Reply to Best private schools in NYC?

Forum Index » Metropolitan New York City

Reply to "Best private schools in NYC? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From a recent article in the Economist (Why child prodigies rarely become elite performers):

"The adult superstars also had a reliably different approach to their fields from that of the child prodigies, in that they seemed to maintain interests besides the one in which they eventually became elite... Nobel-prizewinning scientists were less likely to have won academic scholarships than those nominated for a Nobel who did not win. They also took longer to reach senior academic positions, had less impressive early publication records, and maintained interest in fields beyond that for which they won their prize."

It is yet to be seen whether "well-roundedness" will overtake "one-sidedness" in college admission preferences. [/quote]

Some important counter-examples: chess (all top players elite as children), early-peaking sports (figure skating, gymnastics), piano/violin (all top performers start very early and need to be remarkably dedicated throughout childhood).  I think nuance is important here -- e.g. even if math Olympiad winners may not overlap fully with elite adult mathematicians, as a group they are probably overwhelmingly successful in whatever professional paths they pursue.[/quote]

The article also talks about chess and music. The trends are similar:

"This study, led by Arne Güllich, a sports scientist at the rptu University Kaiserslautern-Landau, in Germany, crunched data covering more than 34,000 elite performers in several areas, including sport, chess, classical music and academia. It concluded that, although they often reach a high level, the best-performing, most intensely drilled teenagers tend not to become true superstars as adults. Those who do make that grade, by contrast, tend not to stand out early on. They take longer to reach their peaks and seem to keep their interests wider for longer."

Agree early-peaking sports are different. Kids have much less time to realize your full potential so starting early is the only option to excel. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics