Genius vs. Hard Work

[chrypton]

I believe that if someone has the determination to do something themselves (for example an individual should choose IB themselves rather than their parents forcing him/her to take it) and are willing to work for it, the individual can pretty much achieve anything. in other words, hard work in my opinion is more than being a genius.

Lol, with all due respect, doing well in IB and being able to achieve anything are two completely different things.

[Fonons]

Hard work all the way. (:

It sucks when you put in tons of effort into something and you get the same grade as the genius, but I find that the sense of accomplishment of "I worked for this" is amazing.

Also, I find genius' are generally lazy. I have a genius classmate who is trying to take the minimum amount of classes to get through high school - it's really risky, since she may only end up with 97 credits when in my school, you need 100 to graduate!

Now, if you are a genius and hard working, that's just spiffy.

[TheKidd4Ever]

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

with that being said, it doesn't hurt to start off with a little bit of talent!

[opus92fan]

Natural ability only gets you so far. At some point in life, you will have to build a work ethic. The sooner you build this work ethic, the better.

In my opinion, the IB programme is excellent. It proves to students that being "smart" isn't enough, you have to work hard to suceed. You cannot survive in the IB by pure natural talent no matter how smart you think you are, you must develop a work ethic and an enjoyment of learning. Most regular students do not have the same work ethic that we have, a lot of them go through high school pulling off high/mediocre marks without trying. When they get to post-secondary, it's a huge wake up call because they are not used to the level of work required in a university class. I've heard of IB diploma students who said they found their first year of university easier than diploma because they already knew the material and had a superior work ethic.

Through all that, I'm trying to say that no one is born genius. Granted, some people are better at things than others, but this does not constitute them as a genius. All the people we credit as geniuses (Einstein, Mozart, etc.) didn't just magically appear out of nowhere, they worked very hard to accomplish what they accomplished.

As my music teacher always says, "What you put into it is what you get out of it". If you want to become the next greatest scientist, just because you are naturally good at science doesn't mean you will wake up one day and be the next nobel prize winner. You will have to commit many hours of hard work to get there.

[flinquinnster]

Personally, I think that "genius" and "hard work" are both important, though in different ways. Genius, especially when manifested at a young age, gives you confidence and can also get you support from those around you who want to foster your "natural talent". Also, genius tends tends to distinguish a person and make them seem "weird".

Hard work is important because you can't achieve much without determination and persistence. There is no point in harbouring great ideas, and not acting upon them in a reasonable way. You can still do "well" in the IB (well at least I think it would be possible) if you had with minimal study but the ability to do tests exceptionally. However, I think those who work hard will always have the advantage. As previous posters have said, you don't have to be a "genius" to be getting 40+.

I'm rambling on a bit here, but Stephen Fry retells an anecdote in his memoirs: he's just come out of jail for credit card fraud, and wants to take his A-levels. However, all the places are full. So he just begs the admissions officer to allow him to do the course, and he says that he will get a place at Cambridge. And lo and behold, he did get a scholarship. One may argue that he was intelligent, he was willing to work hard (perhaps to make amends for his previous acts of rebellion?), but was also very lucky and charismatic.

I believe that if someone has the determination to do something themselves (for example an individual should choose IB themselves rather than their parents forcing him/her to take it) and are willing to work for it, the individual can pretty much achieve anything. in other words, hard work in my opinion is more than being a genius.

Lol, with all due respect, doing well in IB and being able to achieve anything are two completely different things.

Well said, well said. What is life? I definitely think that life is more than IB. But this may change

[Razzker]

Of course, you need a combination. For some, working hard is natural for them, and for others, their innate ability to simply learn and understand is natural too. For some people, they are both not hard-working and also lack natural genius. Because everyone is different, the difficulty of combining both intelligence and hard work is different for each individual. A synthesis of both intelligence and hard work is most important, in my opinion.

[Vincent1416]

What's a genius? To me, a genius who is capable of understanding things in little time. A hard working person will need more time to get the same thing. Well...what I have to say is...lucky you geniuses out there =]; hard working people just need bigger time management skills. This can work against geniuses =[.

[Lindsay]

An interesting topic! I believe that hard work leads to geniusness, no one is really born a 'genius'. Perhaps surroundings and the environment have influence and significant impact on the upbringing on someone in a certain field, but without necassary hard work, geniusness cannot be continued.

Someone with average ability can surpass a genius who does not do anything at all. Geniusness has to be maintained through hard work and so the two are linked in a sense. One cannot exist without the other!

[l0stboy]

I seem to feel that the term "genius" relies more on the ability to focus and have determination. I find chemistry so fascinating that it just comes naturally to me, and my classmates sometimes get annoyed at how hard the subject is for them. English class, on the other hand, is something that I simply cannot bring myself to care for. Thus, I tend to scrap by just to get A with minium understanding.

I do agree that there are some individuals who posses a more well rounded intrest in all intellectual fields, so they tend to be more inclined and focused to the subject matter. I personally believe that if a young child gains a love for knowledge early on, he or she will have a head start from being well focused in learning so much that it reflects in high school and college. At the same time, I do believe that the as long as a person doesn't have some sort of significant learning disability that impairs focus or concentration, anyone can work hard enough to reach deed knowledge through erudition.

My main point: being a genius is direct result of early focus, concentration, and passion in academics. However, a person who works hard enough can know just as much.

[Wykked Wytch]

I think hard work is more important to a person's success than genius. It doesn't matter if you have a 9001 I.Q. score. If you live under a rock all day and do nothing, you're not going to be successful.

On the other hand, there are some people with learning disabilities that seriously affect their capacity to master a skill. Dyslexia and dyscalculia come to mind. I know that there are varying degrees of severity in these conditions. But my point is that in certain areas, some people are inherently disadvantaged. It is not always politically correct to say this, but people are clearly not created equal. In many situations, their skill levels do not even balance out. A person with multiple severe learning disabilities, for instance, will have to work much harder than a normal or gifted person in order to achieve mastery of that subject.

[Wykked Wytch]

I seem to feel that the term "genius" relies more on the ability to focus and have determination. I find chemistry so fascinating that it just comes naturally to me, and my classmates sometimes get annoyed at how hard the subject is for them. English class, on the other hand, is something that I simply cannot bring myself to care for. Thus, I tend to scrap by just to get A with minium understanding.

Heh, I'm the opposite of you. I am "gifted" at English, but sadly I'm allergic to chemistry and math. Makes me break out in hives and stuff.

[Rachel C.]

Being naturally gifted definitely helps. I mean I understand that you could be concerned that these people that aren't trying at all seem to be scoring higher than you, but this is all simply perspective. Honestly, none of us (in theory) are going to be the best. You have a 1/7 billion chance of being the best. So there will always be someone better than you. There is no shame in it but I don't believe that people with natural talent will always succeed. Actually I am a twin, and we are both in the IB programme. I was considered more "gifted" because I could pick up things, and still can, with much less effort than she can. For me, Music, English, Science, Math, etc. has never been difficult. For her on the other hand, she puts a lot of effort into her grades, and had to for a long time to also be considered "gifted". She now gets better grades than me, normally only by a small amount (we are both straight A students) but still by a point or two. I do believe that hard work will get you farther than just having natural talent, but don't be mistaken, one cannot just work hard. Some students have to work hard just for a C+ average. You have to have something to work with in order to be good at anything. Talent mixed with hard work is how you get the best outcome.

[mechnight]

Pretty much similarly, talent is important for the start, and can get you, say, through elementary school. I was always seen as the gifted kiddo in primary, but thanks to my parents, already then learned I had to study, and how to, so when talent wasn't enough, throughout whole high school and especially IB, I had a sound base to work on. I think it is the same with sport - in my synchronized swimming team, I wasn't the most talented, actually was far from talent, but working my butt off put me to a quite high position in a team and overall.

[Emilia1320]

I somehow want to believe I can success on mathematics with bare work. If not, it just crushes my self-confidence, since if I know it's impossible because of the way I was born why shoud I even try?

And if I can't succeed on math what am I worth? At least in my own eyes nothing.

However no genius can reach his top level without work. They say Einstein has said "it's not that I'm somehow exeptionally intelligent, I just spend more time solving problems than others"

Of course he was just being humble but also if he wouldn't have worked at all he would not have figured out theory of relativity and cosmological constant.

[Emilia1320]

I seem to feel that the term "genius" relies more on the ability to focus and have determination. I find chemistry so fascinating that it just comes naturally to me, and my classmates sometimes get annoyed at how hard the subject is for them. English class, on the other hand, is something that I simply cannot bring myself to care for. Thus, I tend to scrap by just to get A with minium understanding.

This very much. I love mathematics and I eventually have got best grades on it during my pre-year (thou pre-year tells nothing, as its easy and simple as hell)

However I can't even pass swedish because I am not talented on languages and it just feels impossible.

[Guest dododododododod]

What's more important? This is something that has badgered me for a long time. Especially for the sciences and math, I feel like I am exerting myself much more than many of my classmates and yet some of their results are much better than mine. I know someone who is extremely talented at math. He never makes a deliberate attempt to study but is able to score high because his brain is literally a sponge for math; he assimilates everything in class with ease and is able to apply that knowledge almost effortlessly when it comes to the IB questions where most would have some problems with thinking critically.

To me, a lot of people say that hard work is all it takes. I still believe that hard work will generally lead to success, of course. At the same time, though, do you really think that someone of average intelligence will be able to achieve the same results as someone who is naturally gifted at something if that person of average intelligence truly exerts themself?

 

I think that hard work will get you places, but also some natural inclination or motivation to do a certain something (e.g. survive IB) does have a lot to do with success more than hard work. In some cases.

 

In the end doe.... WORK YOUR ASS OFF IT PAYS OFF

[lucettafetta]

I would say it takes both talent and hard work. Talent in the way of actually having motivation to do the work. 

I have friends that are naturally smart, but they don't have enough willpower to push themselves and actually do enough work and study. I am the furthest from a genius you could be, but I put in an insane amount of effort and manage to do quite well. 

 

I think it varies from person to person. Some people have to work harder than others, but in the end, I think learning how to push yourself to achieve something is a greater life lesson to learn now - rather than simply relying on your intelligence that you have been born with. 

[lucettafetta]

I somehow want to believe I can success on mathematics with bare work. If not, it just crushes my self-confidence, since if I know it's impossible because of the way I was born why shoud I even try?

And if I can't succeed on math what am I worth? At least in my own eyes nothing.

 

I don't think it's possible to judge your worth by doing minimum work. I have never been able to understand maths concepts like other people - it takes me weeks just to wrap my head around something, but by the time I get to exams I have usually done so much work that I fully understand the topic. It slowly gets easier then. Your brain adapts and grows and you get better at learning, and maths becomes easier. 

I don't think you can base your maths ability from not trying hard. Succeeding in maths requires more than just bare work, unless you are some kind of prodigy ahaha - if not, then hard work is always required. 

[Emilia1320]

I somehow want to believe I can success on mathematics with bare work. If not, it just crushes my self-confidence, since if I know it's impossible because of the way I was born why shoud I even try?

And if I can't succeed on math what am I worth? At least in my own eyes nothing.

I somehow want to believe I can success on mathematics with bare work. If not, it just crushes my self-confidence, since if I know it's impossible because of the way I was born why shoud I even try?

And if I can't succeed on math what am I worth? At least in my own eyes nothing.

I don't think it's possible to judge your worth by doing minimum work. I have never been able to understand maths concepts like other people - it takes me weeks just to wrap my head around something, but by the time I get to exams I have usually done so much work that I fully understand the topic. It slowly gets easier then. Your brain adapts and grows and you get better at learning, and maths becomes easier.

I don't think you can base your maths ability from not trying hard. Succeeding in maths requires more than just bare work, unless you are some kind of prodigy ahaha - if not, then hard work is always required.

Sorry, you misunderstood me! By "bare work" I meant "a lot work"

I messed up quotes but I guess you understand what I mean

Edited November 30, 2014 by Emilia1320

[Reldern]

This debate is comparable to Machiavelli's statement of "The end justifies the means." Essentially, a "genius" has already arrived at the destination, without having to do work, while the hard worker has to endure the long process of learning. I personally believe that the hard worker is better, simply because they have been educated in the process that is used to get to the end. That, I believe, is more important than simply knowing the answer.