Great Falls tribune., 1922-02-17
The HQskiil Letter . n,ssss,ss ! =ssz
CHILD PRODIGIEs IN AFTER LIFE

I.eaping abruptly to the twentieth
century, we have the distinctly robust
example of Joseph Hoffman, famous
pianist, who clearly demonstrated his
remarkable musical talent when he was
but two and half years old, and was
on the concert stage at the age OF IL.
Super Children In Two Glasses
There ore and ;9dsss awsys have Pys,ssss9 Sssn
Edward L. Thorndike Of teachers col
lege, Columbia university, tells US, and
they have turned out to be great men
and women later. It is evident tnat
child feniuses may be divided into two
cissses-those who are creative and in
ventiye and those who have exceptional
m emories and absorbing powers.
saThe child Of creative ability is the
real wonder child. There are many
children who have exceptional memo.
ries. and while it is true that some OF
these children have greater capacity
than others, the faculty Is not fndl-
cative Of as high development as the
creative or inventive gift"
Professor Monroe, also OF the
teachers college, declares that our
system Of public school education IS
greatly to be censured because 1t makes
no special provision for children Of
superior ability. 1--WE in this country
are so democratic that we look OUT
for the mass" he says. Our entire
educational system is guaged to medic.
city. We need some new way OF
sealing our classes, so that persons OF
exceptional ability will not be held
back to the level Of their mediocre
companions. Sometimes this lack OF
occupation in school while they are
waiting for their slower brothers ana
sisters to catch up Is harmful to the
children Of superior talent. They be-
come restive or Indifferent.
"Wider recognition should be given
to the child prodigy. The hope OF edu-
cation is to bring out all the native tai
ent and ability each child has. Natural
ly some children will have more to show
than others, but each child should have
q chance to develop to its highest
point.
II do not believe in too much free.
dom or too much superintendence or
the child's education. There is a
medium which offers encouragement to
the child to use his own initiative and
at the same time furnishes guidance
without which he might become one
sided"
United States Is Stage OF ProdigIes
The United States has provided the
exhibition stage for large number OF
child prodigies in the past two years.
In fact, almost every European nation
and several South American republics
seemed to have two or three ready
for us as soon as the war was over.
We have marveled at the ability of the
little chess wizard, Samuel Rzeshew-
ski: Of the little girl Pamela Bianco;
Of the young girl diaryist introduced by.
Herr Freud, and of long list OF
youthful musical artists. And recently
we have been asked to admire our own
American prodigies in groups-so fast
are they developing. Last year little
Miss Bianco held an art exhibition OF
her own which was well praised by as
tonished art critics. but, 10! this year
q whole group of New York children
are exhibiting work just as good.
AS the prejudice against permitting
children to assert themselves dies out,
we seem to be developing greater and
greater numbers of super-normal chill.
dren. If the increase continues and II
the day ever comes when the public
schools adopt special measures for de-
yeloping individual talent. genius may
possibly become common among our