What Ever Became of

By now Stanford Professor Lewis Madison Terman thinks he knows pretty well what becomes of bright boys & girls. Twenty-five years ago he had picked 1,400 of California's prize pupils (with I.Q.s of 140) to watch them grow. Periodically he bombarded them with questionnaires, hopefully read Who's Who to look for their names, and during the war kept up a steady correspondence with those overseas. He has just finished a book about them (The Gifted Child Grows Up), and last week sent the 1,400 a 51-page preview of it.

His chosen 1,400 now average about 35 years old. They proved to be healthier than the average U.S. citizen, less apt to be insane or to commit suicide. Three have become alcoholics; four have been in jail. Today, the group includes 69 lawyers, 44 doctors, 85 college professors, 25 authors or journalists, seven artists or composers, seven policemen and one truck driver. They have written more than 100 books and 1,200 magazine articles, taken out 150 patents. Their incomes are above average, but not startlingly so: for men, $4,700; for women, $2,600./-

Said Psychologist Terman: "We see no signs of a prospective statesman in the group; thus far, the highest elective office held by any...is that of Assemblyman. It contains...no mathematician of truly first rank, no university president. It gives no promise of contributing any Aristotles, Newtons, Tolstoys...." Psychologist Terman thinks the 1,400 entitled to another 25 years before making final judgment on them. But he has already come to one conclusion:"In achieving eminence, much depends on chance."

/- To critics of his gifted group, Dr. Terman wickedly points out: "The earnings of the group may seem low, but if at the age of 34 they were all college professors, their average salary would be below $4,700."

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