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In the 250 problem cases, bad home conditions, personality difficulties, poor heredity, poor physical condition, mental retardation, and mental defect were most frequently listed, in the order given, as causative factors.

Approximately six out of every ten children who showed personality difficulties displayed these traits in the home, the school, and the clinic, and eight out of ten showed difficulties in at least two of these three situations.

School retardation is shown by individual case studies to be the result of other factors as well as intellectual dullness or mental defect.

The school needs social and psychiatric studies of its pupils as well as the medical and psychological examinations that are now in vogue.

40. The Discovery of Superior Intelligence

[PINTNER, Rudolph, Intelligence Testing, p. 194. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1923.]

The child of superior intelligence has been discovered by the intelligence test. Previous to this time we have had geniuses, peculiar freaks and extraordinary prodigies, and the connotation attaching to such words as "genius," "prodigy," "precocity," and the like, indicates that they were regarded as something apart, as something unhealthy and slightly abnormal. We had to wait for the intelligence test to give us a saner viewpoint, to give us a better definition of superior intelligence and to show us that superior intelligence is not nearly so uncommon as we seem to have imagined.

Interest in the child of superior intelligence has been much slower in developing than interest in the child of inferior intelligence. This is due to two reasons: (1) the limitations of the earlier intelligence scales, and (2) the practical problems arising in the school situation.

41. The Prevalence of Superior Intelligence

[PINTNER, Rudolph, Intelligence Testing, pp. 196-197. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1923.]

If we raise the question as to the percentage of people of superior intelligence in the population at large, we find a different problem confronting us from the one as to the percentage of feebleminded. There has not previously existed any concept

as to what is a person of superior intelligence, and, indeed, only a vague conception of the more common word "genius." There has never been any attempt to survey the population or a part of the population in order to find out the number of gifted individuals as in the case of the feebleminded.

42. A New Approach to the Study of Genius [TERMAN, L. M., "A New Approach to the Study of Genius,” Psychological Review, July, 1922, Vol. 29, pp. 311-314.]

The logical next step is the study of genius in the making, that is, the investigation of gifted children. This approach has the great advantage that the number of obtainable facts is limited only by the time, patience and resources of the investigator. It opens the way to a more thoroughgoing study of the genetic aspects of the problem, of the environmental factors which affect genius, and of the exact nature of its deviation from the average. Tests and measurements in unlimited number can be made, and norms can readily be secured for the interpretation of data so collected. Moreover, follow-up work with large numbers of gifted children will throw light upon genius which aborts or deteriorates, as well as upon that which fulfills its promise. By this method we may even hope to learn something in time about the pedagogy of genius. We shall be able to test the theories of Witte, Berle, Wiener, Sidis, and others who believe that it is possible to make any child a prodigy. We shall find out to what extent, if at all, nature tends to even up the score of gifts by taking from him who has more than his fair share of one desirable quality some other advantage. We shall find out what truth there is in the widespread view that gifted children are usually conceited, freakish, socially eccentric, and prone either to illness and early death or to nervousness and insanity. . . .

It was in 1911 that we began more or less systematically to collect data at Stanford on children who had made exceptionally good records in a mental test. In 1913 three schools in San Francisco were sifted for bright children, and the following year certain data were published on 35 cases testing above 120 I. Q. Ratings on several traits were secured and a brief information schedule was filled out by the teacher. The results of this explorative study were considerably out of line with my own expectations and in contradiction to earlier views which I had published on the dangers of precocity. In passing it may be

noted that one of the bright children tested in 1911 is now a teaching assistant in Stanford University, that another was recently awarded a scholarship for meritorious record, and that a third had just received his Ph.D. degree and been awarded an $1,800 research fellowship by the National Research Council. Not one has yet become insane or developed symptoms of postadolescent stupidity. . . . By the spring of 1921 approximately 180 cases testing for the most part above 140 I. Q. had been located, and for 121 of these fairly complete supplementary data had been secured. Some of the outstanding results for this "first group" are as follows:

The number of very high cases is larger than the standard deviation of the I. Q. distribution for unselected children would lead one to expect. It is doubtful therefore whether the incidence of superior intelligence follows the normal probability

curve.

As regards physical traits, it may be tentatively stated that these children, as a group, are above the average in height and weight, that they were precocious in learning to walk and talk, that they show no apparent excess of nervous symptoms, and that their general health conditions appear to be at least as good as the average for unselected children.

As regards school progress, the average acceleration is about two grades beyond the standard for their life ages; but as compared with the standard for their mental ages, there is an average retardation of more than two years. All but four have skipped one or more grades, and there are no genuine cases of grade repetition. According to the statements of their parents about one sixth have been mildly encouraged to make rapid school progress, one sixth have been deliberately held back, and the remaining two thirds have been allowed to "go their own pace." Possibly three or four have been more or less systematically "stuffed" but only one of these is near the top of the list.

Family data show strikingly superior heredity. On the Taussig five-fold classification of occupations about 50 per cent of the fathers belong to class 1 (the professional group), as compared with 4 or 5 per cent of the general population, while 37 per cent belong to class 2, and 13 per cent to class 3. Neither class 4 nor class 5 (the semi-skilled and unskilled occupations) is represented at all (in this "first group"), unless we rate a barber as belonging to class 4. Fifteen of the 121 cases belong to seven families. More than a third of the parents are known to have one or more relatives who have attained a considerable de

gree of prominence. About 20 per cent of the father's and mother's side belong to one or another of the learned professions.

The parents whose families are reckoned complete have an average of only 2.53 children. The average age of fathers at the birth of the gifted child was 36.2 years; that of the mothers, 31.4 years.

As regards racial differences, there are two outstanding facts; there is a noteworthy excess of Jewish cases and a still more striking deficiency among Italians, Portuguese, Mexicans and Spanish, all of whom are numerous in the vicinity of Stanford.

43. An Analytic Study of One Hundred Twenty
Superior Children

[JONES, Alice M., "An Analytic Study of One Hundred Twenty Superior Children," The Psychological Clinic, Vol. 16, pp. 55-56, January, February, 1925.] (Adapted.)

Some Conclusions.-The superior group (C. A. 7-3 to 11-5) shows marked physiological acceleration as expressed in height and weight indices. The tendency here is so clear as to indicate that there is a significant interrelation between physical and mental growth.

The superior group is characterized by a very high level of vocabulary, and general complexity of language development. Although this is unquestionably related to the high cultural status of the homes, it appears perhaps the most significant single factor in the high intellectual level of the group as a whole. The group tendency is toward marked acceleration in reading proficiency. This excess proficiency inculcates a tendency to read for "content" at a relatively early age, and is thus a very important factor in the ultimate level of intellectual attainment.

There is also acceleration in arithmetical proficiency, but at the earlier age levels this appears a less significant factor than the acceleration in reading proficiency.

In the ability to apprehend and follow directions, the median score for this group is that of the group of high school pupils.

In personality they are marked . . . by superior social orientation, shown in an intelligent reaction to organized authority, and by a wide range of interests.

44. The Gifted Child: An Illustration

[PEARSON, Karl, Life, Letters and Labors of Galton, Vol. 1, p. 66. Cambridge University Press, 1914.]

The day before his fifth birthday, Francis Galton wrote the following letter to his sister.

My dear Adele:

I am 4 years old and I can read any English book. I can say all the Latin Substantives and Adjectives and active verbs besides 52 lines of Latin Poetry. I can cast up any sum in addition and can multiply by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, (9), 10, (11).

I can also say the pence table. I read French a little and I know the clock.

Febuary 15, 1827.

FRANCIS GALTON.

His brightness is further attested by the following letter written five years later.

My dearest Papa:

December 30, 1832.

It is now my pleasure to disclose the most ardent wishes of my heart, which are to extract out of my boundless wealth in compound, money sufficient to make this addition to my unequaled library:

The Hebrew Commonwealth by John

A Pastor's Advice

Hornne's Commentaries on the Psalms.

Paley's Evidence on Christianity

Jones Biblical Cyclopedia

9

2

4

2

10

27

45. Superior Children Become Superior Adults

[HOLLINGWORTH, Leta S., "Provisions for Intellectually Superior Children," The Child: His Nature and His Needs, p. 287. Valparaiso, Children's Foundation, 1924.]

There has been a widespread superstition that gifted children become dullards, or at most end as mediocre men and women, as they mature.

Psychologists have now re-tested many children of all degrees of mental ability, over periods in some cases as long as ten years. The outcome of these researches is that individuals maintain very nearly the same relative positions during mental development and at maturity. The dull remain dull, the average continue to be average, and the gifted maintain their superior status, as they grow.

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