Evening star., 1936-02-13
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

Horatio Alger was right.
It's the cheerful, refined honest,
truthful boy who gets ahead in the
world.
At least he starts out that way, accord
ing to preliminary indication of a pSy-
Geological study of leadership among
boys being conducted by Rev. DR.. John
E. Rauth, associate professor of psychol-
ogy at Catholic University.
Dr. Rauth started with a group of 48
boys at the st. Mary's Industrial School
in Baltimore. He asked them to vote
for the members of the group they
thought most fitted for the following
positions: Captain of the base ball team,
captain of the foot ball team, leader on
a camping trip, manager of the school
store, monitor in the dormitory, and
president Of the Holy Name Society.
The ballots were so arranged that
every. boy got some votes, but the out
come showed that certain boys were far
in the lead for all these positions. The
same boys stood out in the balloting for
foot ball captain and store manager.
They obviously were the ones who rated
highest among their fellows, the natural
leaders.
Then DR.. Rauth set out to determine
what qualities gave these lads so high
a standing among their own companions.
He had them rated by teachers and
others, who did not know the result of
the voting. They were judged on the
qualities of even temper, cheerfulneSS,
ability to organize, athletic ability, re-
f1nement, honesty and truthfulneSS.
Quite Unexpectedly, the lads who were
honored by the confidence of their COM
panionS were rated almost in the same
order by the teachers for all these
qualities.
The outstanding boys in school life
might have stepped right out of the
pages of Horatio Alger. Even refinement
seems to be appreciated by boys in an
other boy, although it doesn't rate quite
so high as the other qualities
DR.. Rauth extended the experiment to
find out whether the reasons for accord
ing leadership to a fellow pupil varied
with age. He found decided difference
between boys of the 12-year-old group
and those about Is years old. The little
boys almost invariably reported that they
had voted for candidate because they
thought he was best qualified for the
position, regardless Of whether they liked
him or not. True, they usually liked
the fellow in whom they had the most
confidence. but this was not invariably
the case. They wanted as captain of the
foot ball team the boy under whose lead
ership the team was most likely to win.
The older boys had perceptibly diff
ferent attitude. Some still protested that
their votes were cast. purely on their
Judgment OF the candidates ability.
Others admitted frankly that they had
cast their ballots for boys they liked
and that their choices had not been en-
tirely predicated on judgment of ability
and had voted against boys they did not
like. Liking and confidence did not
always coincide.
The indication is, DR. Rauth says that
the smaller boys are more loyal to the
group. They want to see the team win
games, or the school store succeed, and
they are willing to submerge themselves
in the welfare of the whole. It hardly
occurs to them to do otherwise. Some
time between the 18th and the 18th year
the individualiStic spirit emergeS The
bow still wants to see the team win, but
he doesn't want It's victories to reflect
credit on somebody he dislikes.
This rather profound change Of atti-
tude, DR.. Rauth points out. seems to
come quite abruptly with the dawn of
adolescence. Somewhere between the
l2th and 18th year politics" enters the