eglect, physical defects, or educational maladjustments, many
potential leaders in science, art, government, and industry are denied
the opportunity of a normal development. The use we have made of
exceptional ability reminds one of the primitive methods of surface
mining. It is necessary to explore the nation's hidden resources of
intelligence. The common saying that "genius will out" is one of those
dangerous half-truths with which too many people rest content.

Psychological tests show that children of superior ability are very
likely to be misunderstood in school. The writer has tested more than a
hundred children who were as much above average intelligence as moron
defectives are below. The large majority of these were found located
below the school grade warranted by their intellectual level. One third
had failed to reap any advantage whatever, in terms of promotion, from
their very superior intelligence. Even genius languishes when kept
over-long at tasks that are too easy.

Our data show that teachers sometimes fail entirely to recognize
exceptional superiority in a pupil, and that the degree of such
superiority is rarely estimated with anything like the accuracy which is
possible to the psychologist after a one-hour examination. _B. F._, for
example, was a little over 71/2 years old when tested. He was in the
third grade, and was therefore thought by his teacher to be accelerated
in school. This boy's intelligence, however, was found to be above the
12-year level. There is no doubt that his mental ability would have
enabled him, with a few months of individual instruction, to carry fifth
or even sixth-grade work as easily as third, and without injury to body
or mind. Nevertheless, the teacher and both the parents of this child
had found nothing remarkable about him. In reality he belongs to a grade
of genius not found oftener than once in several thousand cases.

Another illustration is that of a boy of 101/2 years who tested at the
"average adult" level. He was doing superior work in the sixth grade,
but according to the testimony of the teacher had "no unusual ability."
It was ascertained from the parents that this boy, at an age when most
children are reading fairy stories, had a passion for standard medical
literature and textbooks in physical science. Yet, after more than a
year of daily contact with this young genius (who is a relative of
Meyerbeer, the composer), the teacher had discovered no symptoms o