OK, trying a bit more of tabooing the “genius”. What you need is:
a person with sufficient intelligence to understand the topic
who happens to be interested in the topic
good literature available
some tutoring at the beginning (saves time, maybe provides motivation)
a company of peers later (allows debating advanced topics)
environment that supports studying (nutrition, free time, no distracting conflicts)
Traditional school provides an ineffective version of the tutoring, textbooks, time dedicated to learning, and peers (for an average student). All things considered, that is quite good (for an average student).
But to achieve a genius level, you probably need to optimize much harder in all directions. A personal tutor, at least once in a while. More advanced literature. A genius at high school age might need to discuss the topic with university students.
The question is, what happens if the potential genius is simply not interested. This may happen quite often, and may be undocumented because of selection effect (we only learn about the potential geniuses who became actual geniuses). How many of them change their minds later? How many switch to another track and become geniuses there? (Perhaps we should support track switching.) How many just never become interested at anything important?
OK, trying a bit more of tabooing the “genius”. What you need is:
a person with sufficient intelligence to understand the topic
who happens to be interested in the topic
good literature available
some tutoring at the beginning (saves time, maybe provides motivation)
a company of peers later (allows debating advanced topics)
environment that supports studying (nutrition, free time, no distracting conflicts)
Traditional school provides an ineffective version of the tutoring, textbooks, time dedicated to learning, and peers (for an average student). All things considered, that is quite good (for an average student).
But to achieve a genius level, you probably need to optimize much harder in all directions. A personal tutor, at least once in a while. More advanced literature. A genius at high school age might need to discuss the topic with university students.
The question is, what happens if the potential genius is simply not interested. This may happen quite often, and may be undocumented because of selection effect (we only learn about the potential geniuses who became actual geniuses). How many of them change their minds later? How many switch to another track and become geniuses there? (Perhaps we should support track switching.) How many just never become interested at anything important?