Young Scientists Hit Books

Forty teen-agers selected as the top young scientists in the nation say they spend an average of 18 hours a week studying, but most of them also believe that football and proms still are an important part of life.

The group, finalists in the Science Talent Search conducted throughout the nation’s high schools, also said in a survey released last week that each year they annually read about 40 books not associated with school work. Forty-five percent said they also devote almost five hours a week to reading newspapers.

But two-thirds still believe that high school years should include some extracurricular activities such as dances and football games. About 16% thought football and proms could be dropped from high schools.

The 18 hours a week spent by students in the group is far above the national average. A 1980 federal study showed that only 25% of U.S. high school students spent more than five hours a week on homework. And a recent American Council on Education survey of 250,000 college freshmen showed that only 7.1% spent 16 or more hours a week in high school on homework.