What did a high school record tell about a PhD holder 50 years ago?

In today's climate of providing women extra assistance for education  a report written in 1965 provides an interesting look back. 

When boxing and pitching files a few years ago, I came across a copy of National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. 1965a. High School Ability Patterns: A Backward Look From the Doctorate. Prepared by L.R. Harmon. Washington, DC. It had been withdrawn from the OSU Library and I’d apparently picked it up at a book sale.  NAS went to a lot of trouble to do this research and I think Mr. Harmon got several publications out of it. 

It's a study of high school aptitude and achievement of PhDs of 1959-1962 (i.e., folks a few years older than me). It samples 20,440 doctorate-holders, men and women, compares them with randomly-selected classmates, and looks at sex, grades, rank and IQ scores as well as type of school, size of class, and region.  It is a fascinating study but I don't know if anyone paid any attention to it or adjusted any educational goals accordingly. Harmon’s other publications for NAS on the topic of doctorates  have numerous cites in ISI, but I think this study only had two when I looked. His study doesn't include race or economic information.

Here’s what Lindsey R. Harmon reported from all that data.

• In high school, these graduates were about 1.5 standard deviation above the mean of the general population, and 1 standard deviation above their classmates.
• There was a positive relationship between school retention rate through the 12th grade and eventual doctorate attainment rate by students in those schools.
• Among the schools, independent schools' students measured highest, then denominational schools, then public schools.
• It was possible to sort about 40% of the high school students into their eventual doctorate fields solely on the basis of their high school information.
• Girls' mean GPA in all areas was higher than boys (even among the non-doctorate controls), but boys' intelligence test scores were better (boys had a higher drop out rate which culls the less intelligent students).
• Girls (who went on to get doctorates) outscored the boys in high school math and science.
• Married, female doctorates by any index were brighter than men in the same fields of specialization.
• They also outperformed (in high school records) single women--in both GPA and mental tests. 
• Married men's GPA and mental tests, however, were lower than single men.  There was a lot of speculation about these differences.

So, is there life after high school?

Other publications by Harmon on this topic are listed in this bibliography.

Update: Although I can't be sure since the obituary doesn't list publications, I think this is the obituary for Lindsey R. Harmon author of the above cited publication and many others on college graduates.

Monday Memories—the Senior project

                

When I was in high school we had to write a 25 page report as a senior paper in American history class. I chose to analyze the 1956 presidential election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, using  the popular news magazines, Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report.  They had run against each other in 1952, so it was a rematch.  I must have talked my mother into subscribing to all of them, because there were no copy machines in 1956, and I think I cut up the magazines for the election articles.  I collected the articles in the summer hoping I'd have that topic approved (it was).

I see that Dr. Deandre Poole got his PhD in 2009 writing on those three magazines' treatment of Obama in the 2008 election (I think we can guess what that was).  Dr. Poole plans to turn his dissertation into a book. Why didn't I think of that? It's not a tough project. Poole is the genius who had his students write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper and then stomp on it. A Mormon student refused and was threatened with suspension. Why the whole class didn't walk out I don't know. Poole, active in the local Democratic Party, has been put on leave from his intercultural communications class at Florida Atlantic University; not for being stupid, but for his safety.  I seriously doubt anyone planned to hurt him, but FAU sure got some heat.

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/national/Florida-Atlantic-University-Jesus-stomping-stirs-outrage-among-Floridians

4135

Welcome to libraryland, lawyers

For years, library graduate schools have been churning out more librarians than there are jobs. The best jobs are usually in the larger cities with a few amenities. If you're willing to take a job with a low salary and all the turnips you can eat, you might get an interview or two. Annoyed Librarian blogs about this, and she has a good job which she loves, but the periodic news stories about shortages (so they can keep the faculty busy) don't fool her (or him--AL is a pseudonym).

Today's WSJ reports the same thing is happening to newly minted lawyers, the only difference being they have much larger college debts than librarians usually ring up.

"The majority of law school graduates are suffering from a supply and demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking contract work reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market. . . Schools bright salary figures only report a small percentage--maybe top 25%. Possibly half of the graduates don't respond to the surveys.

Un- or under-employment is essentially a college enrollment problem. They might have been left-wing, tenured-radicals left over from the war protests of the 1970s, but the faculty of our colleges, universities and professional schools have had to fill their programs year after year or lose their funding, privileges or rank--not unlike the managers at Wal-Mart--especially the PhD programs, in order to travel to conferences to give presentations and to have access to publishers for their papers.

William Pannapacker of Hope College suggests that you absolutely avoid any career field that is reporting a shortage. It's a scam, pure and simple. And if you're getting a PhD because you think teaching at the college level might be cool, do something patriotic and become a plumber or go take a job away from an illegal. Better yet: Go to a library and get some real research help on careers. They'll be thrilled to see you.

Aside, non-lawyer stuff: Check out some of these comments on the glut of librarians. Found out it is all Bush's fault--I kid you not. Just read through some of the deranged-Bush-syndrome anonymous comments.