In a continuing effort to catch up on articles friends send my way, I recently read "Late Bloomers: Why do We Equate Genius with Precocity?" from The New Yorker. To summarize, we tend to equate genius with precocity, but our assumption is false. Genius seems to fall into two categories. Prodigies tend to be conceptual. They rarely engage in opened inquiry and tend to start with a clear idea and execute it.There is some suggestion that prodigies may burn out early in life. In contrast, late bloomers are experimental. Their goals are imprecise. For them, the process reveals the goal. Learning is more important than the end product. Their creativity proceeds through trial and error. For this reason, it takes time to come to fruition.
The implication that arises from these types is that late bloomers simply aren't good at what they do until late in their careers because they must learn along the way.
Two quotes from the article jumped out at me. First, "[w]henever we find a late bloomer, we can't but wonder how many others like him or her we have thwarted because we prematurely judged their talents." Second, "[w]e'd like to think that mundane matters like loyalty, steadfastness, and the willingness to keep writing checks to support what looks like a failure have nothing to do with something as rarefied as genius. But sometimes genius is anything but rarefied; sometimes it's just the thing that emerges after twenty years of working at your kitchen table."
This article provides a great reminder at least for me that every child needs to be given his or her due. We have no way of knowing what a child may eventually do or in what time frame. Therefore, our role as a parents is to put aside preconceived judgments and to discern and meet the unique needs of each child, whether a prodigy or a late bloomer or something in between.
The implication that arises from these types is that late bloomers simply aren't good at what they do until late in their careers because they must learn along the way.
Two quotes from the article jumped out at me. First, "[w]henever we find a late bloomer, we can't but wonder how many others like him or her we have thwarted because we prematurely judged their talents." Second, "[w]e'd like to think that mundane matters like loyalty, steadfastness, and the willingness to keep writing checks to support what looks like a failure have nothing to do with something as rarefied as genius. But sometimes genius is anything but rarefied; sometimes it's just the thing that emerges after twenty years of working at your kitchen table."
This article provides a great reminder at least for me that every child needs to be given his or her due. We have no way of knowing what a child may eventually do or in what time frame. Therefore, our role as a parents is to put aside preconceived judgments and to discern and meet the unique needs of each child, whether a prodigy or a late bloomer or something in between.
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