bout 24 per cent
of all, and among the latter only 5 per cent of all. The group is
made up largely of children of the fairly successful mercantile or
professional classes.

The total number of children between 110 and 120 is almost exactly the
same as the number between 80 and 90; namely, about 15 per cent. The
distance between these two groups (say between 85 and 115) is as great
as the distance between average intelligence and border-line deficiency,
and it would be absurd to suppose that they could be taught to best
advantage in the same classes. As a matter of fact, pupils between
110 and 120 are usually held back to the rate of progress which the
average child can make. They are little encouraged to do their best.

VERY SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (I Q 120 TO 140). Children of this group are
better than somewhat above average. They are unusually superior. Not
more than 3 out of 100 go as high as 125 I Q, and only about 1 out of
100 as high as 130. In the schools of a city of average population only
about 1 child in 250 or 300 tests as high as 140 I Q.

In a series of 476 unselected children there was not a single one
reaching 120 whose social class was described as "below average."[29] Of
the children of superior social status, about 10 per cent reached 120 or
better. The 120-140 group is made up almost entirely of children whose
parents belong to the professional or very successful business classes.
The child of a skilled laborer belongs here occasionally, the child of a
common laborer very rarely indeed. At least this is true in the smaller
cities of California among populations made up of native-born Americans.
In all probability it would not have been true in the earlier history of
the country when ordinary labor was more often than now performed by men
of average intelligence, and it would probably not hold true now among
certain immigrant populations of good stock, but limited social and
educational advantages.

[29] In other investigations, however, we have found even brighter
children from very inferior homes. See p. 117 for an example.

What can children of this grade of ability do in school? The question
cannot be answered as satisfactorily as one could wish, for the simple
reason that such children are rarely permitted to do what they can. What
they do accomplish is as follows: Of 54 children (of the 1000 unselected
cases) falling in this group, 121/2 per cent were advanced in the
grades two years, approx