Evening star., 1955-07-31
BY HERMAN r. ALLEN

~ Dg 16ASAs4fA3N Ne AA4AAGRN
Stevie wasn't getting along
very wen In school.
He was slow. never better
than average In achievement
In his nth grade class at
University City, Mo. : Yet
Stevie wasn't stupid, nor hard
of hearing. nor in need Of
glasses. He was. In fact, a
perfectly healthy little boy
with the extraordinarily high
intelligence quotient Of $50.
Then what was Stevie's
trouble?
II do poorly so my teacher
won't expect too much Of me.
Then I can fool around and
have fun," Stevie told a psy-
chologist.
That was several years ago.
To-day Stevie probably would
be enrolled in one of Univer-
sity City's classes for gifted"
children.
Americas schools long have
recognized the need for special
classes for the physically and
mentally handicapped. Neg
lected, except in a few widely
scattered cities, were the bright
youngsters like Stevie.
The situation locally was
pointed up January 80, 1855
by DR.. Samuel Engle Burr,
head Of American Univer-
sity's department Of educa-
ton.
In an article in The Star,
DR.. Burr deplored the fact
that while the District
school budget requests for
fiscal 1856 contained $685.
155 for special instruction Of
retarded children, it con-
tanned no funds for teach
ing the gifted child.
Dumped into average classes,
gifted children often lacked
what educators call motiva-
ton. Bored, they frequently
dogged it as did Stevie. Or,
completing their work far
ahead Of the others. they were
put to work by the teacher
running errands or watering
plants.
Often they developed spot
tily. One Illinois 10-year-old
could do seventh grade arith-
metic but had never learned to
read-he was clever enough to
get others to read to him.
Schools Move Forward
Increasingly. schools are at
tempting to help these young
sters develop to their fullest
abilities. both for a child's own
sake and because the alterna-
tive Is a costly waste of
the Nations brainpower. But
progress is still slow.
Who are the gifted children?
Definitions vary, but in gen.
eral they include children with
los Of 1875 to 130 and higher,
approximately the top 2 per
cent. The gifted" class does
not include children who ex-
hibit genius in one field but
are just average or below in
other fields.
Methods Of helping them fall
into three general classes:
!. "Acceieration," or grade-
Jumping. This, If it means
simply skipping third grade,
for instance, is not popular
with educators, although 1t is
usually the only method open
to small school systems. How
ever. plans under which chill
dren start first grade early are
winning approval. And at the
top of the ladder there are sew
eral schemes for admitting
gifted high school students to
college with advanced stand
ing.
2. Enrichment" a program
requiring a minimum of rou-
tine work but Offering super
vised opportunity for the stu
dent to develop his own per-
sonal interests and under
standing of the world. This Is
the best liked and most widely
used method.
3. Specialized schools for
the gifted. This plan is well
regarded but is not feasible
except in the largest cities.
Pittsburgh began an early
first-grade admission program
for carefully screened 5-year-
olds in 1851. Not all of the
six boys and eight girls select
ed that first year took well to
first grade.
Follow-up studies of 43 early
starters last year. however, in
dicated that although such
youngsters may have trouble
in first grade they usually get
firmly on their feet by third.
A big advantage of early
starting over grade-jumping is
that the child does not have
to adjust to new classmates
in addition to taking on hard
er work.
Buffalo Experience
The University Of Buffalo
has for 20 years operated a
program under which gifted
high school students may take
"anticipatory college credit
examinations" These show
whether a student knows
enough about one or more
college courses without taking
them.
Some 1000 students have
taken these tests. On the
average they were able to re-
duce their college work by one
semester and a six-week sum-
mer course. They do slightly
better scholastically than full
four-year students.
Apparently favorable Scho-