At the age of 10 years 6 months, J. M. was 54.5 inches tall and weighed 88.5 pounds. This is decidedly in excess of the standards for average children, as regards size. She was doing work of good quality in the eighth grade, and could have been in high school had not the school authorities checked her progress in the seventh grade by giving her a large amount of extra work to do. Her school record shows that she entered the public schools of Chicago in the first grade, in September, 1919. The teacher of first grade immediately discovered that she knew too much for that grade and brought about her placement in the second grade. There she remained until the following April, when her family moved to Winnetka.
In Winnetka, J. M. entered the second grade and was promoted in June. Her reading, tested by the Monroe and Gray tests, was up to fifth-grade standard when she reached third grade, and had reached the sixth-grade standard by December, 1920. Her progress in other school subjects was such that in September, 1921, she entered the fifth grade. Her rapid progress was halted somewhat, as she "was carrying a double language course, finishing the fourth grade and beginning fifth-grade work simultaneously." When in May, 1922, she began the sixth-grade work, she completed it in two weeks. "June, 1922, found her, therefore, doing advanced sixth-grade reading, through with sixth grade spelling, almost through with sixth-grade arithmetic, and promoted to the seventh grade in language. She was then nine years old." In the course of this progress, the grade standard in penmanship was last to be achieved. The perplexities which now arose in connection with this child's education are set forth as follows, by Washburne:
In spite of the fact that she was so clearly ready for seventh-grade work in the fall of 1922, we hesitated about having her come from the lower grade school to our junior high school. She was smaller and younger than any of the children in the junior high, and we felt that she was already so far advanced that still more progress was perhaps undesirable. But she had formed a warm attachment for two girls a year or so older than herself, both possessed of high IQ's, and she felt that there would be nothing for her to do in the sixth grade if we held her back. This was so obviously true that we admitted her to the junior high school with an agreement that she would remain there until she was twelve years old.
We felt that while she doubtless could do the work of the junior high school within a year, or at the most in a year and a half, since our junior high contains only the seventh and eighth grades, she ought not to go to the senior high school too young. We agreed to give her a widely enriched curriculum of electives and special courses, to keep her active and happy for three years. But it didn't work!
When she found that no effort on her part would get her through any sooner, she stopped making effort. The end of the first year (June, 1923) found her with seventh-grade cooking, seventh-grade art, and seventh-grade pottery, all incomplete. She had taken up general science toward the end of the year, and of course had not finished it either. She had, on the other hand, completed all of the seventh-grade English and arithmetic, including some advanced work; had done exceptionally well in French. In dramatics she first had a know-it-all attitude, owing to her mother's success in amateur theatricals, but later did very good work. In social studies she had been inclined to superficiality, trusting to her quick grasp on a single reading of the material (Rugg's Social Science Pamphlets) and doing little real thinking. But she was interested, and finished the course within the year.
The general feeling of the teachers, and of J. M. herself . . . was that she had "loafed on the job" a good deal, had been over-confident, and had "let down" generally when the stimulus of rapid advancement was taken away. This gives us some inkling as to what would have happened to her in a regular school system, where the class lockstep is the rule. This year J. M. is taking a straight eighth-grade course with one elective, and is tying up the loose ends left undone at the end of last year.
. . . The child's strong desire to move forward with the children who are now her friends, and the undesirable effect on her of our last year's experiment in holding her back regardless of her effort or ability to go forward, have resulted in our decision to let her graduate this coming June.
Her parents, however, have requested that we keep her in our junior high school for a postgraduate year, because they feel that the influence of this school is needed by J. M. We shall, therefore, try to provide a special course for her next fall. If we found out that it does not work out successfully, we will enter her in the senior high school in February, 1925. If, on the other hand, we find that we can give her the sort of education that will be helpful to her in our junior high school and that she responds rightly, we shall hold her here until June, letting her enter the senior high school at the age of twelve and one half years.
Interpreting and summarizing our experience with J. M.: Our system of individual instruction has permitted her to make full use of her intellectual ability. When we tried to depart from it to prevent her progress from becoming too rapid, she showed a lack of interest and in some parts of her school work she did not work up to capacity, and even became to a slight extent a discipline problem. Given, however, an incentive to first-class work and the training in social behavior which we are trying to give in our junior high school, J. M. developed successfully and well. On the whole, our system has enabled us to deal with her flexibly and as an individual. It has prevented us from prolonging our mistakes. Probably no system, or uniform plan, can be made to fit children of such exceptional mental endowments. The most we can hope for is a flexibility which will enable us to deal with such children as individuals, feeling our way as we go along.
As for family background, J. M. originates from ancestors of very superior intelligence. Her parents were both tested by means of Army Alpha and both scored far above the generality of adults. Her father was educated as an electrical engineer but subsequently went into investment banking. J. M.'s paternal grandfather was an architect, trained in Manchester School of Science. He also attended the University of Edinburgh. The paternal great-grandfather was an architect and shipbuilder, expert in laying out factories, and he was descended from a line of builders. The paternal grandmother was an English woman, educated by her aunt, "who had advanced ideas on what a girl should study." The father of this grandmother was a dealer in building materials.