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Re:You don’t want a child prodigy by hirundo on Friday May 24, 2019 @03:41PM (#20004679)
A kid who goes deep on a particular skill learns a great lesson of her own powers of discipline and mastery. That lesson applies to whatever other skills she pursues in life, earning herself a high opinion of her own agency that colors most important life choices.
Re:You don’t want a child prodigy by stcredzero on Friday May 24, 2019 @03:51PM (#20004749)
I think the ideal is for someone to have a very deep knowledge of two different fields, or areas of interest, while also having broad general knowledge. This gives people an idea both of how deep human knowledge runs, and how wide. With only one area of interest, some people might come away with the idea that one area is somehow unique and different. With two, there's more reason to conclude that other areas are just as deep.
Re:You don’t want a child prodigy by Benjammer on Friday May 24, 2019 @04:04PM (#20004832)
You can also try to counter your bias by always remembering the adage:

"Specialists will tend to underestimate how well a Generalist can specialize, when they choose to specialize. Generalists will tend to underestimate how deep any given specialty goes."

Re:You don’t want a child prodigy by stcredzero on Friday May 24, 2019 @04:35PM (#20005038)
I'll have to remember that one. In a way, I'm advocating for everyone to be at least two kinds of specialist and generalist at the same time.