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The bell curve does not work that way. Most people are at 50%, not 95%, and it takes better than average intelligence to be a successful concert pianist, a engineer, doctor, or writer.
Like jobaba, I was brought up in a culture that prioritized education from early on, and everyone was expected to go on to a good college. Almost all of my friends from childhood ended up scoring at or above the 95 percentile on the SATs. Even though we all may have started out in different areas of the bell curve, by the time we were in our late teens, we were all able to get into that top 5% (even though we were all immigrants and the children of immigrants). Part of it is because of the extra push we were getting at home, and I believe that part of it is because of the lack of push/lower expectations that other kids grew up with.
Maybe it's too late for most students to take on engineering by the time they are picking their college majors, but I believe that if you start most children on a certain path early enough, they can develop the proficiency required to be an engineer, write well or play a musical instrument, etc.
Like jobaba, I was brought up in a culture that prioritized education from early on, and everyone was expected to go on to a good college. Almost all of my friends from childhood ended up scoring at or above the 95 percentile on the SATs. Even though we all may have started out in different areas of the bell curve, by the time we were in our late teens, we were all able to get into that top 5% (even though we were all immigrants and the children of immigrants). Part of it is because of the extra push we were getting at home, and I believe that part of it is because of the lack of push/lower expectations that other kids grew up with.
Maybe it's too late for most students to take on engineering by the time they are picking their college majors, but I believe that if you start most children on a certain path early enough, they can develop the proficiency required to be an engineer, write well or play a musical instrument, etc.
I grew up in a culture like that, too, but I still struggled with algebra, in spite of working hard on it every night. I don't think the same person who does well in engineering will also do well with music performance or speaking a foreign language. Most people (allowing for a few exceptional individuals) will be better at one or two of those, out of three (not to mention other fields). There's definitely something to be said for starting kids out young with skill acquisition. Still, some kids who are raised bilingually go on to master other languages easily, some don't. And being exposed to music early doesn't mean you'll have a gift for it.
It would be interesting to do some studies on these questions. Does early ear training result in a facility for music? Does that mean that tone deafness could be eliminated with early ear training? Good questions.
Maybe it's too late for most students to take on engineering by the time they are picking their college majors, but I believe that if you start most children on a certain path early enough, they can develop the proficiency required to be an engineer, write well or play a musical instrument, etc.
The underlying contention of the OP is that the same individual can be an engineer, a professional musician, and be a professional writer, et cetera.
The underlying contention of the OP is that the same individual can be an engineer, a professional musician, and be a professional writer, et cetera.
People can learn to write. That doesn't mean they'll have a flair for it. They could do technical writing in their field. It doesn't mean they'd be an inspiring fiction writer or journalist. An engineering student who begins music study in college wouldn't be able to become a professional musician unless he had untapped talent.
However, this idea Zero introduced, that starting kids early in a variety of fields might make things easier for them when they get to HS and college is intriguing. What if parents started playing math games with their kids from 6-7 years old, and at the same time, introduced them to a musical instrument? Do all individuals have the same potential in all fields? I tend to think not. But it would be an interesting study to try.
The underlying contention of the OP is that the same individual can be an engineer, a professional musician, and be a professional writer, et cetera.
Nah. I was a top one percent graduating high school and I finished my career as a top 1% as VP Engineering for a big electronics development organization. I have no musical skills at all. Suspect my auditory systems in the brain are just not up to it. I can illustrate but not paint. Even though I understand perspective I cannot create drawings with it properly. I can mechanically create a perspective drawing but it looks qnd is mechanical.
Talent comes in different flavors. You play what you are dealt.
Why is this even a thread? Even with everyone was capable of learning STEM, the premise of OP's thread is entirely flawed in that it is promoting the message that everyone should be an engineer or scientist when that is not economically possible.
For so many people on here that love to lecture about the best majors Finance Today tells them, they sure seemed to skip out of Econ 101.
Nah. I was a top one percent graduating high school and I finished my career as a top 1% as VP Engineering for a big electronics development organization. I have no musical skills at all. Suspect my auditory systems in the brain are just not up to it. I can illustrate but not paint. Even though I understand perspective I cannot create drawings with it properly. I can mechanically create a perspective drawing but it looks qnd is mechanical.
Talent comes in different flavors. You play what you are dealt.
Of course! Combine that with extra hard work in a topic that you are not-so-good at all of a sudden, your non-given talents can become better than average. Probably more than enough to become and engineer.
So the question becomes are their people who were dealt two quarts short in a given topic like engineering that will never achieve what is necessary to get though college? Of course. But it is the truth that a lot of people have become under achievers because of upbringing. People should not discard what Mr> Zero and told us. A bunch of poor immigrants that were dealt 2's and 3's worked hard to kick arse. It's a blend.
The underlying contention of the OP is that the same individual can be an engineer, a professional musician, and be a professional writer, et cetera.
I think the level of musical proficiency required to be a professional musician is a lot higher than the level of analytical aptitude required to complete an engineering degree.
Can most people develop the proficiency to be a concert pianist? No. There aren't that many concert pianist opportunities out there, so one has to be great. However, I think most people, if provided with music training in their youth, can be proficient enough to play a few Christmas songs during the holidays.
With math, most people may not be up to the more advanced abstract mathematical concepts. However, I think most people would find calculus and differential equations accessible, as the methods are still pretty mechanical and the concepts can be visualized. The one caveat is that care must be taken to master each of the building blocks (algebra, trig, etc) before proceeding to the next level. If you start trying to take on the next level before you have an intuitive understanding of the prerequisites, it will get confusing quickly.
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Combine that with extra hard work in a topic that you are not-so-good at all of a sudden, your non-given talents can become better than average. Probably more than enough to become and engineer.
