Education: Summer for Learning

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Who's Bored? One significant trend is an effort to give youngsters an early taste of many fields so that later they can channel themselves more effectively. Most of the effort is still at the high school level. An ambitious plan to do the job even earlier is a pilot project at Darien (Conn.) High School called Sciences and Arts Camps Inc. SAAC's goal: to launch a chain of brain-stirring summer day camps for gifted fourth-to sixth-graders in suburbs across the country.

Incorporated by some top U.S. executives, such as RCA President John Burns, SAAC's first camp has 225 youngsters studying Russian, science, math, logic, writing, politics, art and music under 14 expert teachers and 20 junior counselors. (Tuition for six weeks: $195.) If some parents were at first appalled at the agenda, they have changed their minds. Asked one mother last week: "What have you done with my child? He was absolutely exhausted when he got home, and then he spent two hours telling us what he did today. Whatever happened to summer boredom?"