Total Score, 272 points
A total score of 272 points exceeds the score of 95 per cent
of the group of high school graduates from a cosmopolitan
city high school.
On his own initiative, L is investigating the possibilities of scholarships with college work in mind. He says: "I spend between two or three hours a night on homework. I don't need to do this, but I am aiming for a scholarship and taking it very seriously."
[1] This chapter was written by H. L. H.
[2] This section is an abbreviation of an account courteously provided by Dr. Miriam C. Pritchard, who made a follow-up study of L's first-term adjustments in high school.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN SUMMARIES OF HEREDITY AND EARLY BEHAVIOR
It is of course obvious that no very general conclusions can be drawn from data relating to a dozen instances of exceptional mental endowment such as those reported in this monograph. Such data may, however, be added to information in process of accumulation from similar studies, the whole providing a respectable basis for judgment. The facts concerning the group of individuals presented in this book are, therefore, summarized in the form of the following brief review. [1]
FAMILY HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The racial and national ancestry of the twelve children whose records have been presented in preceding pages may be chiefly a condition arising from the population in which they were found. Comparison with results from other population areas may serve to check certain implications suggested herein. All these cases were found and studied in New York City and about half of them in the public schools.
Among the ancestors whose origins are mentioned, in the endeavor to go behind the simple statement of "American parents," the nationalities are given as Jewish, 13; British, 9; German, 2; French, 2. In most cases the ancestors are individually compound— as Austrian-Jew, German-American, etc.
The activities of the more remote ancestors cover a wide range, from farming and small-town storekeeping to the learned professions, large business, and political activity. On the whole, the remote ancestors appear to have been fairly successful people, with the majority of them in the professions. No cases of mental deficiency or total incompetence are recorded among them.