After less than a month in the fifth grade, in September, 1921 (age 7 years 8 months), Elizabeth was promoted to the sixth grade, where she is doing superior work. In the examinations at the end of the last semester she ranked about the middle of the class, due to the fact that she is still slow in her written work. But in comprehension she easily leads the class.
Thus far nothing has been done for this exceptional child except to move her along from grade to grade five times as rapidly as the average child can go. When we see her at times very evidently bored while a teacher is trying to make a subject clear to pupils of average ability, we wonder what would have happened if Elizabeth were now in the second or third grade where most eight-year-old children are found.
In 1925 Hirt again reported upon the child, Elizabeth, as follows:
By February, 1923, she had completed the work of the six elementary grades, and she was promoted to the junior high school. Now, at the end of her fifth year in school, she is ready for the second semester's work in the ninth grade. . . . After her promotion to the junior high school, some of her teachers complained that she was lazy; others said that she was very inattentive; and all declared that she was "very silly." The school psychologist had a conference with these teachers, and it was decided that Elizabeth should be given a heavier schedule, and Latin was added to her program. She has been enthusiastic over this subject from the very first. . . . During the past year there has been a steady improvement in Elizabeth's attitude toward her school work as well as in her behavior in general. Though some of her teachers still consider her "silly," they all recognize her unusual mental ability. While they give her B and C grades in most of her subjects, they realize that she could easily do A work in every subject if she cared to. They say that she wastes much time, though her mind seems always to be busy. Her mother says that when she is at home "she writes, and writes, and writes, covering reams of paper." Elizabeth has told her mother that she is writing a book and a play.
In the spring of 1925, when a friend asked Elizabeth where she was going to spend her summer vacation, the child replied, "Why, I expect to take a trip around the world." Then seeing the surprise in her friend's face, she explained, "Of course, it is not probable that I shall go far from our porch swing, but I find the swing a very satisfactory conveyance; it is perfectly safe, and it always takes me exactly where I want to go."
When Elizabeth entered the tenth grade, in senior high school, in 1926, she was 12 years 8 months old. Her social behavior was at about the level for this age, and her teachers were coldly critical, unable or unwilling to reconcile her conduct with her physical size and intellectual maturity. She made very few friends. She was graduated from high school in June, 1929, with the reputation of being lazy. She excelled in the languages, but her work in other subjects was mediocre.
After she was graduated from high school, funds were not available for Elizabeth to attend college away from home or to pay tuition. Consequently, because she must live at home she enrolled in a State Teachers College, though she had no desire to become a teacher. She was 15 years 8 months old at this time, and her work was very uneven in excellence. When the time arrived for practice teaching, she was assigned to teach high school pupils of about her own age, and failed in this branch of the work, so that she was not graduated. She received, however, an honorable discharge from the college. During these years, 1929-1933, her situation was further complicated by the passing of a state law prohibiting students below 17 years of age from attending the State Teachers College. As Elizabeth was then still below the age specified in the new law, she was forced to withdraw and wait for time to pass, resuming her studies as soon as she fell within the law.
When Elizabeth was discharged from the Teachers College, interested friends made attempts to secure for her a subsistence and tuition scholarship at some good liberal arts college, but no such opportunities were found. One college otherwise interested in granting a tuition scholarship now found her "too old," she being then aged 19 years.
The scholastic history of Elizabeth is too long to be told here in greater detail. It affords an instructive and tragic example of the blindness of current educational practice in dealing with children who test in the highest ranges of intellect. At 22 years of age Elizabeth lives at home, without suitable occupation, writing poetry and helping with the tasks of the household. Her education as conducted has not provided her with any recognized equipment for enter for entering into the intellectual life of her world, although she possesses one of the best intellects of her generation.
The case of J. M. The history of J. M., a 10-year-old girl of IQ 190 (S-B), was presented by Washburne (34) in 1924. This girl was a pupil in the public schools of Winnetka, Illinois, where the plan of individualized instruction is followed, with individual subject promotions.