But going a step farther, one finds that within this group there are great irregularities, which do not appear when the group is considered as a whole. And these irregularities are of a nature to give the eugenist grave concern.
If one sought, for example, to find a group of women distinctly superior to the average, he might safely take the college graduates. Their superior quality as a class lies in the facts that:
(a) They have survived the weeding-out process of grammar and high school, and the repeated elimination by examinations in college.
(b) They have persevered, after those with less mental ability have grown tired of the strain and have voluntarily dropped out.
(c) Some have even forced their way to college against great obstacles, because attracted by the opportunities it offers them for mental activity.
(d) Some have gone to college because their excellence has been discovered by teachers or others who have strongly urged it.
All these attributes can not be merely acquired, but must be in some degree inherent. Furthermore, these girls are not only superior in themselves, but are ordinarily from superior parents, because
(a) Their parents have in most cases coöperated by desiring this higher education for their daughters.
(b) The parents have in most cases had sufficient economic efficiency to be able to afford a college course for their daughters.
Therefore, although the number of college women in the United States is not great, their value eugenically is wholly disproportionate to their numbers. If marriage within such a selected class as this is being avoided, or greatly postponed, the eugenist can not help feeling concerned.