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Tichy · 2012-11-26 · Original thread
I've heard about that, even own the book but didn't read very far yet. I remain skeptic. Maybe it holds for "standard parenting techniques", but I am more interested in for example the approach of László Polgár http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_Polg%C3%A1r

He raised 3 kids to become chess grandmasters - and he announced he would do that before they were born. I don't think he was abusive either.

Somehow nobody really wants to talk about that, it is weird. Perhaps it scares people to think that they might be responsible for not making their kids brilliant. And the elite might have an interest in not letting the secret out - somebody has to do the slavery jobs in society, after all. Yeah it is a bit paranoid, but I have become a bit cynical about the setup of our society. Actually it doesn't even have to be an elite trying to hold us down, I think research has shown that people are most happy if other people are not better off than they are, so people are always trying to hold each other down.

Of course I wouldn't condone methods like the tiger mum (I think she is basically a criminal), but I don't think Polgar was abusive, for example.

I guess if you can influence if your kid is Lutheran or Catholic, there are also other things that might have a bigger impact (even Catholic vs Lutheran might make a big difference, I don't really know? What with different work ethics?). Lutheran vs Catholic or "technical vs liberal arts" and so on?

Edit: I discovered Polgar through the book "Bounce" which also talks about other cases for deliberately creating gifted kids http://www.amazon.de/Bounce-myth-talent-power-practice/dp/00...

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