We all know Einstein did poorly at school.
That's a myth.
After one year of homeschooling, Albert was sent to primary school, entering second grade already at age 6 ½. He...was considered only moderately talented by his teachers. Yet at the end of his first school year his mother could proudly relate that ... his second term marks again put him at the top of his class. If the stigma of the "bright under-achiever" ... had been justified at any time, now it was no more the case. The fact that, at the age of 9½, Albert was accepted to the competitive Luitpold-Gymnasium, disproves any observable learning disabilities. Had his grades in primary school not been above average, his entrance into the Gymnasium would not have been possible.
But, yes, he flunked the entrance exam at the Zurich Polytechnic. Albert left his Munich Gymnasium in the middle of the seventh of nine obligatory high-school years, at the age of 15. When, with special permission, he presented himself for the entrance exam at the Zurich Polytechnic...he was still one and a half years short of the required age to enter that college. Also, as German and Swiss school curricula differ substantially, his knowledge... of French and of some general subjects definitely did not meet Swiss high-school diploma standards. So it was the circumstances that ‘handicapped’ Einstein, rather than his own personal inabilities. More noteworthy than the fact that he failed the exam is that his knowledge in mathematics and physics impressed his examiner in such a way that he invited the boy to his college lectures even before Albert was accepted as a regular student.
Honestly, and I'm not aiming this at you Edward --- I'm tired of pervasive, yet false, claims that Einstein had learning disabilities or that he was a poor student.
