orthonormal comments on Open Thread, August 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: NancyLebovitz 01 August 2010 01:27PM

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Comment author: cousin_it 06 August 2010 07:02:38PM *  17 points [-]

Books are not enough. Smart kids are lonely. Get him into a good school (or other community) where he won't be the smartest one. That happened to me at 11 when I was accepted into Russia's best math school and for the first time in my life I met other people worth talking to, people who actually thought before saying words. Suddenly, to regain my usual position of the smart kid, I had to actually work hard. It was very very important. I still go to school reunions every year, even though I finished it 12 years ago.

Comment author: orthonormal 06 August 2010 07:16:48PM 2 points [-]

Seconded. Whether he's exposed to a group of people who think ideas can be cool could be the biggest influence on him for the rest of his life.

Comment author: mattnewport 06 August 2010 08:27:18PM 1 point [-]

Thirded. My experience is that most schools can be very damaging for smart kids.