The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-08-25

dAd, uStCuS Sucutlys
children seldom get any place in
life; more often these are the young
sters who become mental cases. It's
happened time and again, maybe
in your own experience.
But how about these unusually
bright tots who pop into the head
lines? AS unusual children, should
they not be given special treatment,
just as retarded youngsters are seq
regated to overcome their handi-
caps? DR.. Hollingsworth thinks so,
and to bear out her theory she's
started the Speyer school for gifted
New York children.
DR.. Hollingsworth set about with
the special Stanford-Binet tests to
select her so pupils. When they
were chosen, she found these prodi-
gies (and she hates the term, prodi-
giesD weren't tall and spindly, &C.
centric or shy. They didn't even
wear horn-rimmed glasses. They
looked like any normal group of
youngsters between the ages of 8
and II and they had only one sin:
They talked their heads off in class
to pour out the overlooking supply.
of ideas accommodating in their alert
minds.
Maybe you think it's unfair to
give thse youngsters special advan-
tages, but look at it this way:
First, let us repeat that they are
just as extraordinary as mentally
retarded children, and as such re-
quire special consideration. In an
ordinary class, the brilliant child
finds his lessons too easy, ending
up by working half the time and
wasting the other half. He trusts
away" and potential leader of fu-
ture America is lost.
Back Down to Earth.
So New York's so shining lights
have been placed together in a
school where none shines brighter
than the rest, where the competition
is keener and they have to work to
get ahead. You'd be surprised how
angry they were when the first re-
port cards were issued: instead of
the A marks they got before, they
now received C's.
'The first thing these pupils
learn" says DR.. Hollingsworth, sis
that there are other people in the
world just as bright as they are"
The intelligence quotient test,
briefly, is nothing more than child's
mental age divided by his actual
age and multiplied by 100. The men,
tai age, though, is where the work
has come in. Psychologists have
been testing and observing children
for years to determine just what an
average three-year-old-for exam
ple-can do. They have compiled
lists of what youngsters should be
able to do at various ages and they
compare those with the actual abili-
ties. Then if a three-year-old can
do just what three-year-old is sup
posed to do, his I. Q. is exactly 100.
But even these patiently sought
results are not conclusive. Just be-
cause your child rates more than
14O on his I. Q. test, it doesn't mean
he's a genius. In the first place,
there are only 800 to 400 men in
the worlds history who have been
regarded as true geniuses.
Psychologists are pretty well
agreed that it takes more than a
high l. @. to make a genius. A lot
of it depends on the times a man
lives in, luck, and the right kind of
publicity. One fellow who recorded
an I. Q. of ITS shortly before the
World war has disappeared COM
pletely. Another, who lectured on
the fourth dimension when seven or
eight years old, ended up a street.
car conductor.
Maybe your child is a genius, but
don't be too sure about it. Chances
are he's just one of these young
sters with superior intellect who, if
handled sensibly, will turn out to be
credit to his parents.
g Western Newspaper Union.
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