Precocious is Pernicious; The Myth of Prodigy and Why it Matters

[Jim]

Link to Article

We think of precociousness as an early form of adult achievement, and,
according to Gladwell, that concept is much of the problem. "What a gifted
child is, in many ways, is a gifted learner. And what a gifted adult is,
is a gifted doer. And those are quite separate domains of achievement."

[Jill]

As a late bloomer myself, I really loved this article!

[Radical]

I fail to see how precocious is harmful?

[RandomJohn]

Being precocious can be challenging, and it can be amazing. It depends on the environment.

[songwriter]

I guess I can qualify myself as a precocious child. I talked before I walked. I learnt to read before going to school. I played guitar doing vibratos being 4, and being told by no-one. I wrote my first song at 8 and I had wrote 100 at 13, but without any kind of instruction.
At 3 I Knew the Magic Kings (Spanish Santa Claus or so) just couldn't exist, it wasn't possible... and I wondered about if God existed or not, the shape of the universe, etc.

I think it was a child others might hate... I learned things at school, high school, faculty, and even now in the course I am, much faster than the others.

But you know, education is not made for that kind of people, is made for the average group, not for the slower or the faster ones. And jobs are kind like that... They are not made to use great intelligence or so... at least most of them... just repetitive things.

We're like subproducts of the system. If you're different you got trouble. Too smart, too not smart, too tall, too short, too ugly, too pretty, too kind, too evil, etc.
Society is designed for the "average person" or so. The rest use to have problems and live "strange lives".

The smartest ones are not the people in power or the ones what take the important decisions. People want leaders that they can understand.
I can't understand politicians and I choosed some songwriters...

The problems of being someone who learns fast and see things in a different way of most of the people are on the lyrics of the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever"...

[Radical]

Originally Posted by songwriter

We're like subproducts of the system. If you're different you got trouble. Too smart, too not smart, too tall, too short, too ugly, too pretty, too kind, too evil, etc.
Society is designed for the "average person" or so. The rest use to have problems and live "strange lives".

There is no such thing as the average person.

[RandomJohn]

Originally Posted by Radical

There is no such thing as the average person.

No, but there is a lowest common denominator or a perception of such, and a lot of society does often seem to be set up for the lowest common denominator.

And I do think there is a common perception of the existence of the average person, with no average people to fit the perception.

No wonder I feel like a misfit. I get the feeling that a lot of people feel like a misfit as well.

[Michael Chui]

This is also a related article: Wired 14.07: What Kind of Genius Are You?

The role of education is to take precociousness and drive it further; education doesn't always succeed in that respect, and indeed, outright fails in many instances.