What Brooks Left Out: Vaults and Caves
David Brooks column on genius leaves me gesticulating and arguing aloud at my computer screen. Once again someone has attempted to quantify a magnificent phenomenon into something measurable and, in the process, created a well-organized data set that, at best, partially describes the topic at hand. Just as “Advanced” and “Proficient” on state tests define academic success, so does Brooks’ description of “genius” as a function of repeated and highly-focused practice. There are enough points unplotted on his graph to generate an entirely separate curve.
My argument draws on years of learning as the “teacher” of gifted kids. While many of my students had very talented minds and exactly the drive and perfectionism Brooks describes to “develop a deliberate, strenuous and boring practice routine,” a series of intriguing others showed entirely different patterns of genius. Some vaulted over practice routine to perfection on the first attempt. Others dove into disconnected ventures inside diverse idea-caves. Brooks’ description (with all due credit to his sources, Colvin and Coyle) ignores both the Intuiting Vaulter and an Intellectual Spelunker model of genius. Yet both have sat in my classroom, dropped by my house after college, or emailed me a generation later to tell me what they have wrought. Their genius moves like spring white-water, making it far more difficult to describe or quantify. The only point on which I can agree with Brooks about their genius is that it was only remotely measured by I.Q.
The Intuiting Vaulter just KNOWS how things work without hearing it, seeing it, or watching YouTube explain it. She does not need practice. After only slight exposure to the venue and powered by a run-up of her own ideas and the grace of exceptional understanding, her vault takes her high over the bar in a parabolic leap past those practicing hard to achieve lower measurements of genius. Her ideas simply hit the mark the first time, though she cannot tell you why. She rarely boasts of the heights she reaches.
The Intellectual Spelunker explores and tries out too many ideas, including those far from the main stream. She hears about and explores a never-ending series of new idea caves with no apparent pattern or map. She practices within none for more than a moment before she moves on to another twisted passage into murky, wet thinking. Occasionally she plays in the mud at the bottom of the cave, then leaves her finger marks for the water to wash away. One day she emerges with a book of poems or a concert that only hints at connections between the caves at some level far below the ground. But before she finishes reading the poems or singing the songs, she leaves at intermission, lured by another cave. We stay behind, marveling at the words and music she leaves. The only things she “practices” are changing direction and asking questions.
Brooks, Colvin, and Coyle, your vision of genius robs the world of immeasurable wonders. In today’s connected world of user-generated information and understanding, the Intuiting Vaulter can land in soft cushions after a soaring blog post that stuns the rest of us. The Intellectual Spelunker has many more caves to explore, places to “play,” and tools to express unmapped connections beyond our understanding, thanks to the web. This is an age to unleash and appreciate genius, not quantify it.
Candace, thank you for following your frustration out into thought and reflection, and for then sharing your journey.
I really enjoyed these evocative descriptions of some diverse kinds of minds.
I just tweeted this post out to various and sundry… (@butwait)
Comment by Shelley — May 4, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
I am a fifth teacher of our gifted and talented reading and math students, and I am often asked by parents to compare their child’s level of giftedness to others. You make a statement here that we all need to remember about all learners, “While many of my students had very talented minds and exactly the drive and perfectionism Brooks describes to “develop a deliberate, strenuous and boring practice routine,” a series of intriguing others showed entirely different patterns of genius.” I have found that the majority of my gifted students are bored and inattentive to boring practice routines. They need to explore and share their ideas, engage in conversations, and be given opportunities to be creative. I am so fed up with test scores that state that a child is advanced with a number attached to it and the parents that want to know which child their child is more gifted then. What we need to focus on is providing these wonderful brains with the tools that will allow them to blossom and grow.
Comment by Katie — May 6, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
I wanted to add that I felt your description of the
Intuiting Vaulter and Intellectual Spelunker was so spot on to these truly gifted learners. I have 28 identified “Gifted and Talented” students in my reading class, but there usually are only 4 students that are really gifted. They fit perfectly into these categories of an Intuiting Vaulter and Intellecutal Spelunker.
Comment by Katie — May 8, 2009 @ 1:25 pm