Arun-Kumar Tripathi (tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de)
Mon, 22 Feb 1999 04:47:57 +0100 (MET)
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 04:47:57 +0100 (MET) From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de> Subject: Isaac Asimov process of learning
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Dear Educationists, Technologists and Philosopher,
As a child prodigy who graduated from college at age 15, Asimov had to
struggle to accommodate himself to lesser beings. Here is a passage from
"In Memory Yet Green" that describes how he felt in his early school years:
"I couldn't very well be that smart without knowing I was that smart.
I had begun to suspect that I was not as other children were even before I
went to school. Once I was in school, there was no way in which I could
avoid the knowledge.
"Each day, it became increasingly evident to me that where I saw
something at once, the others had to have it explained. Furthermore,
whereas once I saw something, it was safely inside my head never to be lost
again, the others would forget and have to have it explained again...
"The larger, older, stupider classmates occasionally found me wearisome
and decided that I would probably be a much more likable person if I were
kicked into submission now and then. I had a certain amount of applied
brightness as well, however. I found that if I picked out the biggest dumb
youngster in the class and did his homework for him, he would constitute my
protector.
"Another point that helped save my life was the very fact that I was a
disciplinary problem. The fact that I was periodically kicked into
submission (in words, anyway) by my teachers somehow lessened the pressures
within my classmates. I daresay the other kids decided anyone as sinful and
wicked as my teachers held me to be couldn't be all bad, and it made it
easier for them to resist the impulse to eradicate me."
Best Regards
Arun Tripathi
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