Attending social functions is something of a revealer most of the time for me. The other day I could not help but overhear a conversation between two mothers regarding their children. They topic they were discussing was really interesting. Each was claiming their child to be a 'genius'. Their sole reason for such claim was grades earned by their children in their recent exams. That is when I lost track of their conversation and started to think about a connection between being a 'genius' and getting good grades. I always believed that good grades had nothing to do with a person being a 'genius'. The first person that came to my mind was Bill Gates, the college dropout genius who cofounded Microsoft. So I decided to look up the definition of genius.The term genius is a cultural term, without statistical definition. However, you will find a sort of definition in the dictionary as 'exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability' or even 'exceptionally intelligent person or one with exceptional skill in a particular area of activity'. A more common and rather politically correct term used to express 'genius'in the US in the field of education is 'gifted'. So what was it that gets children to be placed in the gifted program is not an issue here, but how the term genius reflects a person's capability is the topic of discussion. I know by now I have piqued quite a few parents' interest and curiosity regarding the word 'genius' and its measurement.
I know most of you are thinking, 'why? Aren't the school grades enough to consider a child a genius?' Well parents, the grades a student earns on the standardized tests only tells you how much of the state mandated subject matter taught by the school a student has learned. Including the outcome of the performance of a student on those particular questions presented to him/her on that particular day. It really does not give the whole picture. Just a snap shot of a person's performance on a particular day. Similarly IQ tests measures a child's ability to solve a problem. The outcome of all these are affected by outer environments like not getting enough sleep the night before or even having a cold or distractions during the exams. So you see scores do not define our child and tell us very little about them. We know our children are much more than a 'test score'. Now parents may be thinking, 'then how do we know if our child is a 'genius'?' This is where a parent's role comes into play. Let me give you some examples.
I am sure most of you don't know that father of Steve Jobs (chairman of Apple Inc) taught him rudimentary electronics as a child. I don't think his father ever imagined that his would lead his son to becoming a computer wiz. So what was it that made him a 'genius'? Well, his passion fueled his 'genius'. His parents contributed by raising him in a supportive, but hands off environment. Allowing him to experiment, which aided the flow of his creativity. The other thing his parents did was taught him to think differently. Helping their child to brainstorm and attack a problem in multiple ways to solve it and not settle on the first thing that comes to mind. Steve Jobs was also a perfectionist. He never settled on any thing that was just 'OK'. He wanted it to be perfect.
Apart from him, there are other people whom the world considers genius. Not all of them performed well in school. Albert Einstein, who was the father of modern day physics, hated school, but developed the theory of relativity. Another example is that of Oprah Winfrey, a media magnate and a philanthropist. The secret to her success was her reading habit. She acknowledges that her grandmother taught her to read from the age of three.
We all know Mark Zukerberg: internet entrepreneur and Facebook founder, but what we may not know is his father taught him basic programming on Atari computer, while Mark was a junior high school student. There are quite a few people closer to home that are considered 'genius', Mukesh Ambani being one of them. He dropped out of MBA program, but went on to become the Managing Director of Reliance Industries, in India and also is the 9th richest man in the world. The next is cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. He studied only up to grade 10 but that did not stop him from creating several world records in the field of cricket. There are many examples to prove that academic scoring does not make a genius.
There is a possibility that we all have potential to do something different that might make us a genius. As is said, intelligence is only 49 percent genetic, 51 percent is still stimulation. We think our child should be a 'genius' not understanding what makes a genius and pressure them to study hard to get good grades, but they might not be interested in it. Rather, they might be good at sports or may be singing is their passion but we yell at them for not studying and spending more time on something that is not useful as we understand it. Their passion might make them a genius, given the opportunity. At the same time someone we have written off as a total academic failure might write a new melody or even score a century in school cricket or be a master chess player. Think twice before you criticize your child for their bad performance. Check and see if he has some other passion that can be fueled to make him/her a genius. Give it a try, will you?
Pokharel is an educationist and author of several children's books
usha@pokharel.net
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