Joel N. Shurkin

“Among the categories recommended by teachers, oddly, the most productive was the youngest in the class, yielding almost 20 percent. That category contributed more to the study than did the teachers’ nominations for the brightest. It is not clear why; certainly Terman never considered the possibility the youngest in the class were also the most challenged, which contradicted the educational philosophy of Hall, his mentor. But he admitted puzzlement about the finding. “If one would identify the brightest child in a class of thirty to fifty pupils, it is better to consult the birth records in the class register than to ask the teacher’s opinion.”
― Joel N. Shurkin, Terman's Kids: The Groundbreaking Study of How the Gifted Grow Up