Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ...persons who, on the whole, are not at all bright, even if not positively dull in school; who have no particularly strong interests or ambitions, and who are likely on leaving school to follow the line of least resistance in earning a living, doing most things they attempt with indifferent or poor success. They represent the kind of person relatively lacking in foresight, energy, self-reliance, and all round mental capacity; the person likely to succeed fairly well only if well directed and especially trained in some particular line of work, but who, under the most favorable conditions possible, is utterly incapable of attaining a degree of achievement much beyond mediocrity. At least six of these were persons considered dull by their acquaintances. As to the remainder of the group, in the opinion of the writer, they represent persons ranging in mental capacity from that of the fifteen described above to something above the average in the case of at least one or two. The Good group, on the other hand, is composed of persons who are far above the average in mental capacity. It is safe to say that persons who become college professors or instructors before the age of thirty-five possess mental ability ranging from considerably above the average toward the very highest mental capacity. That the members of the Good group are representative of mental ability far above the average is evidenced by the nature of the positions they now hold. Eight or nine of the seventeen at present occupy college or university positions. The rest hold educational positions, mostly in normal schools of high rank, with the exception of one, who holds an important and responsible position in a philanthropic organization. There can be no reasonable doubt, therefore, ..