You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below. Bright Sparks Not everyone is a
genius, but don’t say so in front of the children
By the time Laszlo Polgar’s first baby was born in 1969 he already had
firm views on child- rearing. An eccentric citizen of communist Hungary, he had
written a book called Bring up Genius! and one of his favourite sayings was
’Geniuses are made, not born’. An expert on the theory of chess, he proceeded to
teach little Zsuzsa at home, spending up to ten hours a day on the game. Two
more daughters were similarly hot-housed. All three obliged their father by
becoming world-class players. The youngest, Judit, is currently ranked 13th in
the world, and is by far the best female chess player of all time.
Would the experiment have succeeded with a different trio of children If
any child can be turned into a star, then a lot of time and money are being
wasted worldwide on trying to pick winners. America has long
held ’talent searches’, using test results and teacher recommendations to select
children for advanced school courses, summer schools and other extra tuition.
This provision is set to grow. In his state-of-the-union address in 2006,
President George Bush announced the ’American Competitiveness Initiative’,
which, among much else, would train 70,000 high-school teachers to lead advanced
courses for selected pupils in mathematics and science. Just as the superpowers’
space race made Congress put money into science education, the thought of China
and India turning out hundreds of thousands of engineers and scientists is
scaring America into prodding its brightest to do their best.
The philosophy behind this talent search is that ability is innate; that it can
be diagnosed with considerable accuracy; and that it is worth
cultivating. In America, bright children are ranked as
’moderately’, ’highly’, ’exceptionally’ and ’profoundly’ gifted. The only chance
to influence innate ability is thought to be in the womb or the first couple of
years of life. Hence the fad for ’teaching aids’ such as videos and flashcards
for newborns, and ’whale sounds’ on tape which a pregnant mother can strap to
her belly. In Britain, there is a broadly similar belief in the
existence of innate talent, but also an egalitarian sentiment which makes people
queasy about the idea of investing resources in grooming intelligence.
Teachers are often opposed to separate provision for the best-performing
children, saying any extra help should go to stragglers. In 2002, in a bid to
help the able while leaving intact the ban on most selection by ability in state
schools, the government set up the National Academy for Gifted and Talented
Youth. This outfit runs summer schools and master classes for children nominated
by their schools. To date, though, only seven in ten secondary schools have
nominated even a single child. Last year all schools were told they must supply
the names of their top 10%. Picking winners is also the order
of the day in ex-communist states, a hangover from the times when talented
individuals were plucked from their homes and ruthlessly trained for the glory
of the nation. But in many other countries, opposition to the idea of singling
out talent and grooming it runs deep. In Scandinavia, a belief in virtues like
modesty and social solidarity makes people flinch from the idea of treating
brainy children differently. And in Japan there is a widespread belief that all
children are born with the same innate abilities—and should therefore be treated
alike. All are taught together, covering the same syllabus at the same rate
until they finish compulsory schooling. Those who learn quickest are expected
then to teach their classmates. In China, extra teaching is
provided, but to a self-selected bunch. ’Children’s palaces’ in big cities offer
a huge range of after-school classes. Anyone can sign up; all that is asked is
excellent attendance. Statistics give little clue as to which
system is best. The performance of the most able is heavily affected by factors
other than state provision. Most state education in Britain is nominally
non-selective, but middle-class parents try to live near the best schools.
Ambitious Japanese parents have made private, out-of-school tuition a thriving
business. And Scandinavia’s egalitarianism might work less well in places with
more diverse populations and less competent teachers. For what it’s worth, the
data suggest that some countries—like Japan and Finland—can eschew selection and
still thrive. But that does not mean that any country can ditch selection and do
as well. Mr. Polgar thought any child could be a prodigy given
the right teaching, an early start and enough practice. At one point he planned
to prove it by adopting three baby boys from a poor country and trying his
methods on them. (His wife vetoed the scheme.) Some say the key to success is
simply hard graft. Judit, the youngest of the Polgar sisters, was the most
driven, and the most successful; Zsofia, the middle one, was regarded as the
most talented, but she was the only one who did not achieve the status of grand
master. ’Everything came easiest to her,’ said her older sister. ’But she was
lazy.’ —Economist Hard-working plays a vital role in being successful.