Then again, I guess it depends on what you want for your child. Money and career success is not something I value. I think the early education may provide a competitive advantage at possibly an ideal time to provide a good head start for these types of goals. But I think if anything, it will either have no effect or even possibly a negative effect if the goal was to have the next Einstein.
I absolutely agree with this - and I wonder if the emphasis on money/status = success is another reason why we don't see an Einstein. If a desire for money or status is your motivator, then the quiet hardwork Nik describes isn't going to be terribly appealing. And, as I have only really recently accepted, being smart is meaningless without some input to connect your smarts too. For my entire life I figured smart meant being able to come up with a completely original idea off your own bat, with no input (not so smart huh!) I've only recently come to see just how important knowledge is to actually give it a form and to give you a base for ideas to spring from. This is probably self evident to anyone who received any encouragement to learn - but it took me a while to start to get my education
But I also wonder if we put too much emphasis on an Einstein type discovery (and I mean in general, not just in this thread). I don't feel certain that people aren't making these kinds of discoveries and that maybe we're just a bit desensitised because discoveries are constant. And possibly because, as others have said, there is seemingly less to discover, I wonder if because there is so much information to draw from that we down play a new discovery as 'just fitting the pieces of the puzzle together'. Maybe this means we're genuinely unlikely to have another Einstein in the scientific world because there is so much more information to draw from so any discovery is less unique? I don't know - I'm just thowing some random thoughts out there
So if not science, what about technology? What about Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg or even someone like Julian Assange? They haven't just created products, they have been world changers. Or because so much technology is obsolete so quickly (genius in itself perhaps!) are we not able to (or do not) attribute Einstein qualities to such things because it doesn't last and we'd have to be anointing a new Einstein each week (and don't seem so exceptional in that context).More random thoughts...
I guess I'm wondering if we're (as in the world, not just this thread) overlooking extraordinary thinking in other areas. I've only added technology to the debate, but I'm sure there are equivalents in economics, politics etc. They might just be less tangible. Are these less valid or just lesser known or have less impact? (I am genuinely asking)
Hope I haven't strayed too far off topic...
