A Challenge for Larry

The lean youngster has been in trouble before. But only since last fall has eleven-year-old Larry McMahon really been a storm center in school. He runs through corridors, gets in fights, has flatly refused to obey Principal George E. Goodwin of his school in Freeport, Me. What's more, his marks are below class average. The startling basis of Larry's troubles: an IQ of 172, a score made by only about three children in 10,000.

Out of school, Larry skis, plays softball and basketball, devours science fiction, plays a canny game of chess. But in school Larry's mind seems to be a handicap. Too bright for his regular school subjects, the seventh-grader is bored and withdrawn, annoys his teachers by correcting them in class.

Confronted by Larry's special problems and potential, the school system in the coastal town of Freeport (pop. 3,000) has done little but try to force him into line by punishment. Twice this school year Larry was suspended for insubordination, and last month the school warned his parents that further misconduct might bring expulsion. Says School Superintendent James B. Morrison Jr. with a shrug: "We just can't put pupils in classes by themselves."

Private schools had seemed out for Larry because of high costs. (His stepfather is a schoolbook and supplies salesman.) But last week the Plimoth Academy in Plymouth, Mass., a semi-tutorial school of 32 students, said it would waive the fee ($2,400 a year) for the rest of the school year, let Larry develop his unchallenged mind at his own pace. Said Plimoth's Headmaster Roy Brown: "Here's a boy who looks as though he can go pretty fast."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.