In a world where education is managed by two imprintings by a machine—the first at eight to learn how to read and the second a decade later, to imprint additional knowledge one needs for one’s ideal career—George Platen finds himself in the unenviable category of one of the few whom the machine cannot educate.

This is a terrific story, with an interesting projection of what the “Olympics” of the future would be like in such a world. The world itself is fully realized, and the implications of the once-and-for-all manner of the education are interesting. I'm not sure how memorable George Platen and the other characters of the story are—one does not easily forget them, perhaps, but neither are they as memorable as the characters in some other stories—but it is the society itself, the world within with George Platen lives, that is the true protagonist here and that definitely leaves its impression on one’s mind.

Found In

	Nine Tomorrows
	The Asimov Chronicles
	Complete Stories, The, Vol. 1
	Other Worlds of Isaac Asimov
	Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Short Science Fiction Novels