May 15, 2008
The Genius Dip - What Causes the Steady Decline in Children’s Intelligence Between 4 - 20 years of age
I’ve been waiting to share this news with you for a long time. I want to share with you a Harvard study that will change the way you see your children’s potential.
The study was headed by Howard Gardner, a Professor of cognition and education at the famed Harvard Graduate School of Education. Now, some of you might already be familiar with that name. Howard Gardner is indeed the ground-breaking psychologist who first laid out the theory of multiple intelligences.
Gardner claimed that IQ tests do not capture the full range of human intelligence and he was the first to define intelligence into seven different dimensions. His work revolutionized our understanding of intelligence. Today, it is common phrase to say “different types of intelligence” thanks to the work of Howard Gardner.
But his later work was far more important….
For a long time, people believed that types of intelligences were an inherited trait. Especially after Watson and Crick unravelled the mysteries of DNA that is the blueprint of life. With this discovery, people believed that you were either born with intelligence, or you weren’t. Just like how you’re either born with curly or straight hair.
What is Project Zero, & What Did They Discover That Is So Important?
Howard Gardner took his revolutionary theory of multiple intelligences even further. Leading a research group at Harvard called Project Zero, his team made another discovery that shook the world.
Now, you might think that Project Zero sounds like it is some sort of secret government co-op for intelligence. But far from that, Project Zero’s mission was to understand and enhance learning, thinking and creativity. In line with this mission, a main part of their programs were then devoted to studying gifted or genius children.
One of Project Zero’s key research programs in this field was a study that involved developing intelligence tests for babies. The researchers also tested the intelligence for older children. The babies and children were tested across multiple types of intelligence: spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, mathematical, intrapersonal and linguistic.
And this is the mind-boggling discovery they made.
Up to the age of 4, almost all children were geniuses in multiple frames of intelligence.
This discovery from Project Zero wiped away any notion that hinted intelligence is an inherited trait. It also completely throws out the myth that “geniuses” are something eccentric that is far and few in between.
Almost every single child is born a genius across multiple intelligence. Yes, your child, as a baby, shows the very same capability for math, music, linguistic and other skills as so called “child geniuses”.
BUT… the Project Zero researchers found that by the age of 20, the percentage of geniuses within a population whittles down to 10%… and over the age of twenty, a mere 2% retained their genius ability.
SOMETHING happens during upbringing that causes 98% of children to have these abilities ERASED from their mind.
So What’s Going on? and is the cause the School System? Obsolete ideas of parentings? A natural evolutionary quirk?
Anyway - I heard about this from the report by Burt Goldman titled the Genius Dip. It’s a short read and very interesting. Download it from this page.
It’s a must read
Download it from this page
