Good Looks Pay Off Handsomely for Young Scholars

--Good-looking children do better at school and athletics and get along better with other children than ugly kids, says a study being made at Pennsylvania State University. Richard M. Lerner, director of Penn State’s Center for the Study of Child and Adolescent Development, said a child’s self-concept, temperament, sexual development and other factors play much less of a role than attractiveness. Lerner and his wife, Dr. Jacqueline V. Lerner, assistant professor of human development, are studying 130 children from the beginning of sixth grade through the end of seventh grade. “Teachers rated the attractive kids as more scholastically and socially capable, as more athletic and as having fewer behavior problems than unattractive kids,” Lerner said. “Parents rated their attractive kids as less of a problem than did the parents of unattractive kids,” he said, adding that attractive children also got along better with their friends.

--Commemorating the 212th anniversary of the tax protest known as the Boston Tea Party, “Indians” heaved bales of sawdust (instead of tea) into Boston Harbor. More than 200 people watched as about 40 “tax protesters,” disguised in war paint and wrapped in blankets, re-enacted the famous raid on a British merchant ship on Dec. 16, 1773. The celebration was held Sunday, a day early, so that more people could have a chance to see it, said Barbara J. Attianese, director of the Tea Party Ship and Museum. Complimentary tea was served.

--Young Ronald Reagan’s favorite Christmas toy was a miniature ship with a wind-up motor, but he had to ask more than once before his parents could afford it. The White House released a statement to the Atlanta Constitution, which had asked the President to name the best toy that ever appeared under his Christmas tree. “I remember one in particular,” said the statement the newspaper published. “I saw it in a catalogue and yearned for it for about three Christmases, and finally made it on the third. A company made several model ships with wind-up motors. They were pretty respectable, or I should say, miniatures that would look nice on a mantel. As I recall, the bigger and more expensive size was either 18 inches or a full two feet. I really preferred the smaller size, and its lower price helped. It cost about $8 or $9, which is why my parents had to wait three years to get it for me.”