added by kev and · updated 8mo ago
Childhoods of exceptional people
Jake and added
- The theory by Erik Hoel states that: We're not maximizing the potential of the world's most gifted individuals because we're not educating them the right way. In the past, geniuses did not go to school; they were tutored — getting most of their education at home, for a single person (or a small group of people).
from Gays, Jews, and Geniuses by Dror Poleg
Lillian Sheng added
- That the answer to all these questions—of art, of children, of startups—is “pay attention to your circumstances, work hard, establish the right culture, and manage your emotions” might be the most unsatisfying advice ever given. Still, it is the advice that I believe to be correct. There is no spreadsheet that will tell me how to raise my daughter ... See more
from You Can’t Math Your Way to Success
Jessica added
all that matters is i am present and energetic enough
- Now consider our current situation. Despite all the language professing otherwise, in general the education system of the United States is based entirely on genetic determinism. A child is born assumed to have innate traits, including, for example, a preference as to what they want to be when they grow up (somehow just waiting fully-formed inside o... See more
from Why we stopped making Einsteins by erikhoel.substack.com
Lillian Sheng added
- Exceptional people grow up in exceptional milieus
This seems to be true for >95 percent of the people I looked at.
These naked apes, the humans, are intensely social animals. They obsessively internalize values, ideas, skills, and desires from the people who surround them. It is therefore not surprising that those who grow up to be exception... See morefrom Childhoods of exceptional people
Tejas Gawande added
The adults had high expectations of the children; they assumed they had the capacity to understand complex topics, and therefore invited them into serious conversations and meaningful work, believing them capable of growing competent rapidly.
Aristocratic tutoring was not focused on measurables. Historically, it usually involved a paid adult tutor, who was an expert in the field, spending significant time with a young child or teenager, instructing them but also engaging them in discussions, often in a live-in capacity, fostering both knowledge but also engagement with intellectual subj
... See morefrom Childhoods of exceptional people
Tejas Gawande added
Exceptional people were heavily tutored 1-on-1 (Not just regular tutoring). Helping another person grow rapidly requires a deep and delicate bond.
- Recently I was discussing with a friend the hypothesis that aristocratic tutoring (of the kind we don’t do anymore) is the only known consistent method to at least occasionally produce geniuses, to which he objected “What about Einstein?” A great point. Einstein’s reputation makes him seem one the most democratic of geniuses, a term he’s synonymous... See more
from Why we stopped making Einsteins by erikhoel.substack.com
Lillian Sheng added