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Was Einstein really a poor student?

skeptics.stackexchange.com

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Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#11

Post by mak120 »

bad_user wrote: post #2

When I hear about geniuses that lived, most of the time I hear about how awesome their memory was ... which worries me, as I can't even remember the names of people I meet without effort and this would mean that I may never be good enough for anything, so why bother? But Einstein wasn't one of those people. His IQ may have been great, but he wasn't one of those people that could recite all U.S. states or presidents a…

Yes, he could not say the names of all US presidents at age 6. I doubt Einstein ever tried memorizing the names of all US presidents when he was child. He wasn't in the US then. :)

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#12

Post by bgurupra »

othello wrote: post #4

Here is Einstein's certificate for the year 1879 (he was 10): http://www.scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/einsteins-zeugnis.j... Long story short, he obtained the best score (6) in the three mathematical topics (algebra, geometry and descriptive geometry) and in physics. I guess one of the reasons the myth has endured so long may be that it makes for such a great story. A sort of intellectual rags-to-riches, so to speak…

Einstien was born on 14 March 1879 - so the date there must be his birth date

Edit: the second date there is 1896 which makes him 17 years but that marks sheet seems to indicate 3 or 4th grade - so not sure exactly which grade the marks sheet was for?

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#13

Post by thret »

acqq wrote: post #6
othello wrote: post #4

Here is Einstein's certificate for the year 1879 (he was 10): http://www.scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/einsteins-zeugnis.j... Long story short, he obtained the best score (6) in the three mathematical topics (algebra, geometry and descriptive geometry) and in physics. I guess one of the reasons the myth has endured so long may be that it makes for such a great story. A sort of intellectual rags-to-riches, so to speak…

Wrong: Algebra, geometry, descriptive geometry AND physics are all 6 (obviously the highest possible). Chemistry and the history of nature are 5, as well as German and Italian, art drawing and geography are 4 and some "..drawing" I can't recognize. French 3. Moreover as far as I see it's his final degree score of his whole secondary education (the last step before university). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(…

This poster was prominently displayed in one of my math lectures at university.

http://www.allaboutmovies.com.au/images/pictures/store/E/ein...

He is of course not implying that he is bad at math as many students believe, but rather that the math he had to cope with was much harder.

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#14

Post by Tichy »

bad_user wrote: post #2

When I hear about geniuses that lived, most of the time I hear about how awesome their memory was ... which worries me, as I can't even remember the names of people I meet without effort and this would mean that I may never be good enough for anything, so why bother? But Einstein wasn't one of those people. His IQ may have been great, but he wasn't one of those people that could recite all U.S. states or presidents a…

I never heard this memory thing. In any case it is a bad excuse for you to not even try anything.

If memory specifically bothers you, buy a book about memory techniques. They are fairly easy to learn, and a lot of special techniques exist for memorizing people's names.

I went to a talk by a memory trainer once and he said this is THE main thing CEOs always want to train: remembering people's names. Guess it helps when dealing with employees.

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#15

Post by wisty »

This has a few roots:

* It's said he didn't speak till he was (I forget) ~8. I'd believe it - speech develops at different times, and I doubt it has any reflection on adult intelligence.

* He joked that his math wasn't very good. That makes him modest, not a bad student.

* He didn't know how to do the math for non-Euclidian, to develop general relativity (though he did have a vague idea that he needed a curved space, and what it meant, and he vaguely remembered doing it at uni - which shows he wasn't too ignorant), and had a friend help him get up to speed.

* He was probably not the sharpest mathematician in the room, once he was famous enough that every room he walked into would quickly become crowded with the sharpest mathematicians in the world.

* He may not have really liked school, but he obviously liked learning.

Most importantly, everyone likes to think that you can succeed without trying.

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#16

Post by ern »

bad_user wrote: post #2

When I hear about geniuses that lived, most of the time I hear about how awesome their memory was ... which worries me, as I can't even remember the names of people I meet without effort and this would mean that I may never be good enough for anything, so why bother? But Einstein wasn't one of those people. His IQ may have been great, but he wasn't one of those people that could recite all U.S. states or presidents a…

I don't know about Einstein's memory, but I do know that people often mistake having a good memory for obscure facts and above average verbal ability for intelligence.

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#17

Post by ErrantX »

wisty wrote: post #15

This has a few roots: * It's said he didn't speak till he was (I forget) ~8. I'd believe it - speech develops at different times, and I doubt it has any reflection on adult intelligence. * He joked that his math wasn't very good. That makes him modest, not a bad student. * He didn't know how to do the math for non-Euclidian, to develop general relativity (though he did have a vague idea that he needed a curved space,…

He was probably not the sharpest mathematician in the room, once he was famous enough that every room he walked into would quickly become crowded with the sharpest mathematicians in the world.

This, I can't help thinking, would be a good problem to have :)

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#18

Post by hasenj »

othello wrote: post #4

Here is Einstein's certificate for the year 1879 (he was 10): http://www.scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/einsteins-zeugnis.j... Long story short, he obtained the best score (6) in the three mathematical topics (algebra, geometry and descriptive geometry) and in physics. I guess one of the reasons the myth has endured so long may be that it makes for such a great story. A sort of intellectual rags-to-riches, so to speak…

I was a top student (always perfect score) up until I was 11

After that I was still a great student, but not the top and not straight As. I still liked math.

By the end of high school, I was extremely dis-interested in math and specially in calculus. It all seemed like arbitrary pointless rules. (I blame the teachers and the curriculum).

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#19

Post by Qz »

hasenj wrote: post #18
othello wrote: post #4

Here is Einstein's certificate for the year 1879 (he was 10): http://www.scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/einsteins-zeugnis.j... Long story short, he obtained the best score (6) in the three mathematical topics (algebra, geometry and descriptive geometry) and in physics. I guess one of the reasons the myth has endured so long may be that it makes for such a great story. A sort of intellectual rags-to-riches, so to speak…

I was a top student (always perfect score) up until I was 11 After that I was still a great student, but not the top and not straight As. I still liked math. By the end of high school, I was extremely dis-interested in math and specially in calculus. It all seemed like arbitrary pointless rules. (I blame the teachers and the curriculum).

I was a top student up until they put me in the special classes for top students, which mostly just involved extra work which I was too lazy to do.

Re: Was Einstein really a poor student?

#20

Post by mbm »

hasenj wrote: post #18
othello wrote: post #4

Here is Einstein's certificate for the year 1879 (he was 10): http://www.scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/einsteins-zeugnis.j... Long story short, he obtained the best score (6) in the three mathematical topics (algebra, geometry and descriptive geometry) and in physics. I guess one of the reasons the myth has endured so long may be that it makes for such a great story. A sort of intellectual rags-to-riches, so to speak…

I was a top student (always perfect score) up until I was 11 After that I was still a great student, but not the top and not straight As. I still liked math. By the end of high school, I was extremely dis-interested in math and specially in calculus. It all seemed like arbitrary pointless rules. (I blame the teachers and the curriculum).

How do we change this?
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