Montour, K. (1976). Three precocious boys: What happened to them? Gifted Child Quarterly, 20(2), 173-179.
Objective: To provide case studies of precocious individuals whose stories were reported in the media and who went on to attain academic and social success, in the hope of changing the mistaken assumption that all precocious individuals will suffer a fate similar to that of William James Sidis.
Design: Retrospective case study.
Setting: Individuals who were identified in media reports as being precocious during their childhood.
Participants: Three talented males from the United States of America aged 60 years or older.
Assessment of Variables: Back copies of magazines were searched for mention of gifted children.
Individuals thus identified were located and contacted using information from biographical directories. Information was then sought regarding academic and social progress. One participant was interviewed at the Johns Hopkins University, another participant corresponded with the researcher via mail, and information regarding the last participant was gathered from the publication Who’s Who in America.
The author acknowledges some flaws in this research method. Firstly, it was only possible to trace one female (she was not able to be involved in the study). This was because most females had married since the publication of media reports about their lives and had given up their maiden names. Of the males who were located, only those older than 60 years were willing to take part in the study. This limited the study sample.
Main Results: There is a widely held belief that accelerating children through school will ultimately lead to harm. Many people who hold this view tell of at least one case of a student who was accelerated and who then went on to suffer negative academic and social consequences. One such case, that of William James Sidis, was reported widely in the media.
People hold negative views about acceleration despite research evidence showing exceptional
academic achievement and normal social adjustment for individuals who have accelerated. Examples include many of the 300 people studied by Catharine Cox (1926) as well as Paul Dudley who became, at age 10, the youngest person to enter Harvard College. Paul received a baccalaureate degree at age 14 and went on to become a prominent jurist in Massachusetts.
John Trumbull, a famous American lawyer and poet, passed the entrance exam to Yale College at the age of 7 years and 6 months but did not enter until the age of 13. Verrill Kenneth Wolfe graduated from Yale College in 1945 at the age of 14. He went on to become a professor of neuroanatomy at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Norbert Weiner, father of cybernetics, graduated from Tufts College at the age of 14. A. A. Berle, Secretary of State under Franklin D. Roosevelt, entered Harvard College at age 14 and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School. Robert B.
Woodward, Nobel prize-winning chemist, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 19 and was awarded his PhD the following year.
The author presents three cases in detail. All are men who were identified as gifted at a young age on the basis of their precocious verbal abilities. The first case study concerns, L, a physician. At age three, L was fluent in both German and English, could read fluently in either language, and exhibited strong comprehension skills. When L entered school the teacher did not realise that he could already read. It was not until the teacher saw L reading a newspaper in his father’s office that she was willing to make adjustments to the curriculum. L was soon promoted to the 4th grade. He entered high school when he was 9 years old. He was 12 years old when he passed the Harvard entrance examinations and 14 years old when he was admitted to the University.
L’s ambition from a very young age was to become a professor of classical languages. He began to teach himself Latin in pre-school. By the time he entered the first grade he knew as much Latin as the average college sophomore. He also taught himself Greek and by the time he reached high school could compose Greek poetry.
L always enjoyed solitude. As a young child he would hide in his room and read Latin books rather than play with other children. In high school he got along well with boys but not with girls. This may have been partly due to his relatively young age. Even in high school his preference was to spend much of his time alone studying Latin and Greek. This was despite attempts by his family to encourage social pursuits.
L sat the Harvard exams despite his parents’ wish that he sit the College Board exams for the University of Pennsylvania where they wanted him to study medicine. After his freshman year at Harvard, L concentrated on classical languages and literature. He graduated with honors in Classics at age 18 years. He then attended Oxford University where he earned another baccalaureate degree and a Masters degree, as well as completing all requirements for a doctorate, excepting the writing of a thesis. He left Oxford without his PhD, to attend the American Academy in Rome on a
fellowship.
On returning to America, L was unable to secure a teaching tenure at any college. He decided to attend Johns Hopkins University Medical School and received his license to practice at the age of 39 years. During World War II he was a lieutenant in the Navy’s Medical Corps and served in the Pacific. After the war L again tried to secure a teaching tenure at a college or university without success. He eventually took over his father’s medical practice. He also lectured in classics twice a year at Johns Hopkins University.
Another student who studied with L at Harvard University was M, a professor of classics at the University of California at Los Angeles. M was 15 years old when he entered Harvard. He had skipped two school grades and had completed four years of high school in three years. He received a baccalaureate degree at the age of 18 years, a Master’s degree the year after, and his PhD at the age of 21 years. M then became a member of the faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles.
M claimed that the support of his family was crucial to his success. He also spoke about the difficulty of making choices between different talents. He chose to pursue an interest in music over the competing interests of his job as an academic. This meant that he did not publish a significant body of work and probably influenced the lateness of his receiving a full professorship.
The third case concerns the life of E, Dean of Chapel of Cambridge University’s Jesus College and lecturer in Divinity. E was one of the subjects in Hollingworth’s famed longitudinal study of
exceptionally gifted children. E enrolled in Columbia University at the age of 12 years. He graduated at age 14 with membership of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He went on to earn a Master’s degree and a PhD degree from Columbia. E then decided to enrol at the Union Theological Seminary where he completed a Master of Sacred Theology. He also received an honorary Doctorate of sacred theology from the General Theological Seminary and a Master’s degree from Cambridge University. Like M,
E enjoyed the support of his family. Even though his parents were eager for him to enter Harvard University or New York University they supported his decision to attend Columbia.
Conclusion: The cases of E, L and M illustrate the success that is possible when talented individuals are allowed to radically accelerate their education. These individuals appeared to suffer no ill effects from moving rapidly through their education. Their cases show that gifted people must face trials in life just as others do. Family support appears to be an important factor in influencing the lives of talented people.
Commentary: The author is successful in presenting cases that contrast markedly in their academic and social outcomes with the case of William James Sidis. Certainly the cases of the three precocious individuals presented in the article suggest that early identification of gifted children and appropriate intervention, in these cases radical acceleration, can have very beneficial academic effects. Like William James Sidis, the lives of these three individuals were reported in the media. Although other authors have suggested that media interest affected William James Sidis’ life in negative ways, it appears that media interest in a gifted child need not necessarily lead to problems for that child.
The author suggests that family played an important role in influencing the lives of all three of the precocious individuals she describes. Other authors have suggested that such influences are crucial in shaping academic and social outcomes for exceptionally gifted individuals. The effect of family on the lives of exceptionally gifted individuals would seem to be an important research area for further consideration.
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