When he was 4 years old, C went one day into a store with his father. While the latter was making his purchases the child took a book from the shelf and began to scan it. The shopkeeper noticed the child looking attentively at the book and said, for a joke, "Boy, if you will read me that book, I'll give it to you." Instantly C began to read fluently and carried the book away from the astonished merchant.
On another occasion, when he was about 5 years old, a woman noticed C searching about the house and said to him, "Are you hungry?" His reply was, "Yes, I'm hungry for a book."
Apparently C has never had an imaginary land. His favorite recreation has always been reading.
C's school life began at the age of 6 years. He did not attend kindergarten. His teachers recognized him as "out of the ordinary"--but not in any appreciative way. They thought him "queer" and "odd." In spite of perfect work, he was advanced only a little more than the usual rate, being placed in Grade 5B at the age of 9 years 5 months. His obvious misplacement and unhappiness here caused the principal of the school to seek advice regarding C's education.
After mental tests had revealed the mental level of a superior adult, C was invited to enter the Special Opportunity Class then just organized at Public School 165, Manhattan. Here he was associated with twenty-five classmates of his own age whose IQ's ranged from 150 to 175, the median of the group being about 164 IQ.
In this class C gradually became adjusted to the work in such a way that at the end of the school year (1923), when asked whether he would prefer to stay in the Special Opportunity Class or go on to high school, he unhesitatingly chose to stay with the special class. "It will be more interesting," he said. He therefore finished elementary school at the age of 12 years, although at 10 he was judged by his teachers to be fully prepared in knowledge to enter senior high school. There is no doubt that he could have been made ready to enter college at the age of 12 years.
When asked at the age of 9 what he would be when he grew up, the following conversation took place:
Q. What do you think is the most interesting vocation? What would you like to be when you grow up? A. Well, the answer to those two questions is not the same one. Q. Then tell us first what you think is the most interesting vocation. A. Science, especially astronomy. Q. And what vocation would you like to follow when you grow up? A. To be a medical doctor. Q. But why not be what is most interesting? A. Because a person cannot make much money being an astronomer. I never heard of anyone at the Lick Observatory earning fifty thousand dollars a year. Q. But do medical doctors earn fifty thousand dollars a year? A. It is possible for one to do it. Some of them do. Q. Do you think being a medical doctor is the most lucrative occupation? A. No. It would be more lucrative to get into Standard Oil. Q. Then why not go into Standard Oil? A. Because it isn't so interesting as being a medical doctor. Q. Which is the more useful occupation--medical doctor or astronomer? A. Medical doctor. Because a man does not care much for a blazing star a million miles away if his wife is sick. Anyone cares more for a _person_ two feet away than for a _thing_ a trillion miles away.