Word: genius
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...weeding out system is based on what I call "the myth of genius." It is not only harsh but unfair and a failure. The process of "separating the men from the boys" mainly separates those who have had the material before from those who have...
...myth of genius says that if you're smart enough to be a physicist, you don't need to be taught. Too many students believe this--some relish the masochism, others are too cowered to admit their difficulties and so never complain. I hope this article encourages other to complain or at least not to take the department personally...
...myth of genius is harmful not just to students, but to the field itself. What percentage of graduating seniors in physics are geniuses? I'll avoid the question by setting a safe upper bound of one genius each year. In other words, almost all physicists are not geniuses...
...sense physics is like a language. The students who speak Spanish at home will do better in Spanish A than the one who never took Spanish before. This is no mark of genius. The idea that the Romance Languages Department should weed students out by using poor teaching materials or lecturing too fast for students to comprehend is ridiculous. Almost every Harvard student has the potential to learn fluent Spanish...
Some people may take my attack on the "myth of genius" as an attack on elitism. I could not reconcile being anti-elitist with being at Harvard. However, elitism must serve its purpose: to be an incentive for excellence and to help group excellent people together so that they may be more productive. The Physics Department, as currently structured, does neither...