
Ford, Henry, 176, 184
Foster homes, 44, 45, 48
Fraternal twins, 42
Freeman, F. N., 42, 44, 45
Freeman, Frank S., 21, 22
Fuller, Tom, "The Virginia Cal-
culator," 195

Galileo, 107, 182

Galton, F., 27-29, 59, 60, 67, 69,

293

Garth, T. R., 22, 23
Gates, A. I., 124
Gates Silent Reading Tests, 130
Gauss, Karl Friedrich, 194
Generalization, of bright and dull

children, 5, 124-126
Genes, and race differences, 20
Genius, constancy of growth, 134-

160

definition, 290
fallacies about, 10, 13

Genius, four typical groups, 168
heredity and environment, 36-53
and mental health, 82-88
Geniuses, burdens borne by, 86, 87
families of, 25-34
Winship and Davenport study,

Germ plasm, defective, 38
Gesell, A., 138
Gifted children (see Intellectually

gifted children)

Girls, gifted, 63-66, 76-78, 109,
111, 152, 155-159, 193, 194,
204, 205

Gladstone, William E., 184
Glasgow, Alice, 141
Goddard, H. H., 38, 212, 294
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von,

145-149
Goodenough, F. L., 23, 24, 46, 47,

193, 198

Grant, Ulysses S., 140
Gray, H. A., 24, 64, 76-79, 221
Grouping, 206
intraclass, 243-249

Haggerty Intelligence Examina-
tions, 18
Hall of Fame, 29
Handwriting, 244, 252
Happiness, 89-91
Harding, Warren G., 139, 140
Harris, W. T., 219, 220
Harvard University, 221, 223
Health, 54r-88

factor in success, 78, 166, 170, 171
Hearing, 81
Height, 59-68
Heredity, 25-53
vs. environment, 41-53
interdependence, 35, 36, 53
in production of genius, 37
relative potency, 37
of geniuses, 30-34

300

INDEX

Heterogeneous class, 213-215, 219, Individual instruction, 220

225,243

grouping within, 243, 244
High school intelligence tests, 50
High school students, gifted, 141,

151

Hildreth, G., 47
Hindenburg, Paul von, 181, 182
Hinton, R. I., 45, 46
Hitler, Adolf, 140, 174, 182, 184
Hobbies, 252

Hollingworth, H. L., 4, 87, 88
Hollingworth, Leta S., 8, 9, 108,

265, 294
gifted children, Speyer School,

24, 29, 260

studies of, 38, 61, 62, 67-73,
110, 112, 113, 132, 140, 195,
211, 216, 261
growth study, 150-154
Iowa studies, criticism, 51
Holzinger, K. J., 42
Home, enrichment at, 249-252,

283, 292

and I.Q., variance, 44, 45
Home town, size of, 180
Honolulu, 60

Horace Mann School, 11, 136, 137
Horowitz, Esther, 141
Hughes, Charles Evans, 223
Hugo, Victor, 143
Humboldt, F. H. A. von, 143

Identical twins, 42, 43

changing environment, 43 ,
differing environment, 42, 43

Idiot-savant, 175

Idiots, 3, 69

Illegitimacy, 48

Imaginary playmates and coun-
tries, 103-107, 272

Imbeciles, 3

Indians, American, 173
I.Q. of, 22, 23

Industrial group, 33, 34
Infancy, development during, 266
Infants, intelligence tests, 139
Inferiority complexes, among

gifted, 93

Initiative, 14, 123, 124
Insanity, 25, 26
Institute of Child Welfare, 46
Intellect, vs. achievement, 161-
167

and emotional stability, 85-88

stature and, 172

Intellectually gifted children, 3-6,
9, 10

anthropometric measurements,
73-75

athletics, 75-78, 262

beauty, 72, 73

biographical sketch, 265-292

character development, 94, 95

companionship sought, 108, 109

cranial measurements, 68^72

emotional education, 261, 262

environment and, 37

as examples, 215, 216

extremely gifted vs. less gifted,
130-132

fathers of, 32-34

greater difficulties of, 109, 110

happiness, 89-91

height and weight, 59-68
constancy of status, 67, 68

homes, 249-252

identification, 6-19

I.Q., 49, 52, 53, 60-73, 202

intelligence ratings, age for, 17

interests, 100, 101

leadership, 110-113, 134, 172,
216

mental age, 107

mental health, 82-85

mental characteristics and
achievements, 114-133

need for help, 216-219

need to salvage, 34

301

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Intellectually gif ted children, phys-
ical beauty, 72, 73
physical characteristics, 59-75
physical exercise and play, 258,

262

physical health, 78-82
physique, 54-68
reasons for believing inferior,

54r-59

play activities, 97-108
position and frequency, 3-6
progress quotients, 132, 133
relatives of, 28-34
social responsibilities, training

for, 258, 259, 262
special classes, 252, 253-264
stability, 85, 86
stature, mean ratio to norms, 67,

68
writings of, 265, 275-292

(See also Hollingworth, Leta

S.; Terman, Lewis M.)
Intelligence, abstract, 14, 195-197,

205
and language abilities, 197,

198

and poetic ability, 201, 202
of American school children, 23-

art appreciation and, 191, 192
constancy under changing en-
vironment, 38
definitions, 3, 14
distribution of, 3-6
gift of, 3
height and weight, relationship

with, 59-68
importance of/ 3, 5
mechanical, 196, 197, 205
rating of, 9-19

ratio between leader and led, 112
social, 166, 176, 195
subnormal, transmission, 37, 38
transmission, 37-39

(See also Intelligence tests)

Intelligence quotient (I.Q.), of

adopted children, 47
changed environment and (Iowa

studies), 47-53
constancy of, 134^-160
distribution of changes, 156-158
of feeble-minded, 3, 4
of gifted children, 49, 52, 53, 60-

73, 202

and home environment, 44, 45
of identical twins, 42, 43
of juvenile delinquents, 94, 95
mean, American Indian, 22, 23

American white children, 21

negro, 21, 22
men of letters, 203
over 170, 98, 99, 108, 113, 143
schools and, 45-53
Intelligence tests,. 4-6, 8-14, 135-

160, 196, 268, 272-274, 281,

282

Army, 21, 151-154, 158
college, 50
elementary school, 50, 136, 139,

159

high school, 50
Honolulu, 60
infant, 139
Iowa studies, 48-52
items, 15-17
nursery schools, 45-48
preschool, 6, 17, 50, 138, 139, 272
reliability, 17, 18
scores, 221
standards, 18, 19
vaEdity, 14r-17

(See also Stanford-Biaet

Tests)

Intraclass grouping, 243-249
disadvantages, 245-247
flexibility, 244, 245
modification of curriculum and

methods, 245-249
use in rural schools, 245
Iowa, University of, Studies, 48-

53, 138

302

INDEX

Iowa Child Welfare Research. Lincoln School, New York City, 47,

Station, 50

Jacobs, Helen, 183

Jefferson, Thomas, 27

Jennings, BL S., 20

Jersild, A. T., 86, 103

Jesus, 182

Jews, 23, 24, 173

Johnston, W. M., 183

Jones, A. L., 221

Juvenile delinquents, I.Q,, 94, 95

Kallikak, Martin, 27
Kawnitz, E. M., 151-153, 158
Kilpatrick, W. H., 209
Kipling, Rudyard, 116, 117, 181
Kroeber, Elsberth, 214
Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence
Test, 18, 38, 268, 281

Lamson, Edna, 150, 151
Lange-Eichbaum, W., 87
Language, 41, 258, 270, 273, 274
abilities, and abstract intelli-
gence, 197, 198
development, 40, 41
Language clubs, 248
Lathi ancestry, 23, 24
Leadership, of intellectually gifted,

101, 110-113, 134, 172, 216
"Lei Things," 10^-106
Leland Stanford University (see

Stanford University)
life situations, preparation for,

213-215
Lightning calculators, 186, 194,

195, 198

Lincoln, Abraham, 182, 218, 260
Lincoln, E, A., 158

136, 137

Lindbergh, Charles A., 250, 251
Long, Huey, 140
Long-headedness, 71
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 27,

143,223

Lorge, L, 153, 154
Los Angeles, 22, 33
Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, 221
Luther, Martin, 182

McAdory Art Test, 191, 192

Macaulay, Thomas B., 200, 250

MacDonald, A., 71

" Make-up" classes, 248

Marat, Jean Paul, 166

Markey, F. V., 103

Marriage, effect on success, 178,

180
Masculinity of gifted boys' games,

101-103

Mathematical ability, 194, 195, 205
Maurer, K M., 46, 47
Mayo brothers, 180
Mearns, H., 202, 203
Mechanical ability, 195-197, 205
Meier-Seashore Art Judgment

Test, 191
Mental age (M.A.), 4, 55, 56, 100,

107, 197, 282, 292
Mental development, 43-53
constancy of, 134^-160
preschool to college, tests, 50
Mental health, 82-85
Mental inferiority, transmission of,

37, 38
Mental superiority, transmission

of, 37-39

Merrill, Maude A., 142
Merrill-Palmer intelligence tests,

Mesocephalic type, 74
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 190, 191

303

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Microcephalic idiots, 69
MiU, John Stuart, 249, 250
Miller, W. S., 136
Milton, John, 170, 171
Minnesota, University of, 46, 47,

111

Minnesota Pre-School Scale, 18
Moody, Helen Wills, 183
Moore, Dr. A. H. 82
Mooseheart, 45

Morons, 3, 4, 57, 114, 175, 208, 265
Motor coordination, 55
Mozart, Wolfgang A., 187, 188
Mulligan, J. H., 69
Murdock, K, 60
Music, 14, 186-190, 193, 205, 258,

260,284

Music test, Seashore, 189
Mussolini, Benito, 184

Napoleon, 25, 26, 120, 170, 182
Nationality groups, cephalic indi-
ces, 74
I.Q., 23-25

National Intelligence Test, 18
National Society for the Study of
Education, 1928 Yearbook, 44
1940 Yearbook, 42, 45-47, 51,

108, 130, 137, 139, 159
Negativism, 51, 52
Negroes, 21, 173

I.Q., 21, 22
Nemzek, C. M., 135
Neurasthenia, and genius, 83-85
Neurotic complaints, and genius,

82-88
and sub-average intelligence, 83,

88
New York City, 11, 18, 19, 24, 29,

47, 60, 97, 207
gifted high school children, 141,

142

Newman, H. H., 42
Newton, Sir Isaac, 144, 196

Normal or average group (see Aver-
age group)

Normal-probability curve, for dis-
tribution of intelligence, 3-6

Norms, mean ratio of stature to
gifted, 67, 68

Northwestern University, 221

Nursery schools, 45-48

Nurture, 23, 42, 43

Observation, 118, 119
O'Connell, Daniel, 166
Older children, play with, 98-100
Opportunity classes, 129, 208, 210,

213, 219, 252
Osborn, W. J., 248, 249
Osier, Sir William, 177

Parents, judgment of children's in-
telligence, 6, 7, 12

Pasteur, Louis, 13, 177, 250, 251

Paterson, D. G., 21, 60, 69, 71, 295

Persistence, 168-170

Personal equation, intrusion of, 9,
10,52

Personality, respect for, 209-211

Phi Beta Kappa, 76, 224

Phonetic analysis, comparative,
125

Physical beauty, 72, 73

Physical exercise and play, 258,
262

Physical size and appearance, 166,
171, 172

Physique and health, 54-88

Pierpont, Sarah, 27

Pitt, William, 144

Play activities, 258, 262
of gifted children, 97-108

Poetry, writing, 199-205

Power, 115, 118

Precocity, 93, 139, 148, 217, 270

304

INDEX

Prenatal influences, 38
Pre-Sehool Scale, Minnesota, 18
Preschool children, 271, 272

intelligence tests, 6, 17, 50, 138,

139, 271, 272
Iowa, 49, 50
Minnesota, table, 46
mental growth, 50-52
Preschool laboratories, Iowa, 48-50
Presidents of the United States,

intelligence, 10, 11
Professional classes, 31-34, 39
Progress quotients, 132, 133
Progressive schools, 210
Project method, 248
Promotion, rapid, 219
Psychologists, 6, 12-17, 20, 60,

134-138, 173, 216, 217
Psychology, 8, 10
educational, 263, 264

Quickness, 118
Quintuplets, Dionne, 39-41

Race, 166, 172

and head shape, 71

intelligence factor in, 20-34
Reading, 92, 93, 119, 147, 148, 162,
248, 250

ability, 14, 15, 197-199

early, 272, 273

interests, of gifted children, 279-
281

program, 292

quotient, 130

special gift, 187
Reed, R. W., 69
Relative values, ability to see, 122,

123

Relatives of gifted children, 28-34
Rembrandt van Rijn, 190

Reymert, M. L,, 45, 46
Roberts, K K, 47, 48
Rohan, B. J., 248, 249
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 170, 176
Roosevelt, Theodore, 169, 176
Rural schools, enrichment in, 245

St. Louis, 219, 220

Saint-Simon, Claude Henri, Count

de, 166

San Francisco, 22, 33
Sand, George, 144
Scholastic attainments, 126-130
School clubs, 249
School work, of gifted children, 45-

53, 126-128
Scientists, American, heredity of,

31, 32, 39

Scotch ancestry, 23
Scotch-Irish, 21
Scott, Sir Walter, 143, 144
"Search, plan of," 15-17
Seashore, music test, 189
Segregation, 244, 247, 249, 258
Selection, 23
Self-criticism, 121, 122
Sex, in art achievement, 193, 194

classification by, 63-66
Shearer, Supt., 220
Shirley, M. M., 138
Siblings, 29, 44, 93
Singleness of purpose, 166, 175,

176
Size and appearance, factors in

success, 166, 171, 172
Skeels, H. M., 48, 49
Social characteristics, 89-113
Social intelligence, 166, 176, 195
Social responsibilities, of gifted

children, 258, 259, 262
Socioeconomic groups, 7, 30, 37, 38,

43, 80, 178, 249
Solitary games, 107-1 10, 272
Sommerville, R. C., 69

305

GENIUS IN THE MAKING

Special class, 251-264

acceleration and enrichment, 253
background of associations, 255,

.262

creative resources, 257
needs and interests of children,

253, 254
standards of achievement, 255,

262

survey, 262
teachers, 262-264
Special gifts, 186-205, 270, 290
Speed, 118
Spelling, 259, 260
Speyer School, New York City,
group of gifted children, 24,
29, 130-132, 259, 260
debate by, 227-242
Stability, of gifted children, 85, 86
Standards, of intelligence rating,

9-19
Stanford Achievement Test, 127,

225, 226

Stanford-Binet Tests, revision
Binet-Simon Scale, 15-18, 121,
135, 151, 155, 272-274, 281
retest, 44, 45, 48, 49, 136-138,

151-158, 203, 226, 281
Stanford University, 9, 65, 66, 159
Starkweather, E. K, 47, 48
Stature, 67, 68, 172
Stedman, L. M., 129, 212, 251, 252
Steimnetz, Charles P., 170
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 57
Stoddard, G. D., 51
Strayer, G., 207
Stuttering, 85
Subjective ratings, intelligence, 15,

17-19
Subjects, school, mean quotients

for gifted children, 128
order of, 127

Subnormal intelligence, transmis-
sion jf, 37, 38
Sullivafi, If H., 60

Supplementary reading, 248, 250
Swift, Jonathan, 143

Tasso, Torquato, 143
Taussig scale, 30, 33
Taylor, G. A., 62
Teachers, 246, 247

of gifted children, 216, 217, 261-

264

qualifications, 263, 264
intelligence ratings by, 6-9, 11,

17, 52, 53

of special classes, 261-264
Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity, 150
Temple, Shirley, 72
Ten-year level, tests on, 281, 282
Tendler, A., 88
Tennessee, 21

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 200
Terman, Lewis M., criticism of

Iowa studies, 51, 52
definition of intelligence, 14
gifted children, study of, 9, 10,
22-24, 28-34, 65, 66, 73, 74,
79-82, 85, 95-97, 100-104,
107-111, 120, 121, 126-128,
132, 133, 198, 201, 202, 205,
225, 226

Growth Study, 150, 154-160
I.Q. estimates of genius, 142
Terman Group Test of Mental

Ability, 18, 157-159
Thinking, instruction in, 256, 257,

262

(See also Abstract intelligence)
Thorndike, E. L., 124, 218, 254
Thorndike, R. L., 136-138, 195
Thorndike College Entrance Ex-
amination, 155, 159
Tilden, William T., 183
Tonsils, 80, 81
Tredgold, A. F., 38
Tunney, Gene, 76

306

INDEX

Tuthill, Elizabeth, 27

Twins, different environments, 42

fraternal, 42

identical, 42, 43

mental traits, similarity, 37, 39,
41

United States Public Health Serv-
ice, Report (1929), 63, 70

Varner, G. F., 8

Vikings, 116

Vision, 15, 81

Vocabulary, 162, 268-270, 276

as criterion, 15

Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet
de, 174

Washburn, C. W., 220
Washington, George, 26, 29, 113,

144
Washington Irving High School,

141, 142
Webster, Daniel, 174, 175

Weight, 59-68
Wellman, Beth L., 49-51
White, Byron ("Whizzer"), 76
White, William Allen, 180
"Who's Who in America," 29, 30,

223

Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 170
Williams, Roger, 29
Wilson, Woodrow, 182, 183
Winnetka Plan, 220
Winship and Davenport, study of

inheritance, 27
Witte, Karl, 250, 251
Witty, P., 108, 130, 133, 159, 169,

170, 217

Woodrow, H., 14
Woodworth, R. S., 14
World War, 153, 170

I.Q. army scores, 21
Writing, 205, 277, 278, 285-290,

292

poetry, 19&-204
tests of creative ability, 204, 205

Yale University, 27
Yates, D. H,, 111
Yoder, A. H., 108

307

30320

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