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They Went to College Early







In reviewing the Scholars' problems, the Farnsworth team noted that the special academic and social arrangements made for the Scholars at some institutions the first year of the experiment frequently aroused "resentment, bitterness and hostility" in the Scholars. These feelings, they continued, resulted from the desire on the part of the students to be accepted by their peers, and their desire not to be stereotyped as the "scholarly type" or as "babies."

"The excessive concern of the faculties for the Scholars," the psychiatrists said, "was similar to that in 1945 when the veterans returned to the campuses. In both cases, the expectations were not realized; the students did well.... As a result of the excellent adjustment of the Scholars during the first year, the subsequent groups of Scholars were handled in a much more relaxed manner by the faculties."

The Farnsworth team found only two areas in which the Scholars experienced some difficulties in excess of their Comparison students and classmates. One was in the matter of dating during their freshman and sophomore years, and the other in securing employment during summer vacations. The men experienced the dating difficulties and the girls the vocational difficulties.

On the vocational difficulty, Farnsworth and his colleagues noted that most college students work during their summer vacations. The male Scholars had no difficulty finding jobs on a par with their older classmates, but such was not the case with the girls, many of whom could not get jobs because of their age. This, they found, was a source of unhappiness to some, but it was only a limited problem and did not unduly affect their college adjustment.

As for the dating problem, the psychiatrists found that it was a source of unhappiness to some male Scholars early in college. "Many boys spoke of the difficulties of obtaining dates with college girls during their freshman and sophomore years," they noted. "Difficulty in getting women college freshmen to date them was not confined to the freshman Scholars. In general, such