📓 notes/journals/2024_03_10.md by @forshaper ☆

[[Polgar]] believed that [[education]] should not be left to [[schools]], but handled by the [[family]] where the family could provide a better environment for [[learning]].
- The [[family]] is the first field activity for the [[child]].
- [[Family]] members are the first [[models]] to [[learn]] from, if they are not sent away.
- It’s easier to develop outstanding abilities in children if the [[parents]] actions are toward raising outstanding adults.
  - “the passion of the mature person in relation to the developing person - in favour of the latter.”
  - The basis of the desire to [[learn]] is in the [[love]] the student has for the teacher.
- Polgar believed strongly in selecting one concrete field to develop the child’s abilities in. [[Specialization]].
  - Perhaps this is for using an area with simple and tight [[feedback]] loops to channel the overall education through.
- "It is only important that by the age of 3-4 some physical or mental field should be chosen, and the child can set out on their voyage."
- The Polgar daughters played chess 5-6 hours a day from the ages of 4-5.
- Any field with concrete [[feedback]] could be selected.
- Where they perceive success, the child would also feel independent.
- Is it a nice feeling for the child? Is it useful for the child? Is it useful for the child’s society? collapsed:: true
  - If he were trying to raise a [[language]] genius, [[Polgar]] would [[focus]] the child on one language (preferably one stuffed with cognates leading to other languages) in the first year (5-6 hours a day), until the child has a basic level of mastery. Then, when there is a [[base]] of success in the first language, he would move to starting a second. And so on, year after year.
- In normal [[schools]], the child does not understand why they learn what they are made to learn. To raise a genius, the child must understand [[why]] they’re learning what they’re learning, and what it can be used to lead to.
- The child will [[learn]] more voraciously when they see the end [[goal]] and [[meaning]] of their [[work]].
- The [[relationship]] between the teacher and the [[child]] must be collaborative, where the child feels they are not subordinate.
- These methods need direct, intensive, and constant [[contact]] between teacher and [[child]].
- By age ten, the [[child]] should accurately feel that there is at least one field in which they have a level of [[mastery]] in which they are at least equal to adults.
- The specialized skill is used as a base to [[learn]] everything else from.
- Schools lead to "gray mediocrity".
- It is important to put them in situations where they will [[learn]] how to learn.
- Variety among their peers (ie, peers of all-ages) will aid in their development. The children should stay close to whoever their peers are (even if their peers in a skill are old people). That is, people at the same level of skill and with similar interests.
- Polgar did not [[diversify]] the specializations among his three daughters due to the [[costs]] with getting different equipment and books for different skills. Also, so his family could function as a team dedicated to one field.
- Polgar’s suggested [[schedule]]. collapsed:: true
  - 4 hours of specialist study (for us, chess)
  - 1 hour of a foreign language. Esperanto in the first year, English in the second, and another chosen at will in the third. At the stage of beginning, that is, intensive language instruction, it is necessary to increase the study hours to 3 - in place of the specialist study - for 3 months. In summer, study trips to other countries.
  - 1 hour of general study (native language, natural science and social studies)
  - 1 hour of computing
  - 1 hour of moral, psychological, and pedagogical studies ([[humor]] lessons as well, with 20 minutes every hour for joke telling)
  - 1 hour of gymnastics, freely chosen, which can be accomplished individually outside school. The division of study hours can of course be treated elastically.
- The Polgars strongly believed in [[Esperanto]], and used it as a family language.
- They wanted to prove that geniuses could be raised, and chess provided a means.
- Chess is a field where there is tight feedback with no uncertainties about what is success or failure.
- They figured if the children tire from chess, it is easy to retire from chess without bad outcomes (as opposed to say, gymnastics, which might result in injuries).
- Because they had girls, they wanted to prove that [[nurture]] would lead to girls who could beat men at chess.
- The Polgar parents loved chess and found it [[beautiful]].
- [[Creativity]] required in [[winning]] at a high level requires the competitor to know how to explore and innovate.
- The [[Polgar]] daughters played ping pong or swam 1.5 to 3 hours a day. In other words, Zone 1 work.
- "One thing is certain: one can never achieve serious pedagogical results, especially at a high level, through [[coercion]]. One can teach chess only by means of [[love]] and the love of the [[game]]."
- The Polgar sisters were playing chess. That is, they were playing- the kind of playing that is fun. The parents made playing chess fun by giving them a taste of success. Losing on purpose, near the peak of their level.
- The child should feel the [[joy]] of making their own moves, their own [[failures]], trying things out.
- Have care for what is said to the child. If they are told they are lazy or bad, they will believe it.
- Polgar used a proportion of failure to success that was 1 to 10.
- He started off playing about half an hour a day with the children, then raised the amount of [[time]] per day as their ability and desire to play rose.
- When young, he favored blitz matches for them. Smaller games with shorter [[time]] scales.
- The Polgars had 4-5000 books organized by player, opening type, and middle game type. The sisters used these to develop new plays. collapsed:: true
  - To [[learn]] a type, they would look at 50-100 examples and then come up with things they have in common.
- When the child loses in competition, don’t tell them off. Failure is enough punishment. Rather, console them and help them figure out why they lost.
- They played while [[blind]]folded to develop their capacity to visualize the [[game]] mentally.