How to Become a Scientist — High School Years 101 



his teachers attended the summer institutes sponsored by 

 the National Science Foundation? Does the school offer 

 three or four years of instruction in at least one modem 

 foreign language with a teacher who can speak the lan- 

 guage at least fairly well? Does mathematics extend at 

 least through trigonometry and logarithms? If the answers 

 to most of these questions are in the affirmative, he is 

 probably safe in staying where he is. If, in addition, there 

 are advanced courses in mathematics — college algebra and 

 elementary calculus, for example — and some of the gradu- 

 ates enjoy "advanced placement" in other subjects when 

 they reach college, he is really in luck. 



If, on the other hand, relatively few graduates go on 

 to any college at all, only an occasional one gets to a good 

 university, and there are few symptoms of progress in 

 improving the curriculum or the quahty of the teaching 

 staff, the ambitious student is in for a tough time. It is, 

 of course, possible for an outstanding student to overcome 

 the handicap of indifferent schoohng and finally end up 

 in a good graduate school. The real genius seems to be 

 able to overcome any environmental handicaps and come 

 out the better for it. But such people are very rare. The 

 great majority of us need all the help we can get from 

 teachers, parents, and fellow students if we are going to 

 reahze our potentiahties. 



Once the student has come to the conclusion that he is 

 not the sort of genius who can educate himself and that 

 the school he is going to will not help him to get into 

 a good college, he must tactfully begin to explore alterna- 

 tives. He should take a look at the other schools in his 

 city or in nearby towns. If one of these turns out to have 

 the desirable characteristics we have described, he can look 

 into the legal and financial problems involved in transfer- 

 ring. Some cities like New York and Boston make it very 



