Appendix A 



The Educational Pyramid: Studies Concerning Able Students 

 Lost to Higher Education 



To be effective, a plan for discov- 

 ering and developing scientific talent 

 in American youth must be built 

 upon the country's existing educa- 

 tional structure and be consonant 

 with its current operations. Such a 

 plan must recognize the undoubted 

 fact that there is not an unlimited 

 number of individuals of high ability 

 and must ensure that the relatively 

 few with creative capacity in science 

 will be found early and be helped 

 and encouraged to go on through the 

 years of study required to complete 



professional and research training. 



An over-all picture of the child 

 and youth population and of the en- 

 rollments in educational institutions 

 is necessary for an understanding of 

 the dimensions of the problem pre- 

 sented by the proposed plan to dis- 

 cover and train young persons of 

 potential scientific ability. Such a 

 picture follows: 



The census of 1940 reported the 

 following figures of population under 

 20 years of age: 



It will be noted that there are 

 fewer children in the early ages than 

 in later childhood or in the adoles- 

 cent years. These figures become 

 even more significant in the light of 

 the changes which occurred between 

 1930 and 1940: 



(a) The number of children under 

 5 years of age decreased, from 1930 

 to 1940, by some 900,000. 



(h) The number of children of 

 ages from 5 to 9 years decreased, 

 from 1930 to 1940, by some 1,900- 

 000. 



It is estimated that by 1950 there 

 will be a decrease of some 2 million, 

 and possibly more, in the age group 

 10 to 19 years. Since the current 

 larger number of babies born during 

 the war will not reach adolescence 

 for another 10 years at least, there 

 will be fewer bovs and girls reaching 

 high' school and college ages in the 

 next 7 to 10 years. 



The following figures from the 

 1940 census show the age and school 

 attendance of the Nation's 46 million 

 boys and girls and youth: 



166 



