Something to unlearn

A study has suggested that being brainy is not a genetic talent. Providing the opportunity and time are present then, the researchers claim, anyone has the equal potential of being just as smart as anyone else.

I was listening to the topic being discussed on the radio. "So, even at my age, I could take up advanced mathematics and gain a degree or more?" the DJ asked. "Given the correct conditions, yes. This notion of people thinking they are just not intelligent, or better at, say, maths than history has no scientific foundation"

The thing was, I was surprised that this was even being talked about without mentioning a certain Mr. Stephen Hawking.

You see, many years ago, Mother Tombs told me Stephen Hawking was nothing special until he had to go in a wheelchair with a debilitating disease. It was at this point when he then found himself with a lot time on his hands to think about stuff. Think really quite hard.

Now - as a motivational tale to get me to concentrate at school it was, at best, a morally dubious lie. But as an interesting vignette told with misplaced authority over an evening meal because I still thought somewhere in the back of my mind it was fact, when this topic of the myth in genetic learning came up again: "of course, Stephen Hawking is surely the most extreme example of this in action..." - well that didn't go down well. At all.