Why We Stopped Making Einsteins

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).

If aristocratic tutoring were a significant factor behind declining genius, we would expect to see a split: fields like science where tutoring is rare would lose their geniuses, whereas fields like music where tutoring is common would be as genius-filled as ever. But people use music as a typical example of a declining-genius field. So that can’t b... See more

Schools were built for a static industrial age. The education system assumed that the outcomes you wanted to produce were clear and you could harness massive scale to train students, factory style.

The ways that most students are learning and creating are no longer serving them. They find more value in virtual spaces than schools because they are better at empowering people in pursuing their interests, which can be seen in the rise of young creators. However, these spaces are still systematically designed against students; they can end up bei... See more