David Shenk

School's back, and so is Big Homework. Here's what my 7th grade daughter has to do tonight:1 Math review sheet, 1 Science essay, French vocab for possible quiz, History reading and questionaire, and.English reading and note-taking.About two hours, give or take. This is considered a pretty light load, so as to ramp up gently. Over the next few weeks, it will get up to three hours or more. Most of us give very little thought to this long-lived combination. School and…… More »

Accusing Obama of trying to indoctrinate school children? That is rich. The Obama haters are on a war footing, and their target is the American mind. They want to create a climate of fear and paranoia in order to crowd out any possibility of rational dialogue. It is time to wake up to the potential consequences of their indoctrination.Glenn Beck has said that Obama has "a deep seated hatred for white people," and that the U.S. "is going to come out a fascist…… More »

Listening to President Obama's elegant eulogy for Ted Kennedy on Saturday, I was struck by the differences between the two great orators, and also by the epic struggle Obama is facing right now in trying to advance their shared ideals. Kennedy was a lion. It was his great roar of passion that so often won over constituents and colleagues. Obama is a famously cool cat. While sharing many of Kennedy's political goals, his oratory is built on reason and clarity. He…… More »

By now, we've all heard much about the elegance and dynamism of bottom-up systems: how the "wisdom of crowds" creates a powerful collective intelligence (a "hive mind") that infuses the internet, free markets, and other large, collaborative groups. I am not here to contradict that notion. There's no question that bottom-up is real and exciting (and sometimes terrifying).But recent events remind us that excellence is often about ruthless top-down standards and…… More »

China has some outstanding scientists. Unfortunately, none of them seem to work at the Shanghai Biochip Corporation, which has organized a summer camp in the city of Chongqing where they test for children's gene-based talent.From the CNN written report:Nowadays, competition in the world is about who has the most talent," said [Director Zhao Mingyou]. "We can give Chinese children an effective, scientific plan at an early age."The test is conducted by the Shanghai…… More »

I appreciate the intense reactions to this blog so far, and respect the lingering skepticism. (Some of the nastiness I could do without, but it wouldn't be the Internet without some tasty pot-shots). I certainly didn't expect to win over the entire crowd with a handful of short overview pieces containing little evidence and no depth. I get that smart Atlantic readers are going to scrutinize this stuff.After three years of discussing it among friends, I also…… More »

In providing an overview for this new blog's approach, I've so far touched on genetics and intelligence; now it's onto studies of talent and expertise that provide the third key puzzle piece. Taken together, they suggest -- to me at least -- a whole new way to think about high achievement.Many of you have already read about some of the key research -- the famous 10,000-hours-to-greatness observation of Anders Ericsson and others, described in several recent smart…… More »

It is a universal and unnerving question for any parent: Should you tell your child his or her IQ score?But I suggest that we are all asking the wrong question. That's because we've been living under a false assumption. We've been led to believe that IQ scores reveal our innate intelligence -- our inborn potential and limits. Believing that, the notion of telling a child his or her score is indeed terrifying. It is, in essence saying: here's what you are capable of…… More »

"[Some] assert than an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism." - Alfred Binet, inventor of the original IQ test, 1909Last week, I argued that our 21st century understanding of genetics invalidates the idea of fixed, innate abilities. Genes influence everything but determine almost nothing on their own. What, then, is IQ? Conventional wisdom says that IQ scores reveal…… More »

In my first post, I listed three separate chunks of science that, when seen together, suggest a radical new understanding of talent and intelligence. Today, I will focus on the first piece, genetics. I'll begin by asking for a crazy indulgence: Forget everything you think you know about genes and heredity. You've heard about Gregor Mendel and his pea plant experiments; about dominant and recessive traits (brown eyes/blue eyes); about genes being "blueprints";…… More »

Thanks to The Atlantic for including me in such a distinguished group. Here's what I'll be writing about in this blog:Talent and intelligence -- where do they come from? I've spent the last three years researching for a book on the subject. How come Jack is so lousy at vocabulary, but so great at baseball? Where did Jill get such a head for numbers? What makes my IQ tiny and yours super-sized?The old answer is that these things are a combination of nature and…… More »