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How geniuses used to be raised

Erik Hoel wrote a series of articles 1, 2, 3 on how aristocrats raised geniuses.

The series makes for an interesting comparison to Scott Alexander's articles such as Book Review: Raise A Genius!. Scott has also offered criticism of Erik's first article. I cite Scott here mostly due to his relevancy to the history of this site.

I don't have kids, but when I do I'd like to homeschool and maximize (with restraint and compassion) for producing genius.

What I found most interesting (in Hoel's third article) was his "key ingredients" for raising an aristocratic genius:

  • (a) the total amount of one-on-one time the child has with intellectually-engaged adults

  • (b) a strong overseer who guides the education at a high level with the clear intent of producing an exceptional mind

  • (c) plenty of free time, i.e., less tutoring hours in the day than traditional school

  • (d) teaching that avoids the standard lecture-based system of memorization and testing and instead encourages discussions, writing, debates, or simply overviewing the fundamentals together

  • (e) in these activities, it is often best to let the student lead (e.g., writing an essay or poetry, or learning a proof)

  • (f) intellectual life needs to be taken abnormally seriously by either the tutors or the family at large

  • (g) there is early specialization of geniuses, often into the very fields for which they would become notable

  • (h) at some point the tutoring transitions toward an apprenticeship model, often quite early, which takes the form of project-based collaboration, such as producing a scientific paper or monograph or book

  • (i) a final stage of becoming pupil to another genius at the height of their powers

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I have raised a genius. Other than genetics, the key is finding something intellectual the kid really likes (math and programming in my kid's case) and keeping the kid's education in flow meaning giving him material that is challenging but not too difficult.