Child Prodigies aren't really so smart and school failures are geniuses?

[yhelothar]

I've been pondering this for a while now. I just want to see ATOT's response to this.

What child prodigy has ever became famous for revolutionizing the world or a way of seeing something? Child prodigies have always been famous for their ability to perform in school and memorize many facts. This does not mean they are intuitive and creative.

But the true geniuses that have revolutionized society today, including Einstein and Edison, have failed at school. As a child, they were both considered failures, and were expected to get no where in life. Yet they were the ones that are the most intuitive and creative. While they are unable to focus on mundane things, such as homework and studying, they are able to come up with things that no one normal person would think about.

It's sad to see society alienate these children that can't succeed at school. I bet many, with the right amount of encouragement, could have been another Edison or Einstein.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

They usually succeed very well in a specific field, not the entire world

 

[dugweb]

i like your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
They usually succeed very well in a specific field, not the entire world

Yes, I don't disagree with you there.

But what child prodigy ever comes up with new ideas?
I've just heard this story about a child prodigy on the radio the other day.
They said, instead of going out and playing with kids, he was more interested in learning how alexander the great did blah blah blah..
So what.. that just shows that he's good at memorizing facts..
Heck even a kid with downs syndrome can memorize facts well.

 

[dug777]

beethoven (sp)...?

 

[shimsham]

you just figuring out that there is more to the world than "book smarts"?

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: shimsham
you just figuring out that there is more to the world than "book smarts"?

Nope.. I actually suck at school myself, but I usually do better on tests than most people.
I'm just sad that most people don't see more to this world than "book smarts"..
Growing up as an asian certainly doesn't help either

 

[shimsham]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: shimsham
you just figuring out that there is more to the world than "book smarts"?

Nope.. I actually suck at school myself, but I usually do better on tests than most people.
I'm just sad that most people don't see more to this world than "book smarts"..
Growing up as an asian certainly doesn't help either

that more than likely will change when you hit the "real" world.

 

[gopunk]

i think you need more than 2 examples...

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I've been pondering this for a while now. I just want to see ATOT's response to this.

What child prodigy has ever became famous for revolutionizing the world or a way of seeing something? Child prodigies have always been famous for their ability to perform in school and memorize many facts. This does not mean they are intuitive and creative.

But the true geniuses that have revolutionized society today, including Einstein and Edison, have failed at school. As a child, they were both considered failures, and were expected to get no where in life. Yet they were the ones that are the most intuitive and creative. While they are unable to focus on mundane things, such as homework and studying, they are able to come up with things that no one normal person would think about.

It's sad to see society alienate these children that can't succeed at school. I bet many, with the right amount of encouragement, could have been another Edison or Einstein.

Can you give any specific examples of child prodigies?

Mozart?

 

[gopunk]

list of child prodigies... some pretty famous

some names you might recognize:

Leonhard Euler
Richard Feynman
Evariste Galois
Frederic Chopin
Steve Wozniak
John Stuart Mill
Blaise Pascal
Stephen Wolfram

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I've been pondering this for a while now. I just want to see ATOT's response to this.

What child prodigy has ever became famous for revolutionizing the world or a way of seeing something? Child prodigies have always been famous for their ability to perform in school and memorize many facts. This does not mean they are intuitive and creative.

But the true geniuses that have revolutionized society today, including Einstein and Edison, have failed at school. As a child, they were both considered failures, and were expected to get no where in life. Yet they were the ones that are the most intuitive and creative. While they are unable to focus on mundane things, such as homework and studying, they are able to come up with things that no one normal person would think about.

It's sad to see society alienate these children that can't succeed at school. I bet many, with the right amount of encouragement, could have been another Edison or Einstein.

That's because nobody makes a big deal out of the guy who graduates top of his class from Yale when he succeeds. Pleanty of true geniuses went through the normal channels and changed the world.

It makes for a better story when the outsider comes up roses.

That having been said... school doesn't equal real life and school smarts aren't necessarily a barometer for success in real life.

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I've been pondering this for a while now. I just want to see ATOT's response to this.

What child prodigy has ever became famous for revolutionizing the world or a way of seeing something? Child prodigies have always been famous for their ability to perform in school and memorize many facts. This does not mean they are intuitive and creative.

But the true geniuses that have revolutionized society today, including Einstein and Edison, have failed at school. As a child, they were both considered failures, and were expected to get no where in life. Yet they were the ones that are the most intuitive and creative. While they are unable to focus on mundane things, such as homework and studying, they are able to come up with things that no one normal person would think about.

It's sad to see society alienate these children that can't succeed at school. I bet many, with the right amount of encouragement, could have been another Edison or Einstein.

That's because school isn't to educate, it is to socialize the next generation under the guise of "teaching" them something useful.

If school were actually intended to be useful for education we would be teaching children politics, philosophy, car repair, plumbing and construction with the backdrop of history, mathematics, and such. People who don't really fit the mold of school - i.e. are difficult to socialize - end up being cast by the wayside as useless to society, and therefore are considered "failures."

It's usually these people who are the smartest because they can think beyond the boundaries of any given situation.

 

[Eli]

Here's another angle, something I've thought about for a while... Let's see if I can explain this.

Basically, as the population increases, so does the percentage of "really smart" people.

Let's say 0.0002% of the population has an IQ of 180+.

In 1600, 0.0002% was only 1200 people.

In the 1850s, that number had grown to 2,000.

Now here we are at 2005, and that number would be at about 13,000.

The percentage is made up, but I used real populations.

The point of this is to say that .. All of the "first" geniuses are recognized because their visions were truely life-changing.

We have many, many geniuses today. But technology is on such a level that you basically have to be a genius to be ground-breaking or even a leader in your field.

Such things are likely to be noticed by people also interested in your field & maybe a few outsiders, but not much else unless it is revolutionary.

Such is the way of modern society.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Eli
Here's another angle, something I've thought about for a while... Let's see if I can explain this.

Basically, as the population increases, so does the percentage of "really smart" people.

Let's say 0.0002% of the population has an IQ of 180+.

In 1600, 0.0002% was only 1200 people.

In the 1850s, that number had grown to 2,000.

Now here we are at 2005, and that number would be at about 13,000.

The percentage is made up, but I used real populations.

The point of this is to say that .. All of the "first" geniuses are recognized because their visions were truely life-changing.

We have many, many geniuses today. But technology is on such a level that you basically have to be a genius to be ground-breaking or even a leader in your field.

Such things are likely to be noticed by people also interested in your field & maybe a few outsiders, but not much else unless it is revolutionary.

Such is the way of modern society.

yea, i've often thought that myself... that it was easier to do something ground-breaking, given the same intellect, before. but perhaps a lot of what is hard to do something ground-breaking is being able to think outside the framework you're raised in... so maybe it's not that much harder. i dunno, i'm just thinking outloud here.