Evening star., 1924-01-19

At eleven astonished Harvard pro-
fessors with a lecture on the fourth
dimension: at twenty-six, a twenty
three-dollar-a-week statistical clerk
who does not want to think-that
Is the story of William j. Sidis. The
recent discovery of the young man
in a New York business office has
renewed discussions about the infant
prodigy who burst upon the world
twenty years or so ago ana set
nation wondering how far lad with
so spectacular a start would go.
In the opinion of the Worcester
Gazette he suffers from his fathers
pitiless exploitation Of the infant
prodigy's mind-and from the fact
that he probably grew up without
ever once being called Bill" The
Arkansas Democrat agrees he Is to
be pitied because he is in that most
pitiable condition. 'overschooled; he
knows nothing of the joys or boy
hood, little of the wonders OF knowi-
edge which comes only a1ter long
and sometimes painful experience:
and "his case will furnish ammuni-
ton for those 'self-made' folk VINO
declare that they had but little equ-
cation and earn a hundred times more
in a week than this boy, VINO ,kne"
ing will point to him as a specimen
of what college training does: but
the thoughtful man will feel that this
young man did not have fair deal
in life because a boy must be boy
before he can become man.
The case suggests that where the
normal course Of development in
childhood is interfered with nature
asserts itself later on ana tries TO
balance the account, according TO the
Detroit Free Press, which says: Ine
child who is denied the activities nor
NAL to its age and forced Into a kind
of effort appropriate to later years
turns back to the things OF chiidhood
when the opportunity presents 1tselI:
Certainly this seems to be the resui.
theory may be, the fact stands as
warning against too much interfer-
ence with the natural and sponta-
neous development OF young minds:
Untold ages of inheritance have fixed
the course in which they grow best
and one changes that coures at his
peril"
Feeling that young Sidis is one of
those unfortunates who have a mar
yelous retentive memory and no whit
of initiative nor capacity for original
thought, the Cincinnati Enquirer in
ststs "the tragic example of this
young man should convince every
thoughtful citizen that what Ameri-
can education needs Is not the arbi-
trary information of text books. but
the liberal development of the indi-
select; they should not be made to
memorize," to which the Manchester
Union adds: Sometimes there are
cases to suggest that in the long run
other qualities count for more than
brilliance in mathematics while CO.
tamporary youngsters are 1aborinG In
SuIgar fra ctions, and this case Of Sidis
appears to be one of the cases." The
Geneva Times draws the distinction
between wits" and "brains," declar-
ing: "Had this brain been wits, even
though he might not have been able
to spell, or even to read or white, he
might now be rolling in wealth as an
Industrial king" Anyway, "the case
furnishes a little more consolation to
those many parents whose children
ding along through the grade schools
with the rank and file OF others, all Of
whom will get there somehow"
Likewise, the Binghamton Sun sug-
gests "there Is almost as much en-
couraeement for the less gifted stu
dent in the story of Sidis as there is
in the more common tales Of men
who. branded as numskulls in their
vouth. have turned out to be leaders
in the nations thought, or captains
az Industry, wise statesmen or what
not. Sidis may have had tough breaks
after 1t became necessary for him to
nut his brilliant mind to practical
nse but II his precocious intellect
failed to help him over obstacles.
what good was it?'
- y X
The st. Paul Pioneer Press, how
aver. believes while many will eager
ly offer this case as proof that the
system OF forcing" children to ''un-
natural development" is bad one,
that actually this instance proves