Cal’s argument for our ability to improve ourselves is one that is concerned especially about a useful outcome. And of course: What good is it to mourn our shortcomings or to gloat because of our strengths? Nevertheless, and that’s the thing I wanted to show (and your example comes in handy, too), we have certain strengths and other weaknesses.

That of course doesn’t have to mean, that everything we think of as a weakness (or strength) has to be one – compare the “curse” of ADHD or similar examples.

[...] http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/12/17/q-a-how-much-does-intelligence-matter-at-college/ [...]

P.S. There was a comment about ADD/ADHD earlier, citing it as an incurable setback. Dominic O’brien, 8 time world memory champ, was initially dyslexic and had ADHD, and claims that he is no longer afflicted by either. Worth looking into?

if people are born with some intrinsic talent, why can’t scientists routinely and commonly measure it and show it’s effect?

Probably because neither talent nor its effects can be isolated. As we both agree there isn’t only the influencing factor talent, but there are also other very important factors. Because of the special ethics involved in this field of research, you can’t conduct proper experiments, for example you can’t take two newborn babies and manipulate the variables because the relevant decisions belong to the parents (and later, the child itself), not to researchers – we surely agree on that, too.

So the closest thing you actually can do that resembles an experiment (in German it’s called a “Quasi-Experiment”) would be to look for two babies starting with the same genetic code but growing up under different cirumstances and watch, whether they develop similar. Exactly that has been done with twin studies. I can’t imagine another effecive method to measure intrinsic talent – if you can, I’m very curious.

I think that answers your question. Nevertheless: The things we can influence aren’t the talents, with which we are born – for this reasons I share your conclusions regarding practical consequences. But regarding epimistological consequences (the “truth”) I’d argue that your way of arguing resembles the well-known joke about the drunk who’s looking for his keys under the lamppost – not because he’s sure that he has lost them there, but because that’s the only place where he can see anything at all.

Back in college, we were in awe of his guitar playing abilities and, to a lesser extent, that he was so good and made great grades in high school. Surely he must have been a musical prodigy. His secret? Every day, from the time he was around 11 or 12, he came home from school and played guitar for 3 hours, then ate supper, then spent an hour or so on his homework. On Saturday and Sunday, he still put in at least 2-3 hours on guitar. Every week. For six years. If he had any abnormal innate skill, it was in being dedicated enough as a teenager to spend a fixed amount of time every day to work on his playing.

But I have a question; surely if one has more deliberate practise as a child, they will have an advantage, as people learn and retain things quicker as children?
Or are you saying this isn’t the case?

I am faisal n i m 17yrs old i m doing my A-Levels n nw m in AS but the problem is i m facing is that i cant seem to handle the stress of projects studies n exams n assignments n i failed in all my subjects in the recent school exams can u please help m out n tell what cn i do to imrpove my grades and how do i handle the stress

A good starting place is the five articles listed under “Popular Posts” on the righthand column of this blog. Give them a read, and then let me know if you have some more questions.

Your statement pretty much contradicts Bloom’s research. Swimming and playing tennis aren’t exactly high-level meta tasks. More importantly, why do you assume that genetic differences can account for varying levels of success in athletic pursuits, but not in academic pursuits?

For the specific case of left tackle, you have to be over 300 pounds, but with the weight distributed in such a way that makes you incredibly fast for someone your size. I’m not sure how much is genetics and how much is nutrition — but it’s certainly not all practice!

I think you’re doing a disservice to your readers by implying that everyone has the same capacity for success and if only they tried hard enough, they too can be fabulously successful in their chosen fields.

I don’t know about being fabulously successful in their chosen fields. But when it comes to college-level courses, I think putting too much emphasis on natural ability is a fallacy.