By the time a gifted person is physically mature, many of the problems herein outlined automatically disappear as problems. What after-effects there may be of the poor solution of these childish problems we do not know. Apparently these superior organisms tolerate well the strains put upon them by reason of their deviation from the average. However, that an organism stands strain well is no reason for putting or leaving strain unnecessarily upon it.
As the gifted individual grows to maturity, he or she can achieve control of his or her own life, and can dispense to a relatively great extent with inadvertent cruelties and mistaken efforts of uninformed official guardians. It is during childhood that the gifted boy or girl is at the mercy of guardians whose duty it is to know his nature and his needs much more fully than they now do.
[1] Reprinted from Mental Hygiene: Vol. XI, No. 1, pages 3-16
(January, 1931). Read by Leta. S. Hollingworth at the First
International Congress of Mental Hygiene, Washington, D. C.,
May 8, 1930.
[2] Terman, Lewis M. Genetic Studies of Genius: Vol. I. Stanford University Press, Stanford University, California; 1925.
[3] Hartshorne, H., and May, M. A. Studies in Deceit. The Macmillan Company, New York; 1927.
[4] Burt, C. The Young Delinquent. D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New York; 1924.
[5] Healy, W., and Bronner, A. F. Criminals and Delinquents: Their Making and Unmaking. The Macmillan Company, New York; 1928.
[6] The intelligence quotient is the ratio between the [chronological age] status achieved on tests by an individual and that achieved by the generality [of the same chronological age].
[7] Hollingworth, Leta S. Gifted Children: Their Nature and Nurture. The Macmillan Company, New York; 1926.
[8] Yoder, G. F. "A Study of the Boyhood of Great Men." Pedagogical Seminary (1894).