Genius can grow naturally, but it can never be made artificially.
Author: Lu Laoer
Editor: Huang Xiaojun
Source: Kuaidao Finance (ID: kuaidaocaijing)
01
Child prodigy experiment
In 1921, the psychologist Terman conducted a "child prodigy" experiment with the US government.
He screened out 1,200 gifted teenagers with IQ above 140 through intelligence tests, and then the government intervened all the way to provide these children with the most forward-looking educational resources and the best quality teachers, and carefully trained them in the hope of giving birth to the next Einstein or Newton.
The fate of the chosen child becomes like a dream.
After decades of continuous observation, the vast majority of children have been engaged in ordinary jobs such as seafarers, typists and archivists when they grow up, and many of them have psychological problems such as cognitive bias and social fear.
Very few people who have achieved good results have strong will.
At the end of the prodigy experiment, Terman came to the conclusion that genius can grow naturally, but Einstein can’t make it artificially. We can only wait for the genius to grow up slowly. No matter from any aspect, we are still far from finding the positive correlation between intelligence and achievement.
The wave of American artificial prodigies stopped, but many years later this huge wave swept across the land of China.
In May 1974, Li Zhengdao, who had won the Nobel Prize, visited China. He visited Fudan University and was full of praise for the wonderful performance of the 13-year-old ballet dancer.
After arriving in Beijing, Li Zhengdao put forward a suggestion to Mao Zedong through Zhou Enlai: we can imitate the ballet training mode, select a group of talented teenagers and send them directly to universities, so as to build a "small but fine basic science work team" and achieve "overtaking in corners".
This matter is urgent, and it is said that the top management agreed at that time. However, under the circumstances at that time, it was urgent and finally failed to be implemented.
Until three years later, Ni Lin, a teacher of Jiangxi Metallurgical Institute, wrote a long letter to Fang Yi, vice premier who is also the president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, recommending Ning Bo, a 13-year-old genius from No.8 Middle School in Ganzhou, Jiangxi.
The original idea finally began to be transformed into action.
According to the letter, Ning Bo can recite more than 100 Tang poems at the age of 2, write more than 400 Chinese characters at the age of 4, beat an adult at the age of 5, be familiar with constellations at night at the age of 8, and be familiar with medical books at the age of 9, so he can prescribe medical treatment.
▲ Ning Bo and Ni Lin
Ni Lin’s last meaning is-"I have never seen such an incredible child. If he goes to the university for special training, he will surely become a key player."
After receiving the letter, Fang Yi instructed the University of Science and Technology of China under the Chinese Academy of Sciences that "if it is true, it should be admitted to the university for study".
China University of Science and Technology did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent two math teachers to Jiangxi to verify and inspect, one of whom was a specially selected Go player.
First, I had an oral examination on literature, history, astronomy, geography, chemistry and traditional Chinese medicine. After that, I made a math test paper, and Ning Bo got five out of seven questions. Finally, the teacher put forward an impromptu poem. Ning Bo wrote a seven-rhythm poem in 20 minutes, which started with four amazing words: I am sighing and melancholy everywhere, and I don’t want to hear it today.
Ning Bo, who was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China at the age of 13, was named as "the first child prodigy in China" and became an example for thousands of parents to show their children. Letters from all over the country flew to the University of Science and Technology like snowflakes, and they all recommended child prodigies.
▲ Ning Bo’s registration form when he entered the Chinese University of Science and Technology.
At that time, prodigies like "ear literacy" and "taking things from a distance" were spread to be particularly fantastic, and magical skills such as "qigong curing diseases" and "turning paper into knives" were staged in turn. With the efforts of the media and trumpeters, the people further fell into madness, but in the end all the experiments failed and were mercilessly criticized.
This time, the whole country seems to have finally touched the stone crossing the river, and Guo Moruo shouted that the spring of China science and technology is coming.
A vigorous wave of child prodigies has thus begun.
02
Artificial prodigy
Under the agitation, a whole set of screening mechanism for "gifted teenagers" began to start. The Chinese University of Science and Technology sent 12 experts and professors to the whole country to recruit the world’s prodigies.
Everywhere they went, the city was greeted with cheers from the whole people. The People’s Daily said that it was necessary to "produce more talents quickly". They were "juvenile commandos on the knowledge wasteland", and it was a great honor for the place to give birth to prodigies.
Some local leaders even let out malicious words: in our place, there must be a child prodigy (in any case)!
Many parents who have experienced the "Cultural Revolution" and gradually realized that their life may have been delayed have pinned their hopes of "knowledge changing their destiny" on the next generation.
"Look at Ning Bo!" This is the first sentence that many parents inspired their children at that time.
At the beginning of March, 1978, this group of "gifted teenagers" selected by the whole country officially started their university study career. The opening ceremony was held by the Chinese University of Science and Technology, and 21 teenagers took a group photo in black Chinese tunic suit.
The youngest in the class is 11-year-old Xie Yanbo, who was still playing with a rolling hoop when she was enrolled in school. 14-year-old Ning Bo stood in the center; Not far away is a 12-year-old official.
Six months later, 67 students entered the school in the second phase, and the first juvenile class with a total of 88 students officially arrived. The Ning Bo student number was 001.
Their collective has a far-reaching name later: "Chinese University of Science and Technology Youth Class".
That autumn, just as the 20th anniversary of the Chinese University of Science and Technology was celebrated, Vice Premier Fang Yi came to inspect, and the first item on the agenda was to visit the juvenile class. He and Ning Bo played a game under the grape trellis, while Ning Bo was calm, while Vice Premier Fang pondered. Ning Bo won two games in a row, and the Vice Premier laughed and said that the afterlife was awesome.
Xinhua News Agency reporters published a special report on the juvenile class in People’s Daily, entitled "The Heroic Vow of the Juvenile Class of the University of Science and Technology of China: We Will Run to the Future of the Motherland". Media and TV stations flocked to write character manuscripts and make documentaries.
Every detail of prodigies’s life is exposed to scrutiny, tied to the title. Before long, the "three prodigies" in the juvenile class-Ning Bo, Xie Yanbo and Ganzheng-became household names.
The parents of the first generation of "Chicken Baby" searched everywhere for the manuscripts of "Tales of Wonders", and all parties sought information and consulted experts and professors everywhere, all trying to train their children into "children of others’ families". Parents who really can’t find a good way at the moment should jump ahead of their age first, regardless of the willy-nilly.
However, the selection process of child prodigies is extremely rough. Because there is no uniform standard, the assessment depends entirely on the professor’s random questions and on-the-spot impressions. For the first time after entering school, among prodigies, the highest score in mathematics is 98, and the lowest score is only 10.
Those prodigies who are good at mental arithmetic and discovering stars with the naked eye drop out of school because they can’t keep up with the course.
This group of children with an average age of only 14 years old, the head teacher Wang Huidi will help them make milk powder every morning, add a section of physical education class to develop in the afternoon, make rounds at night, and turn off the lights for the teenagers.
Even so, the public is still full of expectations for teenagers. People hope to use the intellectual advantages of prodigies to make up for those abandoned times, and then realize the "curve overtaking" of science and technology.
The model of China University of Science and Technology has been promoted. Twelve national key universities, including Tsinghua, Peking University, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Xi ‘an Jiaotong University, have successively set up juvenile classes, and everyone continues to forge ahead into talents.
Wuhan University’s juvenile super-intelligent class even admitted a student, who was only 5 years old when he entered the university.
There are "genius classes" in universities. Correspondingly, there are similar key classes, rocket classes and experimental classes in high schools, junior high schools and even kindergartens. Parents of schools focus on building and manufacturing prodigies at all costs, trying their best to send their children to major universities.
In 1984, Deng Xiaoping met Ding Zhaozhong, a Chinese-born Nobel Prize winner in physics. During the conversation, we talked about the "juvenile class" of the Chinese University of Science and Technology.
Deng Xiaoping introduced the results reported to him by relevant parties: 70% of the students in the first three "juvenile classes" studied for graduate students, and some of them got their doctorates at the age of 16.
Ding Zhaozhong sincerely lamented: "This is rare abroad."
In the past 40 years, more than 60% of the graduates of the junior class of the Chinese University of Science and Technology have studied abroad, and 20% have engaged in academic research. They have been born with outstanding people, and more people have disappeared into the sea.
People only remember those shiny names.
Guo Yuanlin, Grade 78 of "Junior Class" of China University of Science and Technology, once served as the president of thunis Group;
Ma Dongmin, Grade 85 of the "Junior Class" of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, is now the special assistant to the chairman of Baidu. Her husband’s name is Li Yanhong;
Zhu Changhong, Grade 85 of "Junior Class" of China University of Science and Technology, once served as the chief investment officer of the Reserve Management Department of China Safe …
Of course, among these people, Zhang Yaqin, who felt that his grades were dragging his class back, was often mentioned first. He has served as the chairman of Microsoft (China), the global senior president of Microsoft and the president of Baidu.
However, there are still different individuals under the "overall gratifying" fundamentals.
At the beginning, those "stars" who were household names in China: Ning Bo, Xie Yanbo, Gan Zheng and Wei Yongkang, all lived unsatisfactory lives.
03
AB surface of prodigy
Ning Bo was the first to become famous. Under the over-exaggeration and over-interview of the media, public attention burned his childishness and youth, and his problems broke out most obviously and representatively.
Before entering school, Ning Bo wanted to study astronomy most, but he was asked to study theoretical physics. After all, the only three Chinese Nobel laureates at that time-Li Zhengdao, Yang Zhenning and Ding Zhaozhong-all came from physics majors, which was the major that could produce great scientists.
A year later, he found Wang Huidi, the class teacher, and said that "there is no department I like in China University of Science and Technology" and he wanted to transfer to Nanjing University to study astronomy. Wang Huidi typed a report and submitted it. The Chinese University of Science and Technology replied: "If you come, you will be safe."
Many years later, Wang Huidi, who has retired, bluntly pointed out in an interview: "China University of Science and Technology is just reluctant to give up this celebrity."
Ning Bo, who stayed behind, became silent. He shaved his head and had a strange personality. He liked to stand in the corner when taking pictures, and told his classmates that those who looked for him to play chess didn’t care about his skills, but only his reputation.
Ni Lin, who recommended him, came to visit him at the Chinese University of Science and Technology. She was thin and pale. Ning Bo suffered from the gap, frustration and incomprehension. He cried at the first sentence: "Uncle Ni, I am a live fish, and I was killed and sold."
This sentence has become a thorn in Ni Lin’s heart, and he will always think of it in the days to come. He began to think about whether the letter he sent at the beginning became the beginning of all the misfortunes of the 13-year-old child.
Ning Bo played bridge for a while and then turned back to Weiqi, saying that Weiqi can be controlled by himself, while bridge should consider luck. He hates luck, but he won’t give up any chance to regain control.
After graduation, he took the postgraduate entrance examination three times, but all got cold feet and did not enter the examination room.
In 1982, Ning Bo graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China. After graduation, he was kept in school as a physics teacher. At the age of 19, he became the youngest university lecturer in China.
The media once again abandoned him after a hype. He lived in an old building near the school, got married and had children. There were only a few pieces of old furniture in the house, and the electrical appliances were only telephones and wall-mounted water heaters.
Although he was a lecturer in physics at school, Ning Bo was still not interested in physics. He became more and more silent and became fascinated by mysterious astrology, qigong and vegetarianism.
The fiercest quarrel between him and his wife is about children’s education: never turn children into prodigies.
Therefore, Ning Bo once ran away from home and reached Hainan Island as far as possible.
From 1989 to 1991, Ning Bo took the TOEFL test three times in a row, but unfortunately they all failed.
He tried several times to go to the sea to work in companies and factories near his home, but in the end he failed because he couldn’t adapt.
Ning Bo appeared in the public eye for the last time, in a program of Tell the Truth in 1998. The theme of that program was "Comment on prodigies". Ning Bo frequently grabbed the microphone and interrupted Cui Yongyuan’s speech, and attacked the system emotionally:
"Educating children is not about doing business. It doesn’t matter if business is lost, but children’s lives are not. We can’t treat them as experiments."
Ning Bo was emotional on the stage, and the audience laughed constantly.
In 2002, 37-year-old Ning Bo saw through the world of mortals and went to Wutai Mountain to become a monk, but was quickly taken back by the school. However, a year later, he successfully converted to Buddhism, stopped being interviewed and became a monk in a temple not far from Nanchang.
In 2008, Ning Bo returned to the secular world, entered a Buddhist college as a lecturer, and got a license as a national second-class psychological counselor. At the same time, he often gave psychological counseling to parents of some children.
Perhaps the last thing Ning Bo wants is more "Ning Bo".
Not only Ning Bo, but Xie Yanbo, who was a roller coaster, studied PhD with Academician Zhou Guangzhao after graduation at the age of 15. However, due to the tension with his tutor, he transferred to the United States to study.
At Princeton University, Xie Yanbo studied under philip anderson, one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977. His tutor is famous for his pride in physics, but his tutor said that Xie Yanbo is even more proud than him.
After the shooting of a professor by a foreign student in China, the Chinese University of Science and Technology was worried, so it recalled Xie Yanbo to teach at the Chinese University of Science and Technology. Colleagues said that he lived in his own world and was "mentally out of order".
Another genius is in politics, and he also returned to China because of the tension with his American tutor. The Chinese University of Science and Technology asked him to go back to school to study PhD, but he refused. Later, he wanted to work in the Chinese University of Science and Technology, but he was rejected because he was not a doctor.
He imprisoned himself and his mother in the old community of Hefei, ignorant of the world. The media kept in touch, but he just said that there was no job and everything was the same, and there was nothing to interview.
04
"prodigy" is running out.
The controversy about the model of child prodigy running a class has never been interrupted.
At the two sessions in 1999, Cai Zixing, a CPPCC member, gave a report entitled "Abolishing juvenile classes as soon as possible". He said that the juvenile class road is getting narrower and narrower, and it is time to consider where it will go.
Since then, in 2000, 2002 and 2006, his proposal has been about canceling "advanced education".
In 2001, Shanghai Jiaotong University closed the juvenile class, and the school used key words such as "promoting birth" and "pulling out seedlings to help"; In 2004, the juvenile class of Xi ‘an Jiaotong University was changed from junior high school to junior high school. After admission, teenagers must attend senior high school for one year to minimize psychological problems.
In 2009, Zhu Qingshi, former president and educator of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, said: Treat education with less interference and more awe. Gradually, the wave of official prodigies subsided, and everything returned to the original point.
People have to admit that juvenile classes are the product of an era, and most people are not geniuses.
This regrettable result makes people very anxious. In fact, it makes parents more anxious. The public is obsessed with the myth of "supernormal children" in an attempt to find the possibility of learning from it, so the wave swings in an unofficial wider scope.
The more money you spend, the smarter your child will be, which seems to be a consensus among parents. Out of the expectation of "prodigy" and "learning bully", some parents decided to "give it a try".
Some people initiated a paid "child prodigy manufacturing plan" and invited parents with financial resources to transform their children together. Some people started a "child prodigy training class", claiming to help you speed up the development of your children, as long as you give money.
Some people even start classes to train "whole brain development" to cultivate children’s "special functions", such as "sucking" iron spoons on their foreheads, blindfolding, speed reading with quantum fluctuations, listening to audio to improve their brains, and reading palm prints to measure their talents …
When prodigies are "made" in batches, everything is out of control and everything is crazy.
It doesn’t matter whether the prodigy itself has developed to this stage. The prodigy is more like a "tool" and closer to the business model in the standard sense: positioning the accurate audience (parents who are looking forward to their children’s success), laying a growth path (I am like this) and having an operable solution (paying for courses).
Every child prodigy is a knife, and the knife is cut on the parents behind the students.
Cen Yinuo’s example is very typical. In a personal profile circulating on the Internet, which is located on the title page of the book, Cen Yinuo is described as having published three books at the age of 14, and being able to write 2,000 poems, 300 epigrams and 15,000-word novels in one day, creating three brands.
According to the calculation of 2000 poems a day, even if you write 24 hours a day without interruption, you need to finish it at a speed of 90 seconds per poem. People with a little clear logic and common sense will find something wrong.
However, the video of her speech is still going viral on the Internet, and the "pyramid scheme" speech style can be seamlessly switched from impassioned to tearful. As soon as the music is rendered, the audience’s emotions can be mobilized immediately, and even some viewers will cry because of emotional contagion.
This online celebrity constitution is also a "good seed" for pyramid selling. People follow the lead and find that the little girl is behind her teacher Ji Jianjing, whose teacher is Xu Hening, and Xu Hening’s teacher is the "famous" master of success-Chen Anzhi.
The trader behind it sent a message to the outside world: "Cenyinuo" can be copied, and we have formed a set of solutions. As long as you are willing to pay, we can successfully help you complete the copy.
Selling classes, books and disciples is what "talented girls" want to do.
Marketing, consumption, routines, reincarnation, and child prodigy scams have been uncovered layer by layer, behind which are selling anxiety. The world is a circle, and everything goes around again, and everything goes back to the original point.
The answer may lie in Terman’s "child prodigy" experiment: Genius can grow naturally, but it must not be made artificially.
What we have to do is to wait for the genius to grow naturally, and not treat the prodigy as a business, so it may be possible to cultivate a real prodigy.
05
Write it at the end
Few people really pay attention to the inner world of child prodigies and rarely give them a chance to speak.
After Wei Yongkang, another "Oriental prodigy", dropped out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, his mother Zeng Xuemei was interviewed by a TV station.
The host asked her, "Do you regret your educational methods? If you can do it again, what are your expectations for your son? "
Zeng Xuemei replied: "If I can come back, I still want him to be a scientist."
Later, the TV station went to ask Wei Yongkang, what do you want to say to your mother when things have come to this?
Facing the camera, Wei Yongkang smiled gently: "Listen to my mother", paused and said: "I don’t want to be a scientist", and then he pursed her lips: "I still want to be an ordinary person, and I hope my mother is happy most."
At that moment, without the glare of the spotlight, he wanted to say something, but finally he stopped. With tears in his eyes, he turned around and left a lonely and lonely figure for the world.
When mother heard this, she first hid her face and wept, then broke down in tears, and finally burst into tears.
That was the last time he appeared in public.
The last thing Ning Bo wants is more "Ning Bo", and what we need to do now may be how to prevent Wei Dongyi, an assistant professor in Peking University who has been "deified", from becoming the next Ning Bo.
References:
1. "Those" Youth Class "prodigies" Shantou Master
2. "Kill the Chinese prodigy" Modern Middle Class
3. The Degeneration History of Chinese Prodigy: Becoming a Monk, Bragging, Making Fakes, and Engaging in MLM, Mao Ge.
4. "The first prodigy, becoming a monk" Dongye is smart
5. "The prodigy is running out" Kitchen God
