Education: Smart Pickaninnies

Everybody knows that pickaninnies can be smart as paint, but many a white doubts the innate intelligence of Negroes. A Northwestern University professor, Paul Witty, assisted by Dr. Martin Jenkins, picked out the brighter children among 8,400 Negroes in the third to eighth grades of seven Chicago public schools, gave them intelligence tests. Their findings, announced last week:

> 29 were “gifted” (I.Q. 140 or above)—as many as would be found in an average group of 8,400 white children.

> 103 were “bright” (I.Q. 120 or above) —again par.

> One girl got a “genius” rating (I.Q. 200).

> Bright girls outnumbered boys 2½-to-1.

> Only subject at which the Negroes were not so smart as white children was arithmetic.

Concluded Professor Witty: “It is singular that the gifted Negro child has heretofore been considered an anomaly. The survey gives evidencethat we may discover large numbers of children of superior intelligence whoare at present unrecognized. . . .”