What do you think about this?

1. 77

   elayne001posted 14 years ago

   Is being a genius genetic, hereditary or acquired?
   
   I personally think is a blessing from above - some individuals born in very poor circumstances turn out to be geniuses. I think a certain amount is acquired also. You don't hear too much about kids of geniuses being also genius - usually just the opposite.

   replyreport
   1. 60

      CASE1WORKERposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      nurture or nature??
      i dont think anyone knows but it is certain that a bright person will shine out whatever their upbringing

      replyreport
2. 59

   Csjun89posted 13 years ago

   I believe it is an interaction of both.
   Nature only carries you so far, without which you cannot do without nurture, be it innate or external

   replyreport
3. 71

   pinkhawkposted 13 years ago

   ..I think GxE (gene x environment) interaction influenced a lot but I also believe it is God given..

   replyreport
4. 66

   alternate poetposted 13 years ago

   I got my genius for Xmas one year, it was at the bottom of the stocking with an orange.

   replyreport
5. 71

   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   And, what would make you say that pinkhawk? Or what are you implying?

   replyreport
6. 63

   wingedcentaurposted 13 years ago

   I would refer you to an excellent article in the Feburary edition of New York magazine by Jennifer Senior called "The Myth of the Gifted Child" (the junior meritocracy). Despite herself, she says that education, as we have it today, in the United States, is, in one sense, a class instrument. Upper class parents hire tutors, buy expensive test preparation materials to get their four-year olds into the top, most selective public and private preschools.
   
   One aspect of this school readiness testing is IQ testing. According to the article, 110 is smart, 130 is very smart, and people start calling you a genius if you score a 140 (we're still talking about at age four, here). Institutionally, these scores are taken to be static, unmoveable, written in stone. This - according to the article, still - despite studies showing how fluid IQ is over time.
   
   For example, David Lohman, a psychologist at the University of Iowa,co-authored a paper in 2006 called "Gifted Today But Not Tomorrow?" The question Jennifer Senior put to Lohman was this: How many four-year olds who scored a 130 or above would do so again as seventeen-year olds?
   
   Lohman's answer: about 25 percent. But institutionally, once a youngster is labelled "gifted," it sticks and opens doors and allows him or her opportunities not open to authors; and no matter how poorly they perform, there is almost nothing they can do that would get that gifted classification removed (I have an anecdote about that should you care to "hear" it).
   
   I just want to say that we are all "gifted" geniuses in our own ways. That should be enough.
   
   wingedcentaur

   replyreport