The Upper 10%

The superintendent of schools in a New England industrial town not long ago began to worry about the small number of his students who continued on to college. The superintendent asked one of his brightest students why he was going to work instead. Said the boy, with startling directness: "You went on to college, and look what happened to you! I'm going into a factory and really make some money."

To Harvard President James Bryant Conant, who told the story last week, the boy's philosophy is a justified kick in the pants for most U.S. educators. They have been so busy tailoring curriculums for the average and the least able that they have "largely neglected" the most able, i.e., the top 10% intellectually. One significant reflection of the neglect: fully half of the young people in the top 10% never get to college. This week the Educational Policies Commission issued a 100-page report, Education of the Gifted, supervised by Conant, with an analysis of the problem and recommendations for keeping the ablest students busy, interested and intellectually growing. "The might-have-beens of history are will-o-the-wisps," said the commission report. "But the might-yet-be's of the future are challenges to action now."

The main bogies, as the commission sees them: 1) overworked teachers or indifferent parents who fail to spot gifted pupils, or if they do, are unable to give them the encouragement they need; 2) lack of necessary funds to help needy ones continue their education; 3) inflexible curriculums which fail to give the most to the gifted, inadequately prepare them for advanced work; 4) the popular "tendency to idealize the average man and to belittle the exceptional man."

Among the report's recommendations to give the gifted their due: 1) more testing to identify ability sooner; 2) more challenging study, especially in languages, mathematics and history; 3) more personal counseling; 4) more scholarships; 5) more "character education." The commission was not sure just how character education was to be taught, but, certain of the need, it warned: "Able and educated leaders who lack character are dangerous, for they may use their abilities for selfish or antisocial ends."

A final commission recommendation: a lot more research needs to be done on the whole subject of gifted youth.

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