[originaltext] The old idea that talented children "burn themselves out" in

The old idea that talented children "burn themselves out" in the early years, and, therefore, are subjected to failure and at worst, mental illness, is unfounded. As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright kids is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults.
    To find this out, 1,500 gifted people were followed up to their 35th year with the results as follows:
    On adult intelligence tests, they scored as high as they had as children. They were, as a group, in good health physically and mentally. 84 percent of their group were married and seemed content with their lives.
    About 70 percent had graduated from college, though only 30 percent had graduated with honours. A few had even dropped out, but nearly half of these had returned to graduate.
    Of the men, 80 percent were in one of the professions or in business management or semiprofessional jobs. The women who had remained single had office, business, or professional occupations.
    The group had published 90 books and 1,500 articles in scientific, scholarly, and literary magazines and had collected more than 100 patents.
    In a material way they did not do badly either. Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth.
    In fact, far from being strange, most of the gifted were turning their early promise into practical reality.