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- This book of mine appeared in Hungarian in 1989. In it I described and summarized my
- psychological and pedagogical experiments regarding my daughters’ and my 15-year educational
- experience.
- I do not present a prescription, merely a point of view. I do not wish to exhort anyone to raise a
- genius. I wish to demonstrate that it is possible. I urge no one, I encourage no one, everyone
- must decide for themselves what they wish to do. I can only pass on my pedagogical system, and
- guide everyone along the road that I followed, confident that it is possible and worthwhile to
- raise geniuses, for they can and indeed have become happy people.
- My daughters are grown. Now they are practicing their professions and raising their own
- children. They wish to raise them as fulfilled, creative, and happy people, as they themselves are.
- In my conception, education is good for the individual and desirable and useful for society. A
- genius is a collective creation who becomes a communal treasure.
- Let us not fear to raise our children with optimism and courage (without begrudging the
- material expense!). Prodigies are not miracles, but natural phenomena; indeed they must be
- formed as natural phenomena. Parents and society are responsible for the development of the
- children’s capabilities. A large number of geniuses are lost because they themselves never learn
- what they are capable of.
- Our experiment, our program, and our way of life has been repeated independently many times
- throughout the course of history (consider primarily the childhood stage of a genius’s life). We
- wish merely to elucidate them and endeavor by this to elevate them to a theory.
- I wish you successful child-raising!
- Budapest, 2004
- Raise a Genius! - 3
- I. Mysteries of Pedagogical Experiments
- 1. Instead of an introduction . . . the Polgar family
- “If I am not for me - who is then for me; but if I am only for me - why do I live?” - The Talmud
- “No one is a prophet in his own town.” - Proverb
- “The truth is very often persecuted, but never suppressed.” - Livy
- If, in the 50’s or 60’s, anywhere in Western Europe one said, “I am Hungarian,” the first
- reaction from those around was probably, “Hungarian? Then Puskás, football... 6:3…,” and
- the door for communication closed. The first reaction at the end of the 80’s was most often,
- “The Polgar sisters… chess… and the Olympic Games in Seoul…” How did you live with this
- unusual popularity?
- It also happened for us, that people in the West did not know who we were, and then people
- started talking about “The Polgars and Erno Rubik.” We were amazed and at the same time
- delighted to learn that we were those Polgars. We were “the Hungarian miracle, the three
- sisters, the world- famous children.” Around 40,000 favorable articles appeared about us. Of
- course people did also write unfavorably about us, mostly in Eastern Europe.
- Ill will is not always masked behind reservations and doubts. Didn’t people think that you
- treated your children like chess pieces or marionettes?
- If we considered our daughters as manipulable figures, merely as objects and not as subjects of
- education, would we have been able to attain such a result? Without the active collaboration of
- their open, freely-chosen, independent agency and personhood we could have achieved nothing.
- In this kind of education the active participation of the child is almost as important as that of the
- educator. If they had not wanted to cooperate, they would truly have been marionettes, but
- from marionettes you cannot raise geniuses. I do not restrict them - on the contrary, I provide
- the possibility for children to attain the highest possible level of freedom. I open doors to
- freedom. In practice I create the opportunity for them to do what they love. Apart from that, I
- take care of them, nurture their psyches, and manage them in specific areas; I smooth their
- paths. Do not misunderstand me! During the past 20 years I have sometimes happened to say,
- “Look, children, you must do it this way!” But that is not characteristic. It makes up a
- maximum of 1 percent; we almost always discussed everything communally, and let them
- decide. Of course they are not marionettes. In a traditional school children are certainly
- marionettes to some degree: one wakes them early and sends them to school, where during class
- time they are pulled and pushed arbitrarily by teachers and their peers.
- Raise a Genius! - 4
- There is much truth in that. Thus it happens that a 6-year-old child joyfully crosses the
- threshold of the school in September, but by Christmas does not retain much of that joy. I
- believe you: one cannot form a creative person without independence, and one cannot guide
- even your children to the summit against their will. However, it does not follow that this kind
- of child will be happy, or that they will stay fulfilled throughout their life.
- No, and I never said that every outstanding person is logically a happy one. A person’s potential
- and self-estimation does not necessarily coincide. It can happen that someone is a genius and
- unhappy at the same time. Joyless, for their life is unhappy, the people around them do not
- accept them, they have not been successful in attaining some intended end goal, some sure thing
- has developed unluckily, etc. But at the same time the opposite can happen. In that case the
- people around them accept them, and they are satisfied with themselves; they can establish a
- surplus in their life, for they are useful for their fellows and attain success. Then out of that
- springs happiness. It is not by chance that asking a “difficult person” if they would order their
- life the same way over again we most often receive the answer “Yes.” Indeed this could not be
- otherwise; geniuses are at least as happy as other people.
- I do not assert that the way to genius leads necessarily to happiness, but indeed th
- Raise a Genius! - 5
- What kind of person do you think you are?
- A person who shapes his environment, his destiny, his society, and himself. If I think through
- my life in my mind, I can deduce my character, my me-ness, from it. If I consider my
- personality traits, I can predict my destiny, because they are interrelated. Of course certain
- ethnic distinctives can be found in me, like over-strenuous working, over-emotionality, yearning
- for accomplishments, the central role of the family, the desire to develop the capabilities of my
- daughters, and from time to time possibly also a bit of aggression and noise. But do not
- misunderstand me! I do not assert that I like all of those, and I do not assert that I wish to
- develop them in me. Only that these characteristics in practice have social effects.
- Attacks that I have sustained from authorities have also influenced me. I have been in conflict
- with many people. These influences, although they have certainly been constructive to my
- personality, have worsened some matters: the efficacy of my work and my health. I have worked
- very hard in the past 25 years. I have slept very little. Thus I now feel a bit weary.
- From time to time people accuse you of obstinacy, of insuf icient diplomacy, and some even
- think you aggressive. What you think of that?
- In my opinion, persistence and consistency do not equal obstinacy. Emotionality about
- problems and dynamism does not equal aggression. However our societal conditions sometimes
- provoke aggression in us. I consider it a virtue that I do not accept unprincipled compromises.
- Of course I do not consider myself perfect, and in some cases I certainly have been obstinate,
- even aggressive; but one must know that aggression is very often a consequence of frustration,
- and that, I believe, we receive abundantly. An aggressive posture is characterized by hostility,
- provocation, violence, and offensive conduct, causing suffering and damage. This is absolutely
- inaccurate with respect to me or us.
- I wish to be persistent and consistent, but not obstinate. I wish to progress to the established
- goal. I endeavor not to worry too much about obstacles, but??? try to defeat them. I endeavor to
- stay true to my humanist principles despite hardships and misery, passive or active opposition,
- visible or camouflaged attacks. In some cases people do everything - at least it seems to me - to
- completely nullify us as people. This struck us first directly from Sandor Szerenyi (the first
- secretary of the Communist Party from 1929-1931, sometime vice-leader of the cultural and
- science section of the Hungarian Socialist Labor [Communist] Party, president of the Hungarian
- Chess Association for many decades), second and indirectly - as was evident in his recent
- statement - from Janos Kadar (former first secretary of the Communist Party, sometime
- president of the Chess Association). They seemingly could not forgive me for my way of
- thinking, built on humanism and judged so over-audacious, as well as my departure from the
- Communist Party. Around that time, at our second meeting, Szerenyi received me, without even
- a greeting, with the words, “You are a crook, an anarchist,” and later followed with threats. After
- that for long years we were not allowed to travel out of the country. We only received passports
- to travel to the West in 1985. (Zsuzsa then already held the first place in the global rank of
- female chess players.) It was typical that in a press conference around then Sandor Szerenyi
- claimed that “Laszlo Polgar is in medical opinion not a completely normal person.” If we had
- Raise a Genius! - 6
- not attained international celebrity with explosive speed, if we had not been so famous, our
- careers could have ended tragically.
- In my opinion it is not true that I am a quarrelsome, agitated, aggressive, greedy, and violent
- person. I think of myself as an honest, sincere, plain-spoken person, very sensitive about justice.
- I have a great love of freedom and thirst for knowledge. I am very happy that to my knowledge I
- have deceived no one. Regarding my work I have established very high requirements, although I
- also understand those people who live otherwise. Other people possibly consider me an
- extremist, but I prefer to call myself an optimistic realist.
- The essence of your pedagogical system is to raise happy geniuses. Speaking about yourself, I
- cannot help but wonder: in your opinion, do you consider yourself a genius?
- I can only say that I have created something that up to now no one else has created. In this
- sense, then, probably yes.
- Are you happy?
- This question surprises me, but I believe that yes, I am. I have a beautiful family, a happy
- marriage, three beautiful, healthy, happy, intelligent children, and I feel as well that in my work
- I can enjoy the pleasure of creation, for I have done something that will last. I believe that I am
- happy.
- Raise a Genius! - 7
- 2.The tipping point: heredity or education, giving or receiving?
- “I do not believe in genius, only persistent courageous labor.” - M. Reger
- “Anyone can attain my level, if he is as diligent as I have been for my entire life.” - J.S. Bach
- “Every unfinished matter seems unrealizable for those who are incapable of great things.” -
- J.F.P. Retz
- Your opponents probably also know or feel that in itself the game of chess is merely a tool that
- you use to realize an important, one could say cultural-historical, goal. What then is the
- essence of your experiment and what philosophical problem underlies it?
- The essence of my pedagogical program is that in my opinion, every healthy child can be raised
- to be an outstanding person, in my words, a genius. When we began this work with my wife, we
- read through a large collection of books and studies. We examined the childhoods of many
- eminent people and noticed that all who became geniuses specialized very early in some field,
- and we could also document that beside them always stood a father or mother, a tutor or trainer,
- who were “obsessed” - in the good sense of the word. So on the basis of our research we could
- rightly conclude that geniuses are not born: one has to raise them. And if it was possible to raise
- an outstanding person, we definitely needed to try this. So we did, and our attempt brought
- success.
- In the end I would like to prove that socialization, development within society, and in that
- context the genius-izing of a person, depends firstly not on their native biological powers: their
- way of life is not decided from birth; it must be considered principally as a social product, in
- practice, a result of nurture. To express it provocatively, I often say, “Genius is not born, genius
- is raised.”
- By means of my complete system I would like to prove this idea, and my whole life, my former
- studies, my completed experiments, my plans for the future - everything is directed towards this.
- Although my three daughters’ chess results have already proved in a pedagogical sense the
- correctness of my experiment, nevertheless I do not assert that this result could today satisfy the
- millennia-old philosophical question of the relationship between endowments of birth and
- acquired features, considering the simultaneous natural and social makeup of the person.
- Regarding the pedagogical consequences of my theory I am certain, but not even I can attempt
- to definitively decide the general philosophical connections??? underlying my experiment. In
- relation to this, to use the words of Wallon, I can only say, “I cannot give a definitive solution, I
- can only indicate a direction.”
- In the current discussion between philosophy and genetics, no viewpoint has yet won out. I
- wish to turn this situation around by means of a program of action.
- Raise a Genius! - 8
- I wish for society, and can assert, that on this hypothesis can be constructed a coherent system
- on which pedagogy can be confidently based, and functioning according to it, achieve success, as
- my experiment proves.
- There has been significant acknowledgement of your successful experiment, and you have been
- invited to be a patron of the upcoming conference of the European Society for Talent in 1990 in
- Budapest. In this year’s conference in Zurich as well, the unstructured discussion, about which
- you spoke earlier, had a good atmosphere. For example, Sebastian Coe, two-time Olympic
- champion, said that society is responsible for talent. The world-famous physicist Manfred von
- Ardenne opined that talent is not merit, but a gift. The president of the World Council for
- Talent, Harry Passow, stated, “Talent is a possibility - children are talented if we educators
- name them talented.”
- In the development of my system I have started from two facts. On the one hand current
- genetics still knows very little about the person; what it knows relates primarily to diseases. On
- the other hand, a healthy human has such an elastic cerebral system and flexible developmental
- structure that their efficacy can be developed to a high degree by pedagogical methods. The way
- is open for pedagogy, since children are developable, and from the viewpoint of the intellect they
- can be formed in any manner. (The outstanding Hungarian author Gyula Illyes notes in his
- journal about the well-known English stolidity: “The English are English following school; even
- their famous impassivity they get from there, not from their mothers’ wombs.”)
- The American psychologist J.B. Watson has confidently stated for several decades that if he were
- given a dozen healthy babies he could raise them to be anything, whether scientists or criminals.
- Following the same concept, the Soviet psychologist V. Turchenko says, “It is better not to say
- that geniuses are not often born; say rather that we do not often raise them.” I myself incline to
- the psychological-pedagogical optimism of Watson, Turchenko, the Japanese psychologist
- Suzuki Sunigi and the Austrian psychiatrist A. Adler: for this reason I began to develop and
- explore the capabilities of my three daughters. I began working on the basis for this before their
- births. It should be mentioned as well that there exist so-called talent-forming,
- genius-educating schools in Japan, Israel, the German Democratic Republic, the US, etc. (for
- example the “Superbaby Farm” of Glenn Doman in Philadelphia).
- These thinkers, similarly to me, are of the opinion that the average person uses only 20-25
- percent of the capability of their brain, although its capacity could be exploited much more
- effectively. A person can utilize their 1,300-gram much more than 20-25%, but one must begin
- working towards this goal very early. Glenn Doman’s team considers the age of three to be the
- limit, when the bodily, spiritual and creative development of the child is still remarkably
- accelerable. I also am close to this viewpoint, although I consider the time limit to be more
- elastic.
- Raise a Genius! - 9
- There are also those among Hungarian specialists who evaluate your program positively. For
- example, Dr. Istvan Harsanyi, the eminent Hungarian expert on talent research reviewed
- your work on Hungarian Radio (1986-07-12): “I am convinced that the Polgar family
- experiment is the most important Hungarian psycho-pedagogical experiment in the
- thousand-year history of our state. (...) I believe this without reservation… Watson cannot
- prove his methods in practice, because he has never received those dozen healthy infants… I
- consider this the most important Hungarian psycho-pedagogical experiment, because
- Watson’s principles have been applied with great success, and also because it is a matter of not
- one but three children. This in fact presents the most interesting and strong proof of the whole
- af air. Indeed, when has it been deduced from any kind of genetic experiment that the subjects
- must have identically inherited the same capabilities? Certainly never!... This experiment is
- very important as well because of the fact that to my knowledge there has never been the
- possibility of experimenting in this area.”
- Right. The uniqueness of my experiment lies in that it is - one could say - a family group
- experiment, made possible by the birth of my three daughters. I have built my pedagogical
- optimism on this result. On this basis I think that every biologically healthy child can be raised
- to be a genius; every healthy child is born with enough general endowment that from them can
- come a high level personality.
- This then is the starting point. Would you summarize the basic principles of your concept, so
- we can later discuss them separately and in detail?
- I would summarize my ideas in five theses:
- 1. The first relates to the traditional discussion about the role of natural and societal, from birth
- or acquired, hereditary and “educational” factors. Before everything, I started with being
- concerned not with two, but with three factors. I conceive of the personality of the person as a
- complex union of these three factors. In a personality are found simultaneously (1) biological
- endowments from birth, (2) things received by acquisition throughout life and (3) responses
- fought out and “sweated” out from oneself. That is, the value of a personality consists of three
- parts: the interacting trio of endowments, things received, and responses. The personality is
- thus at the same time:
- - An endowment of nature
- - An effect of the environment
- - A creation of the individual
- In this trinity I consider the crucial link to be the effect of environment, of society. Really,
- depending on age, all of them have different roles: in the first months of life biological effects
- dominate, for the first ten years society is undoubtedly increasingly emphasized, and later the
- activity of one’s own personality strengthens. But from the viewpoint of the development and
- freedom of the personality the deciding link is seen through the passage of time to be one’s
- existence in a society.
- Raise a Genius! - 10
- 2. The next thesis relates to the interpretation of existence in a society. In this I call out two
- aspects. On the one hand the immediate surroundings of a person (family, friends, etc.), on the
- other their more distant circumstances. The first mediates imitative “heredity,” the second
- socio-cultural “heredity.” Thus, aside from biological heredity, it is also the effect of the family
- model and the historical-cultural heredity of the larger society that determines the nature of a
- person.
- A member of society shares in human nature. The individual lives out their own development
- under the effects of societal forces like self-realization. From this it follows that education must
- consider a child also as a co-author.
- 3. The third thesis relates to the way to develop creativity. In my opinion, every healthy person
- is born with sufficient biological endowments to be able to specialize these general endowments
- in some concrete form of action. As opposed to many other pedagogues and parents, I see the
- task of education not in exploring or finding in the child “innate” or hidden capabilities. If we
- assume the existence of a general endowment in each child, I start from this: that we must
- develop in them some special capability.
- Sometimes I have heard your reply to pedagogues’ remarks that genius is born and not raised.
- You respond sarcastically: it is easier to not educate than to educate a genius.
- Yes, right. By my basic principle, every child born healthy is potentially a genius, and if one pays
- enough attention, they will in fact become one.
- 4. My next thesis is that one can and must consciously organize the development of geniuses,
- and it is not sufficient to leave them to chance.
- Self-evidently, education in itself is not all-powerful, for it depends also on concrete social
- conditions. But the fact that its effect is enormous empirically proves my results.
- In parallel to the different responses to the biological, genetic and philosophical questions
- above, several tendencies in pedagogy are delimited between two extremes regarding the role of
- education. One extreme is the theory of laissez-faire. Its representatives say that human
- capability will manifest even when nothing is done towards that goal. According to th
- Raise a Genius! - 11
- 5) My fifth thesis is pedagogical humanism, according to which the essence of the formation of
- personality is the striving for as perfect self-realization and as complete happiness as possible.
- Every person should strive to attain the greatest result attainable by them, and realize oneself -
- this can bring about one’s own happiness and also that of others. The pedagogue’s task is also to
- aim for - as it is possible - not the average, but the peak. Considering outstanding achievements
- positively, one should fix human happiness as the ultimate goal for oneself. Therefore it is
- possible and necessary to raise geniuses, because, among other things, this guarantees the most
- certain road to happiness.
- Raise a Genius! - 12
- II. Education is Also Possible This Way
- 1. Contemporary Schools
- “Human history is a contest between catastrophe and education.” - H. G. Wells
- “We have succeeded in transforming the most joy-giving human activity into a painful, tedious,
- spirit- and soul-confounding experience.” - J. Hill
- “Traveling along his way, the cripple leaves hesitant fleet-footed adventurers behind.” - J. F.
- Bawes
- It is generally known that you are a pedagogy fanatic; however, you did not put your
- daughters in school; they did their studies as private students. Why?
- The fact that I did not send my daughters to school is of course connected to the fact that I hold
- an unfavorable opinion of it. I criticize contemporary schools because they do not educate for
- life, they equalize everyone to a very low level, and in addition they do not tolerate the talented
- and those who diverge from the average.
- Let us take this step by step, and start with your first remark: schools do not educate for life.
- Is the old Latin saying “One learns not for the sake of school, but of life” pointless?
- Contemporary schools are separate from real life in that they function sort of as laboratories.
- There is no link with domestic or political or local public life, or the everyday cares of living one’s
- life on the one hand, and school on the other.
- My daughters, who have never visited a school, grew up much more in the context of real life.
- Contemporary schools do not promote a love of learning. They do not inspire to great
- achievements; they raise neither autonomous people nor communally-oriented ones.
- Schools do not manifest or develop potential capabilities in people, at least as much as they
- could.
- It seems to me that the second point of your critique of schools is related to this. That is, they
- equalize everyone to a very low level. How would you clarify this?
- It’s a simple matter. If all the schools in the country are of only one type, the model is like this:
- in each school there are, besides a few outstanding people, many mediocre and weak people. The
- mediocre are closer to the weak than to the outstanding. Of course a teacher cannot adapt to
- those few outstanding people, so the teacher presents material that is appropriate for the
- majority. Thus for the outstanding, class time becomes tedious. Even if the teacher wished to,
- the teacher cannot “tailor” the study material for most of the students’ individual needs. So they
- cannot make each child work to their potential. Too often they must make the whole class
- Raise a Genius! - 13
- mechanically repeat more or less identical tasks. In the current organization structure they only
- speak about instruction providing problem-solving skills, but in practice this is unrealizable.
- Thus both pedagogues and students suffer in school.
- Let us move on to your third criticism. How much do contemporary schools disrupt the
- development of talented children?
- They hinder the development of talented children in that school instruction is tedious for them.
- It has been proven that a too-easy load is more tiring than an optimum load. As well,
- contemporary schools do not tolerate psychologically atypical children, and the group
- discriminates against everyone who differs from the average. The Hungarian poet Dezso
- Kosztolanyi did not write without cause, when saying goodbye to his son going to school for the
- first time, “My hand still fumbles at his hair; I let him leave, although I feel I am throwing him
- into a tiger cage.” The specialist literature also attests to this, that contemporary schools are
- disadvantageous for unusually capable children.
- Symptoms of ill health appear in many talented children because of damage from school
- (insomnia, various kinds of cardiac problems, headaches, abdominal pains, neuroses and
- psychoses). It is most worrying that children take them from their community. Permit me to
- mention as a curiosity that famous people often failed in school. Thomas Mann failed three
- times during his school studies. Albert Einstein was considered a very bad student by his
- instructors. In his school reports they noted, “He thinks slowly, is agitated, obsessed with stupid
- dreams.” Robert Roentgen they determined to be “extremely untalented.” James Watt was
- considered “heavy and dim,” etc.
- Clement Lanny and his colleagues, who studied aggression in school, collected numerous
- examples showing how neglected, sometimes extremely neglected, were students in school
- groups.
- School groups are also very unstable; peripheral children are susceptible to the influence of mass
- opinion. It is sufficient for the leader of some group or other, even for a trivial reason, to incite
- antipathy towards any member of the group. As well, the famous American pediatrician
- Benjamin Spock says that one easily brands unusually capable children as “keeners” or “nerds”
- etc. And the unfortunate student immediately becomes a punching bag for the group, often for
- many months. The Hungarian psychologists Imre and Alice Hermann warn about the cruel
- conduct of children, emphasizing that, “The cruelty is not intentional, but is no less wounding to
- the target.” To that I can add what Plutarch wrote: “Boys throw frogs in jest, but the frogs die in
- earnest.”
- Raise a Genius! - 14
- So it is not by accident that people often propose that someone should do something to
- ameliorate the disadvantageous situation of the talented. In the West German magazine Bunte
- Illustrierte (12/1980) I read an article titled “Unusual ability - Unhappiness?” Currently in
- Hungary many are now calling for an improvement in the situation of the talented. The
- renowned geneticist Endre Czeizel writes, “Paradoxically, mentally challenged children enjoy
- advantages, as there is a separate school system for them, while no solution is seen for the
- talented.
- In America, by contrast, they have worked on a talent-nurturing program, even including
- training on educating extraordinarily capable children in pedagogical instruction. The Society
- for Helping Extraordinarily Capable Children was founded in Hamburg in 1978. And in the
- Soviet Union they do a lot in the instruction of the talented in special schools. For example,
- there are this kind of school in Novosibirsk, there are sport schools in Tashkent, and the
- Lomonosov University in Moscow.
- In Hungary, if I understand correctly, it is not possible to use an educational structure in
- primary school that dif ers from the standard, and private instruction for extraordinarily
- capable children is not permitted.
- Truly not. When my wife and I investigated the outcomes and ways of life of extraordinary
- people, we decided that to fulfil our educational duty we would not choose the traditional form,
- but we would teach our children privately. When my first daughter, Zsuzsa, reached the age of
- compulsory education, I petitioned to release her from attendance at school six months before
- the start of the school year. I argued from foreign examples and from her current progress,
- because I felt the development of her capabilities would be threatened in school. The ministry
- refused my petition many times, despite the fact that many supported it in writing.
- Let me quote from that petition. Janos Szabolcsi, a middle-school teacher and international
- chess master, said, “I support the petition, because the risk of granting it is trivial compared to
- the seemingly great, even world shaking, result that is foreseen.” The chess instructor Laszlo
- Alfoldi: “A globally significant result and very rapid progress can certainly be expected from
- Zsuzsa Polgar. As a private student she can continue her studies for an extended period with
- complete success, and at the same time make possible the maximal structured development of
- her ability in chess.”
- Despite this my petition was refused for a long time. An officer of the relevant authority even
- visited us, accompanied by a member of the security police armed with a machine pistol, to deal
- with the matter. I received warnings many times from various authorities that someone had
- initiated charges against me for not observing the law concerning compulsory education.
- We spent a great deal of energy until we won that battle and received permission from the
- Ministry of Education. The decision was as follows: “The child is unusually capable; I release
- her, strictly as an exception, from daily attendance at school.”
- Raise a Genius! - 15
- We had waited for this liberation for nine months. Later, with the birth of our next child the
- problem began again from the beginning. We succeeded painfully and arduously in arranging
- for her to be a private student as well.
- Raise a Genius! - 16
- 2. Every child is a promise
- “We are wiser when older, but we learn more easily when younger.” - Aristotle
- “Many things can be acquired with money, many by deceit, and many by falsehood. But there is
- one thing that can be obtained only by honest labor, for which a king must work as hard as a
- coalman… and that is knowledge.” - The Talmud
- “Chance can create not only a thief, but sometimes a great person.” - G. C. Lichtenberg
- What are the main pedagogical principles that you consider worthy of following both in the
- education of average people and in that of the talented?
- Among my pedagogical principles some that occupy an important place are awakening and
- holding the interest of the child, requiring accomplishments from the child, trust in them, and
- praise and admiration for their accomplishments. (Plutarch writes, “According to Xenophon,
- there is no sweeter music than when one is praised.”) In the Soviet Union an experiment was
- performed focused as a basic principle on admiration for children’s accomplishments. The result
- was a very intense evolution of the child’s capabilities. Apart from that, the central role of
- success is also one of my pedagogical principles.
- A few days ago I returned from New York, where during a visit to a school I happened to see a
- slogan on the wall: “Every child is a promise.” Indeed, on every level of pedagogy, in every form
- of instruction, pedagogy must start from this fundamental concept.
- It is very important that the child likes what they are doing; only then will it be possible to
- inspire a long period of fruitful labor. The formation of a deep interest plays a great role in the
- evolution of the personality, principally from the viewpoint of developing abilities. The
- interested child develops their abilities using less energy, while attaining greater success, and
- becoming less tired.
- How do you view the relationship between success and failure?
- I generally ask for positive stimuli. In my opinion one must create a pedagogical situation in
- which the lived experience of success is much better than that of failure. This is valid for every
- child, but is most important for the talented.
- The experience of success or failure, as Adler demonstrates, greatly influences the
- self-confidence - or uncertainty - of the child. According to P. Michel as well, the experience of
- success, the admiration of others, and the recognition of teachers, significantly stimulates
- further action, increases the trust of the child in their knowledge and ability to a high degree.
- According to Frank, failure, suffering, and fearfulness decrease achievement. Following a
- number of successive failures, even a damaging inhibitory complex can be created. With an
- increase in stress, action becomes more superficial and behavior less calm.
- Raise a Genius! - 17
- Similarly, in the opinion of M. Juck, success experienced in one area increases (and failure
- decreases) the level of aspiration in other areas.
- Helm’s experiments prove that experience of success decreases the time necessary for solving
- later tasks, and increases the elasticity and ideational richness of the mind, while following
- failure there can be hindrances, rigidity, and relative ideational poverty in thinking, and
- problem-solving time increases.
- Achievements can often be under- or over-valued. Which of these is less useful from a
- pedagogical viewpoint?
- Pedagogically, only accurate estimation is good; psychologically of course over-estimation is less
- dangerous than under-. But let us not forget, morally, and therefore psychologically, too much
- external success (praise, distinction, reward) makes a child too self-confident, and this can
- result not only in a malformed character, but also a diminished capability for achievement.
- As Marta Nemes writes, “It is one thing to progress by means of internal striving toward a
- conceived goal, and another by external applause.” External acknowledgement alone does not
- equal success. However, external acknowledgement is also important, but in the end it results in
- the mere form of effective achievement, in contrast to the internal kind.
- Harmony between achievement and external acknowledgement is therefore very important, and
- this applies as well to the concurrence of internal and external evaluation. The echo undoubtedly
- increases the joy of the creators, nevertheless it is not loud acknowledgement of success, but
- principally the warmth of a sure level of understanding.
- Doesn’t success diminish work discipline? All in all, what is your opinion about discipline?
- I consider discipline to be a very important pedagogical factor. I am neither in favor of iron
- discipline nor too much freedom. I ask for rational and self-directed discipline, whether in a
- child or an adult. I have learned much related to this from Janos Selye: “I like a natural
- moderate way of living - I permit myself every comfort in the office, laboratory, and at home that
- increases the ability to do research and at the same time live and enjoy a life that makes sense to
- me and has a goal. But no more. A true scientist lives a monastic life, separate from the affairs of
- the world, dedicating himself completely to his work. He needs self-willed iron discipline, to
- concentrate all his capabilities on tasks, experiments or manuscripts, which demands
- continuing and undivided attention. If we ramble along through time, our minds will merely
- progress at walking speed.” I completely refuse blind discipline, because this does not come
- from the inside. I achieve discipline by means of interest in and liking of the goal, not by
- coercion. But according to Comenius, discipline is also needed: “Instruction without discipline is
- like a watermill without water.”
- The essence of being disciplined is, of course, not merely an external framework, but an internal
- psychological ability. Education with discipline generally develops one’s abilities, as it
- simultaneously trains persistence, willpower, and attentiveness.
- Raise a Genius! - 18
- According to an interesting insight of Lono Bolin, “The intensity of a child’s attention is not only
- not less, but even greater than that of an adult.”
- From this also flows your pedagogical concept, dif erent from that of current pedagogy, about
- the role of early childhood.
- In my pedagogical system early childhood occupies a central place. In my concept, early
- childhood, that is, the period between 3 and 6 years, the preschool years, are more important
- and principally much more in need of utilization than thought of in the current specialist
- literature that realizes practice.
- In my opinion, early childhood is entirely not early from the viewpoint of learning, even as it
- concerns specialization. R Rose, a specialist in cerebral biochemistry, shows that in early
- childhood, with the growth of cells in the brain, the development of new cellular processes, and
- new neural interconnections, new contacts are created. But when the brain is fully developed, it
- suddenly, remarkably, loses this capability. This is the reason that people learn less easily with
- the passing of years.
- B. Bluhm, a professor at the University of Chicago, explains in his book Consistency and Change
- in the Human Personality that 50% of a person’s intellect is formed during the first four years of
- life, and a child’s extraordinary ability to understand, typical until four years of age, little by little
- decreases with the passage of time. A disadvantageous environment causes in the first 4 - 5 years
- - according to him - more damage than later impoverished development during the next 10 - 12
- years.
- Summarizing the results of the research of the World Health Organization, Barnet determines
- that the first five years of life are most important in forming a person’s behavior. In Turchenko’s
- opinion, concerning a child’s spiritual development, it is difficult, almost impossible, to
- compensate for deprivation in early childhood. The most difficult problems in education would
- be for the most part solved, if one could begin instruction soon enough.
- People often object to the idea of early instruction, asserting that this works contrary to the
- development of the human organism. In fact, this assertion cannot be more correct than its
- opposite. A US scientist writes that it is still not yet clear how much effect the external
- environment has on the structure of the brain. For timely and correct instruction for children,
- we need to know the details of the development of the human nervous system. But at this time
- we still cannot definitively answer the question of what happens in the nerve centers if we begin
- instruction early, or inversely, if much later.
- What can one easily impart in early childhood?
- Firstly, foreign languages. This does not hinder the child in the development of thinking; it does
- not spoil the parental language; on the contrary, it even enriches the personality. Currently all
- over the world people are already researching the possibility of language instruction in
- preschool age. The Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic
- Raise a Genius! - 19
- Republic, France, Japan, the US, the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, etc. all are running
- successful language instruction experiments in kindergarten. In multilingual regions children of
- very young ages can already speak multiple languages with full fluency and without mixing
- them. According to Frantishek Marek, “Learning foreign languages in early childhood is very
- important, because without that a person cannot later express themself spontaneously, rapidly,
- and appropriately.”
- According to Miklos Deak, at the age of 4 - 6, a child’s vocal apparatus is still developing, is
- elastic and flexible, and is only fixed after the tenth year of life. The developmental capability of
- the vocal organs of kindergarteners is very advantageous for perfect assimilation of foreign
- languages. The closer a child is to the murmuring and babbling stage, the more easily they
- switch to any other voice. As a curiosity I mention that children often develop a better
- pronunciation than their teachers, if they often listen to sound recordings or can interact with
- children for whom the language in question is native.
- What experience do you have in this context?
- I can give my daughters as examples. I sent them to a Russian-language kindergarten, and at the
- age of five all of them fluently spoke Russian as well as Hungarian.
- In a word, you have experienced that one can begin “serious work” much earlier than is done
- currently.
- Yes. I usually say, about the prejudice that children are not sufficiently mature to learn until the
- age of six, that most adults (parents or teachers) are not sufficiently mature or qualified to teach
- children. If we want to satisfy the demands of the future, we must begin with children at the
- earliest possible age. By my didactic principle, one should begin instruction, which is in my
- concept nothing other than a serious game, at the age of 4 - 5.
- Does this not deprive the child of what we call childhood; does this not reduce a child’s
- childhood?
- Childhood is not reduced, only the image of childhood that predominates in public opinion and
- the specialist literature. This is not worth worrying about. In my opinion the predominant image
- of childhood is not based on reality.
- Psychological literature often describes the essence of childhood existence as careless or
- carefree. People interpret that to mean that children live for the moment. But in fact adults also
- like to live for the moment, and many adults only live thus. But a child is objectively a being
- oriented to the future. To the essence of my didactic principle, to consistent genius-raising,
- belongs also the idea that one must give perspective to the child. If a child does not see a
- perspective, see a goal, they can do nothing without parental help. A child is also a
- self-developed being, although a child’s autonomy is not in place at birth, but is a step in its
- development. How much a child is capable of educating themself is dependent on their level of
- Raise a Genius! - 20
- development, and is therefore a result of pedagogical work. In fact, we must educate a child from
- the first moment, enabling their certain autonomy.
- What is the role of play in the life of a child? If I say “child,” one immediately thinks of play.
- The image of childhood in my concept also differs in this respect from the traditional one.
- Perhaps this often causes people to misunderstand me and my daughters. In fact, I think of play
- as a very important phenomenon, perhaps more important than do many of those psychologists
- who put it on a pedestal.
- But play is not the opposite of work. Play is very important for a child, but in play there is an
- element of work. One should not separate these two factors in a child’s value system; if for
- example a child hears at an impressionable age, “Play, son, don’t work!” this can later result in
- him feeling that work is alien. On the contrary, it is my opinion that a child does not like only
- play: for them it is also enjoyable to acquire information and solve problems. A child’s work can
- also be enjoyable; so can learning, if it is sufficiently motivating, and if it means a constant
- supply of problems to solve that are appropriate for the level of the child’s needs.
- I think that one can learn by playing, and the acquisition of valuable information can be
- embedded in play. Everyday conceptions rigidly differentiate between a child’s play and
- learning, that is, their work. The Hungarian Encyclopedic Dictionary exemplifies this tendency,
- this is its example for “play”: “He does not like learning, only play.”
- A child does not need play separate from work, but meaningful action. Children already enjoy
- doing meaningful things in infancy. They like solving problems during play, even pleasurable
- play. The more meaningful and information-rich the problems they solve during their activities,
- the greater is their enjoyment and sense of success. In the end it is most important at this age to
- awaken enjoyment and good feelings in them.
- Regarding my daughters, it is my experience that learning presents them with more enjoyment
- than a sterile game. I have the feeling that play deprived of information often plays only a
- surrogate role, of surrogate action, of surrogate satisfaction.
- This is proven also by the fact that when we examine the biographies of exceptionally capable
- children, we find that they played much less than their peers. The profound and lengthy
- research of L. M. Turman in California in 1920 uncovered many differences between the play of
- unusually capable children and their peers. As expected, play that demanded mental action was
- much more interesting to the talented children. They played alone somewhat more often,
- compared to the control group. Susanna Millar writes in her book Psychology of Play that
- sometimes unusually capable children who lack peers at the same intellectual level can have
- difficulties in play with others.
- Thus I generally do not rigidly separate learning from play, or work from hobbies at an adult
- level.
- I support doing work that one likes, which is thus an enjoyable occupation. But this can come
- about only when, in choosing, we come to passionately enjoy it. And for this childhood is more
- Raise a Genius! - 21
- appropriate. On the other hand, play does not exist without discipline, and vice versa: we can
- find play-like aspects in work. In childhood we must correctly form these satisfying factors.
- Because of this I call preschool serious play, and later play I call enjoyable or hobby-like work.
- This leads us to the logical question: how much of a workload can a child carry in early
- childhood?
- The workload interrelates with the complexity of the personality; we should use, rather than the
- idea of under- or over-loading, the notion of a good or a bad workload. A good workload is that
- which corresponds to a state of health, with the physical and spiritual state and development of
- the child. A bad workload could be either an under or over load.
- What is the precondition for a good workload?
- To awaken the child’s interest. The child should like what they are occupied with, that is, be
- interested in it. One must little by little accustom them to the work and create in them the
- unification of work and play.
- It is important as well that the child become accustomed to learning and working. Particular
- training is necessary for the workload. I call well-organized and age-appropriate work active
- rest. A child’s workload should be such that they experience it as active rest. Students, for
- example, who must attend lectures which they then enjoy, feel more rested afterwards than
- before. And if the speaker lectures inexpertly, they almost fall asleep from boredom and fatigue
- after half an hour.
- Could students carry a significantly higher workload than in current practice, if these
- conditions existed?
- From my point of view, workloads could be measurably increased by appropriate methods. I
- agree with the pedagogical tendency to ask for intensive instruction. The essence of intensive
- instruction lies really in using goal-directed workloads, age-appropriateness, the holding of
- interest, and the lived experience of achievement and success.
- The American G Doman thinks the same. In his analogy: as the different muscles of the body can
- be developed and strengthened only by regular training, so also the capabilities of the brain can
- only grow by means of daily training. The lack of structured logical thought and learning causes
- a decrease in intelligence, just as un-exercised body parts atrophy. Doman knows, on the basis of
- three decades of practical experience, that the brain grows most rapidly between the ages of 1
- and 6, and it almost “effortlessly” assimilates knowledge. The ability to learn by play decreases
- after 6 years of age, when assimilation of information becomes more difficult mental work.
- In my opinion, we should disseminate the idea of intensive learning in every field. My daughters,
- for example, learned each language using intensive methods. Of course they did so with chess as
- well. And table tennis.
- Raise a Genius! - 22
- Again I’ll ask: does an early workload damage the development of a child’s personality?
- In the current state of science this problem has not been fully clarified. The traditional way, of
- unburdened early childhood years, can be as damaging as the way I propose. I think that the
- latter is more useful.
- Have you performed research on work and fatigue in children in natural conditions?
- Yes. My daughters, for example, twice took part, in 1985 and 1986, in so-called 24-hour chess
- marathons in Dresden. (In 1985 only Zsuzsa and in 1986 also her two younger sisters played in
- the tournament, Zsuzsa was 15, Zsofi was 9 and a half, and Judit 8). According to the rules, they
- had to play 100 matches in 24 hours, so they had to keep attentive with great effort, practically
- without rest. (There were only three short 20-minute pauses for food). Added to this, they had to
- sit at the chess table after a 16-hour train journey.
- Now Zsuzsa won both competitions with a large advantage of 10 points, before international
- male masters as well, and both her sisters achieved top places. (90% of the participants were
- 25-30-year-old men). In 1985 Zsuzsa achieved as many points in the first fifty matches as in the
- second, against the same partners. In 1986 Zsuzsa and Zsofi collected as many points in the first
- fifty matches as in the second. Judit had a few more points in the second half as in the first. Zsofi
- and Judit achieved more points in the last 40 matches than in the first 40. This proves the
- workload capability of children (they do not tire more than adults, even…) and that extended
- effortful attention can increase for a definite goal.
- Not only the results show that my daughters could handle the workload (in 1986 Zsuzsa
- collected 91.5 points in 100 games, Judit 68.5, and Zsofi 66 points), but also the photos taken of
- them at different stages of the 24-hour contest.
- Raise a Genius! - 23
- 3. Genius: treasure or burden?
- “We perceive only that which we wish to see, and we listen only to that which we wish to hear.” -
- A. Szent-Gyorgyi
- “Besides protecting talents, many understand that one must protect oneself from the talented.” -
- Gy Juhasz
- “People deny their prophets and slaughter them, but love their martyrs and pay homage to those
- put to death.” - F. M. Dostoyevskiy
- The nucleus of your pedagogical system is, like the libido for Freud, and the emotions for
- Wallon, the notion of genius.
- The notion of genius and the related theoretical and experimental work. Of course, I do not
- intend to found an ideology of genius rule or genius power, nor do I think that the sole purpose
- of all pedagogy is to raise geniuses. No. I am opposed to all aristocracy, so I am also against
- “geniocracy.” I am opposed to all pedagogical autocracy, and thus also opposed to transplanting
- my method as a template everywhere.
- How much does the notion of genius that you use dif er from the concept in popular opinion or
- of specialists?
- Current public opinion widely disseminates, on the one hand, the ancient idea that a genius is
- peculiar, diverging from the norm, an extraordinarily bizarre phenomenon, half insane, and that
- a genius hardly differs from an insane person. On the other hand, one often identifies a genius
- with those at the peak of their fields, with film stars, or celebrities. Of course, I do not accept
- either concept from public opinion; not only that which characterizes geniuses as half insane,
- but also that which sees a genius in every film star, celebrity or famous person.
- The situation has not been clarified even in pedagogy. I myself have asked several researchers
- how they define the notion of genius, and most responded that they had never even considered
- the matter.
- This state characterizes pedagogy in the first place. The situation in psychology is a little better,
- although even psychology does not treat the matter with its due significance, despite the fact
- that it has already passed beyond the concept of the Italian physician and criminalist Cesare
- Lombroso (1835-1909) regarding “genius and insanity.” For example, some psychologists tried
- to discover the secret of Einstein, so they analyzed him anatomically (weight, volume, and
- folding of the brain), but they found nothing different from the average. After the death of Lenin
- a brain research institute in Moscow wondered the same, if it was possible to discover some
- difference in his brain structure, but this research also demonstrated nothing concrete.
- Raise a Genius! - 24
- If the notion of genius is this uncertain in public opinion and specialist circles, why do you
- insist on it? Do you have certain presuppositions about the idea?
- To explain my thinking I could of course use a different notion. Every researcher is allowed to do
- this. But I consciously insist on the notion of genius - used of course according to my definition -
- to recover its status, and bringing it back to the world, democratize it. I insist on the notion:
- - because I want to convince people that genius is not of some other world, but is an entity
- of this world, a goal attainable by means of education,
- - because I want to prove that it has nothing in common with insanity, but the inverse:
- every healthy person has the capacity from birth for it, and genius is a normal result of
- the development of this potential;
- - because I feel that it is a general category that can serve as a complete characterization of
- all particular manifestations: artist, scientist, organizer, laborer, athlete, politician,
- pedagogue, etc.
- - everyone can be a genius: the quality of “genius” describes being outstanding with the
- same validity in all these fields;
- - because (and I use this category principally because of this) I see a potential genius in
- each individual born healthy. I link genius neither to class or race. For me genius is a
- democratic idea. The task and duty of pedagogical work is to lead people in this
- direction. On the other hand it is the right of every genius to consider themself as such
- without shame. I use this idea for - acknowledging the existence of the outstanding -
- promoting this quality, and so that genius (quality, outstandingness) would not be an
- object of shame in our society, but of pride.
- Genius then is for you not merely an idea, but a full complex concept.
- First, I distinguish potential genius from that which has been realized. In my concept every child
- born healthy is a potential genius, but whether they become so or not depends on circumstances,
- on education, and on themself. The fact that in the 20th century - because of societal need,
- among other things - many more geniuses were “realized” than, for example, in the 18th and
- 19th centuries, proves this. The journey from potential genius to actual genius is a battle for
- liberation, a process of freeing the genius. Future society will very likely be composed of evolved,
- self-realized, free individuals, and genius will be considered a normal, everyday existence, and
- not as an individual “extravagance.”
- But today we are still far from that. Currently most of the population is of average capability, and
- only a few, although many more than we imagine, rise to the level of outstanding (in other
- words, geniuses).
- Raise a Genius! - 25
- Explain this thought in more detail! It has seemed to me until now that a genius was a random
- coincidence of social environment and innate gifts.
- Einstein does not assert without reason that an erudite mind was favoured by good luck, but
- only the erudite will become so. I interpret this to mean that genius = work + favorable
- circumstances (I include the social environment in favorable circumstances).
- Every healthy child may be led to the summit. The fact that the majority of children a language
- between the ages of 1 and 2 proves this. Think about it, isn’t this an achievement of genius? If
- they continue, at the age of 10 they can speak 5 or 6 languages. Thus genius results firstly from
- education and self-education. The opinion of world-famous geniuses also confirms this
- assertion. Let me cite some examples:
- T.A. Edison: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
- Ch. Chaplin: “Talent is nothing; discipline is everything.”
- C. Cuvier: “Genius is firstly attention.”
- M. Gorkiy: “Talent is the love of work.”
- J.S. Bach: “Anyone can achieve my level, if he is a diligent as I have been my entire life.”
- J.W. Goethe: “Genius? Probably merely diligence.”
- H. de Balzac: “Every human talent consists of two parts: patience and time.”
- Currently, outstanding psychologists researching creativity relate to the problem similarly.
- According to the Soviet expert on the subject B. Nikitin, every physically and spiritually healthy
- newborn possesses an enormous potential for developing their capabilities, and the earlier we
- use them, the better. “[Children] before kindergarten age already have an enormous capacity to
- learn, and one can use it much more intensively.” (He reached this conclusion using the
- experience of his own children. At the age of 2 years and 8 months to 3 years and 4 months they
- could already read, at 3 and a half they possessed the knowledge of arithmetic, writing and
- reading required in their first class, etc.)
- According to the American psychologist Maya Pines, millions of children are irreparably
- damaged because during the crucial age - from birth to the 6th year - one did not sufficiently
- promote the evolution of their intellects. According to the French author G. Duhamel, “Until the
- fifth year every child is a genius.”
- Glenn Doman, one of the most well known scientists who study genius, has a similar opinion:
- according to him every child before the age of 3 can be raised to be a genius, and “Every infant
- should be programmed as an outstanding genius.” He responds to his critics, according to
- whom he wants to “breed” elite geniuses, thus: “Indeed, yes, we are raising an elite. But do you
- know how many children should be a part of this elite? A billion. Currently there are about that
- many children in the world.” I suppose that in the global population:
- 80% are potential geniuses in the first year of their lives,
- 60% are potential geniuses in the third year,
- 50% are potential geniuses in the fifth year,
- Raise a Genius! - 26
- 40% are potential geniuses in the twelfth year,
- 30% are potential geniuses in the sixteenth year,
- 20% are potential geniuses in the eighteenth year, and
- only 5% are potential geniuses in the twentieth year.
- How does this relative social stasis stand if we project it to the age of 22-35?
- At that age it is for the most part established how many geniuses are realized: about 0.1 to 0.01
- percent of the population.
- A fully realized genius is the same, in my opinion, as an outstanding person. An outstanding
- person differs on the one hand quantitatively from the average (they know much more than the
- average person), and on the other hand they realize in society a more valuable, more original
- creativity. Being outstanding comes in different stages. I distinguish three:
- 1. Candidates or pre-geniuses (1-5% of every domain)
- 2. Geniuses (0.2-0.5% of every domain)
- 3. Super-genius (1 in every domain)
- Thus follows:
- - The handicapped:
- - Idiots: very retarded mentally
- - Imbeciles: moderately mentally retarded
- - Feeble minded: a little mentally retarded
- - The normal:
- - Adequate people: minor capability
- - Average people: natural
- - Capable people: more capability
- - The outstanding (geniuses):
- - Unusually capable: candidate or pre-geniuses
- - Super-capable: geniuses
- - Extraordinarily capable: super-geniuses
- Of course, these divisions are only relative. Obviously every concrete person can move from one
- category to another.
- Please give examples to illustrate your classification.
- Obviously one knows best one’s own area of specialization. I take my examples from chess. If -
- let us suppose - a capable chess player attains 2350-2450 Elo points, then the following results
- characterize an outstanding person, that is, a genius. An unusually capable person, that is, a
- candidate or pre-genius would be between 2450 and 2550. A genius, a super-capable person,
- could achieve 2550-2650, and those above 2650 I call super-geniuses.
- In chess at a global level (among adults), we find:
- Raise a Genius! - 27
- - Super-geniuses (above 2650): 2-4 persons
- - Geniuses (2550-2650): 50-60 persons
- - Candidate geniuses (2450-2550): 300-400 persons
- In Hungary:
- - There are no super-geniuses
- - Geniuses: 4-5 persons
- - Candidate-geniuses: around 15 persons
- - Highly capable: around 70 persons
- Where are the Polgar daughters?
- Zsuzsa is in the super-genius category in her age group; among adults she is in the pre-genius
- category. But Zsofia achieved a result in the March 1989 competition in Rome clearly
- characteristic of an adult super-genius. Generally her results put her in the pre-genius category
- at an adult level; in her age group she is in the super-genius category. Judit (who received an
- Oscar prize for her results in 1988) is an indisputable super-genius; that is, in her age group she
- is in the super-genius category, being at #1. At an adult level she is in the pre-genius category (at
- the age of only 12!!!).
- Congratulations! But there is another question to pose in this area: the time factor. History
- knows many examples of child prodigies, but not all of them became adult prodigies. How can
- this be clarified?
- A child is a genius if they are ahead of their peers at 5-7. I am convinced that if child prodigies do
- not become “adult prodigies,” conditions were not favorable for healthy and structured work. In
- good conditions every child prodigy becomes an adult prodigy. Some say that there exist early or
- late developers. In my interpretation, conditions do not favor everyone for the ascent. In the
- case of good conditions, the ascent will succeed early (work and luck have an important role
- here). In less favorable conditions, success will be later. And there exist areas where one can also
- become a genius in old age (philosophers, authors).
- The newspaper Der Spiegel - maybe a bit maliciously - remarked that you explain the matter
- this way: “Genius exists in every person to the extent that society has not ruined them.” But if
- we dif erentiate geniuses merely quantitatively from the average, then we can also speak of
- negative types, “criminal geniuses,” or “genius war criminals,” for example. Does this
- definition of genius trouble you?
- Indeed it troubles me. But I indeed do not conceive of it like that. In my opinion genius is a
- notion about preserving values. I only consider those who realize socially useful actions to be
- geniuses. So genius is a unification of quantity and quality.
- Raise a Genius! - 28
- But if this is true, why does the word “genius” worry many people currently?
- One could discuss this for a long time. Jacques Barzun writes, “A new truth inevitably sounds
- like insanity; the greater the truth, the greater the insanity.” People do not easily tolerate what
- diverges from the average. The more someone differs from a typical average person, the less
- people tolerate them. This is characteristic not only of lay people, but also specialists. Even
- among scientists we find examples of this. Even Einstein was not understood by his colleagues;
- there were physicists in German universities who declared the theory of relativity a dead end. It
- is not public opinion alone that carps at my daughters. Even specialists and fellow game players
- often attack them.
- So the life of a genius is not easy. Andre Malraux says, “Talent is not a well-made foundation,
- talent is a plague of nature, a trap for the character, a curse, a crossing of a burning, falling
- bridge, a burden around the neck, and a sprint up a mountain.” As you see it, should the life of
- a genius be considered a blessing or a curse? And how would they themselves judge their lives?
- Some of them - a very small part - consider their state to be a curse, others a blessing. Most feel
- joy fountaining from structured creativity, the experience of beauty and success. This is a state of
- blessing. But the life of a genius can be weighed down almost like a curse if they do not achieve
- their established goals. Their disillusionment can become great depending on the demands they
- place on themselves. Much can also depend on their sense of realism and their
- self-development.
- The true curse, however, comes from the outside. It causes enormous damage if one evaluates
- poorly what a genius does, if one does not judge them by their merits, if they do not receive
- moral and material support for their work. Also unmerited criticism can be terrible. All this
- makes the lives of geniuses much less easy. Janos Selye determined that “Today the situation is
- in many ways less favorable than in the middle ages, since by means of the rich capability of
- mass media a single demagogue can poison the thinking of the public in a few months, and drive
- the mob into savage fury against the most outstanding representative of the national culture.”
- This brings a new question: Is genius a treasure or a burden?
- In every way, singularly and objectively, a treasure. In our time, when international contacts are
- rapidly developing, the interchange of material and spiritual creations between the various
- populations is accelerating, and international competition in the economic, scientific,
- technological, cultural and athletic areas is similarly intensifying - geniuses always play more
- important roles. It is in no way immaterial how many geniuses live in any country. Raising
- geniuses is one of the preconditions for social progress, and any society can be guided out of
- economic difficulty for the most part only by education and instruction.
- Professor Hans Eysenck, one of the most outstanding of those who plead for raising geniuses,
- asserts that international evolution will be very retarded without an artificial spiritual elite. The
- Raise a Genius! - 29
- inventions and ideas of the above-average talented create pride in the whole society, and their
- patents establish new industrial branches, and thus new work opportunities.
- It is not by chance that, recognizing this, the directors of the largest international corporations
- support pioneering the education of geniuses, and among the patrons of the Doman Institute
- mentioned above are both the US Steel Corporation and the Japanese Sony.
- If so, then why does it happen that geniuses are often find themselves in disadvantageous
- situations?
- It is a different matter that the environment does not always treat geniuses favorably. But of
- course we should not only blame society. Understand well: it is not easy to make average people
- inclined to accept geniuses. Even in school talented children are often excluded from their
- classmates. Teachers do not succeed in making the class like the talented student. Many times
- even the teacher does not recognize the talent, and even hinders its development. In adulthood
- this can happen more explicitly.
- Doesn’t this have to do with geniuses being nonconformists and too sensitive, so they take a
- more sharply critical attitude?
- This is not certain. It is not certain that they have a greater sense of criticism in every direction.
- A genius has a truly different way of thinking than an average person, but they do not always
- reveal this in interpersonal relations, that is, a genius often offends no one. On the contrary,
- usually people offend them. It is not their conduct that evokes offense, but their achievements.
- Why would a genius painter, a genius musician, a genius chess player, offend people? Because
- they are outstanding in their specialty?
- Maybe because they break the mold. Other thinking in itself does not equal of ense. At worst
- this merely troubles or irritates people. If this is the case, then geniuses should accept this and
- form their personalities in accordance with this.
- I agree. I do not want to claim that no genius has a malformed personality. They can have, and
- thus must take great care not to become so. One should establish multifaceted development of
- their personality and the formation of humanistic qualities as a goal for them. They themselves
- should contribute to this, that is, their self-education should work in this direction. I always very
- much tried to evolve in my children a positive human existence. This of course is useful also in
- their work, in the continual realization of greater achievements.
- Raise a Genius! - 30
- There are outstanding chess masters who have malformed personalities. Florian Tibor, an
- international grandmaster and master teacher, who knows the Polgar sisters and many other
- young chess players, said, “It is wonderful how psychologically healthy these children are.
- Even extraordinary achievements have not marred them, unlike their colleagues, whose
- characters success has distorted more than once.” In order for the relationship between society
- and geniuses stay relatively healthy, both sides must work in this direction.
- But society must act first. I agree with Janos Selye, who wrote, “Science flowers only if it is
- rooted in a society that respects knowledge. Many people of science have in the past forsaken
- their homelands to find a more suitable atmosphere.” Think for example of the Hungarians!
- I generally accept the ethical standpoint that if two sides are debating, the stronger, more
- numerous side always bears more responsibility. Nevertheless, as much as the minority, the
- geniuses, are not allowed to do anything, it is not possible to liberate them from the duty of
- tolerance. They also must possess moral qualities enabling healthy contacts with society.
- This is true. Geniuses should not be as capricious as movie starlets. They should not consider
- themselves gods and others simpletons. This very easily leads to devaluing others and neglecting
- the work of others. Geniuses should not be puffed up, or self-aggrandizing, or avaricious. They
- should not want to rule. Moreover, geniuses do not want to be directed even by geniuses.
- Naturally, society needs to be guided by geniuses. Geniuses should become accustomed to the
- idea that they should serve and, if necessary, direct - in science or in other useful fields.
- I agree with this, and this makes more evident the duty of society to consider geniuses as
- treasures, not burdens.
- A would add: consider them benchmarks. We should treat them as standards worthy of
- attainment. The kind of value system a society has is not irrelevant; whether it establishes a goal
- to provide everyone a summer cabin, or luxury goods, etc., or if it considers creativity a value
- and is oriented to quality and eminence. If it ranks true human achievements highly, it will
- increase the rank of work.
- The nurture and care of talent, the appropriate evaluation of genius, is thus one of the
- conditions for the progress of society.
- That society will attain a higher level, which will make it more perfectly effective. The call to
- “raise geniuses!” does not only mean a pedagogical task. It should also become a social goal.
- “Everything that we see realized in this world is nothing more than the external result, the
- practical realization, the embodiment of thoughts that lived in eminent people throughout the
- world; the soul of the full story of the world is - we may assert - their history.” - writes T. Carlyle,
- the Scots-English historian and historian of literature.
- Raise a Genius! - 31
- 4. Should children be made outstanding?
- “The greatest of all miracles is that actual miracles can be natural; indeed, they must be.” - G. E.
- Lessing
- “Do not let the sun set without doing something.” - Latin Proverb
- “We must believe that we are talented in some area, and that we must absolutely attain it.” - M.
- Curie
- I imagine a family that waits with unbounded joy for their first child, nurtures them with
- unending love, and can set them on the unknown road to genius, that could also lead to
- failure…
- In Hungary there truly does not exist experience related to this, but we do have critical
- knowledge of how joy-destroying contemporary schools are. But from our reading we know that
- many eminent individuals in a framework of family pedagogy, as private learners. Naturally, I
- never considered this way to be the only appropriate one. Time and again I emphasize that I am
- a partisan of pedagogical pluralism. I do not reproach parents or teachers who do not travel my
- road (more or less good, but other); I do not reject pedagogical experiments that are different
- from mine, and I do not wish to explosively change the entire Hungarian school system. I believe
- in pedagogical variety, my own method of course included.
- However you are now publishing your experiment, known in detail only to a circle of friends,
- and the basic principles of your pedagogical system, and thus you are handing it over to the
- international specialist public.
- Yes, because my family pedagogical experiment has reached a stage when the road travelled up
- to now can be generalized to a theory, and the results prove the correctness of my ideas. And on
- the other hand, the specialist world is at least turning to us with curiosity.
- I think that those who are trying to introduce various reforms into the framework of the current
- schools, and are experimenting with so-called gifted education to nurture the talented are on the
- right path. But this path, although better than the former one, is not enough. In my opinion we
- can now transition to the organized instruction (with intentional and institutional frameworks)
- of truly unusually capable children, whom I call geniuses. Because in this area there has not
- been much done to pass on my experiences, I am first aiming at this field.
- In what form do you foresee the education of geniuses?
- I consider two forms of organized genius education realizable (with several variations):
- 1. One of them is the family pedagogical, or in other words, home-schooled form. One can
- work in this way with one’s own or adopted children (or both). In the latter case, several
- Raise a Genius! - 32
- families can even work together to complete the educational cycle for children in other
- families.
- 2. The other form is the specialized genius-educating school. One variant could be:
- a. Boarding school, where children live continuously
- b. The other, a boarding school in a family context
- Family pedagogy (in other words, a system of homeschooling) is quite ancient in history. When I
- was exploring this problem and collecting materials, I encountered a great many cases of this. I
- give only a few examples. In a book about the Mendelssohn family one can read that without his
- father, the son Felix Mendelssohn could never have become what he did. His father felt that he
- would not have fulfilled his filial duty even if he had hired the most eminent teachers for his son.
- His educational method was extraordinarily rigorous. His basic principle sounded like this:
- every achievement represented only one step in one’s evolution; every good thing could become
- even better. The message of his pedagogy is that the education of a child is never finished, and
- parents, while they live, should never stop counselling and “directing” their children.
- About Yehudi Menuhin I read that for his parents, the birth of a son and the development of his
- talent meant that it was self-evidently natural that their lives would be subordinate to the career
- of their son. His father left his well-developing pedagogical career in 1928 so that the family
- could live together and he could organize Yehudi’s concerts.
- It seems to me that this situation was almost perfectly repeated with you… Ten years ago you
- and your wife left your teaching positions.
- I did not mention by accident that I had studied the specialist literature and found myself under
- its influence before the birth of my daughters. Even independent of this I represented the
- standpoint that one should strengthen the role of the family in society and promote its activity in
- the sphere of education. One should not hand over all its functions to the schools. Moreover, if a
- mature, educationally capable family were found prepared to make the effort, one should
- promote and support this kind of family pedagogy, working with either one’s own or adopted
- children. Namely, the family creates and maintains the first field of activity for a child. Family
- members become the first models for a child. A child’s concept of identity (self-awareness) is
- delineated within the framework of the family.
- The evolution of exceptionally capable children is greatly favored if the ambition of the parents
- is directed towards raising them as outstanding people. In all those cases when we encounter a
- very early revelation of exceptional capability, we are able to determine that either the parents or
- other people (most often teachers or tutors) made an effort to directly develop these capabilities.
- According to the renowned German pedagogue Hermann Noch, the basis for education of
- exceptionally capable children is, “the passion of the mature person in relation to the developing
- person - in favour of the latter.” At the start the relationship is so intimate that the soul is
- determined to imitate the model and complete the tasks.
- Raise a Genius! - 33
- In addition, the soul is very important. The anecdote about Socrates is well known, when once
- the master sent back to his father a youth who had been registered to study with him. Asked why
- he did this, Socrates answered, “Because he did not love me enough.”
- If I understand your thinking well, the starting task for education does not consist of parents
- uncovering talents that are hidden in children like an underground stream, but that they direct
- and orient them by means of good methods towards the chosen specialty.
- Yes, according to my principle one should not try to find talents, but choose an appropriate
- pedagogical method for developing the talents.
- The first characteristic of genius education - I could say the most important novelty
- distinguishing it from contemporary instruction - and its necessary precondition, is early
- specialization directed at one concrete field. It is indeed true what Homer said, “A person cannot
- be experienced or first in everything.” Because of this parents should choose a specific field at
- their discretion. 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.
- How would you summarize the essence of specialized education?
- Intensive instruction in the chosen field of specialized activity. My daughters, for example,
- arrived at the field of chess, which means that starting from 4-5 they played chess 5 or 6 hours a
- day.
- What other fields can one also choose, in your opinion?
- Anything. If someone wants to become a musician, they should spend 5 or 6 hours doing music,
- if physics, then doing physics, if linguistics, then with languages. In conditions of intensive
- instruction a child will soon feel knowledgeable, perceive independence, achieve success, and
- shortly become capable of independently applying their knowledge. Let us take an example from
- language learning. Let us suppose that someone visits a class for interpreters at a school for
- geniuses, where they are occupied for 5-6 hours with a first foreign language, Esperanto if
- possible. (Why precisely with this language I will clarify below.) After some months they are
- already corresponding with children in other countries, they participate in meetings in and
- outside of their country - and longer-lasting - where they experience serious successes, and they
- converse fluently in the language they have learned by then. Is this a nice feeling for a child? Yes,
- it is nice. Is it useful for the child? Yes, it is useful. Is it useful for society? It is useful. In the
- following year one can do the same with another foreign language - let us say English - and in
- the year after that another.
- The same is valid for any field of life. In this way a child really enjoys what they are doing, and
- they see that it makes sense. In contemporary schools students do not understand why they are
- learning. But in genius-education schools the children know that after a few months they will
- speak Esperanto, in the following year English, in the following year German, etc. Or in the field
- Raise a Genius! - 34
- of chess; in the first year they play at level 3, after the third year at level 1, after five years as a
- master candidate, after 6-7 years as a master, after 8-10 years as an international master, and
- after the 15th year as a grandmaster. So the child sees the goal and meaning of their work.
- Of course the necessary condition here is that the pedagogue is intensively occupied with the
- child.
- In genius education it is necessary that the pedagogue (whether the parents or professional
- teachers or tutors) stay in direct, constant and intensive contact with the child. Because of this
- we imagine groups of only 10-15 members. In practice an intensive collaborative contact
- between the child and an adult must be formed, in which the child does not feel “subordinate.”
- Think how advantageous it would be if the child already understands at the age of 10 that they
- know a great deal, that they are a person of the same value as an adult, and that in their life
- there is at least one field they master as well or better than adults.
- So do children have an advantageous position in genius education?
- Yes. According to the American social psychologist Kurt Lewin, one can observe a causal
- feedback loop between capabilities and the environment. For talented children not a few
- advantages originate in those specially favorable conditions in the surroundings, that they
- themselves fight out of for their future. For example, if some patron covers the costs of
- instruction, travel, or purchase of specialist literature. To this are added psychological
- advantages.
- There are people who think that by specializing early you are promoting some kind of narrow
- specialist barbarism.
- Totally not. Psychology and pedagogy are both familiar with the phenomenon of “transfer.” The
- formation of capabilities in any field has such a general value that it easily makes a person
- suitable to assimilate other areas. Transfer means that children learn how to learn - they
- assimilate the capability to learn.
- Specialization of course is only relative; being multifaceted generally accompanies it. If, for
- example, one prepares for computer programming, they must learn mathematics, computing,
- foreign languages, and as well they will certainly travel the world, encounter eminent people in
- the public sphere, do sports, do cultural activities, etc. How is this narrow? Zsuzsa speaks 7 or 8
- foreign languages, travels overseas, writes articles and books, analyzes chess matches, plays
- table tennis, swims, etc.
- Moreover, one should interpret development in one direction correctly. Although being directed
- in one directed means going both deeper and higher, it does not, however, cause the whole
- personality to become single-faceted. It is true that genius education makes a child specialize in
- one field, but this does not mean abandoning all other fields. A single direction is not the same
- as being single-faceted, and vice versa, multidirectionality does not in itself equal being
- Raise a Genius! - 35
- multi-faceted. Single-directionality can combine with being multi-faceted, while
- multi-directionality can also mean being zero-faceted, or mere hypocrisy behind which hides a
- lack of knowledge. Multi-directionality can also mean being competent at no speciality at all, or
- snobbish “competency.” As Seneca says, “Who is everywhere is nowhere.”
- One can easily be convinced that my system brings people closer to being as multifaceted as
- possible than current schools, which lead mostly to grey mediocrity.
- Thus the specialization you promote contains the basic multifacetedness of our times, the
- complexity of personality.
- Yes. One should link genius education to the complex education of the personality, and within
- this the formation of emotional and moral values. In genius education this task is as important
- as early specialization. While contemporary schools cannot fulfil their task of education for the
- greater number of students and subjects, while for them education is merely a slogan, for genius
- education the formation of a complex personality is a valid requirement, a basic precondition.
- The reason for this, among others, is that the working relationship between pedagogue and
- student is very intimate. This “closeness” is itself spontaneously educational, but it is completed
- by a goal-conscious planned program. One should prepare oneself for educating children as
- consciously as for specialist instruction.
- This is probably an even more dif icult field.
- Yes, and in this field pedagogical tradition is poorer, and the task itself is unmeasurably more
- complex. There is no more complex, multifaceted entity than the human personality. Among the
- goals of education I and my wife consider of first importance the formation of the following
- traits: belief, courage, strength, persistence, enthusiasm, the objective evaluation of persons and
- objects, standing up to failure and also the temptations of success, insistent striving for goals,
- patience, inventiveness, tolerance of criticism even if false, being able to let go of stresses,
- enduring conflicts (a higher level of tolerance for frustration), discipline, planning, the need for
- challenging work, establishing realistic goals, conscious management of rest, freedom from
- conventions, searching for new paths, keeping oneself in an appropriate state of humor (good
- humor, calm and aggressive at the same time).
- In addition we also aim for these kinds of values, world views and moral standards, like the love
- of siblings, parents and teachers, respect for elders and the aged, realistic evaluation of peers
- and adults, and that children not prefer the pleasure of physical life, the symbols of the social
- status of creative work, etc. Linked with this I also want to speak about positive vanity. We told
- our daughters that they should work diligently, because they could thus become capable of great
- achievements. We made them aware that there could only be one world champion at a time, so
- they should establish a goal to become good chess players, sportsmanlike honest people. They
- should be aware of their capabilities and fight for what belonged to them, never hurt other
- people. (Unfortunately, they have received enough blows and hurts from life to understand this.)
- Raise a Genius! - 36
- They should have self-respect, know their own capabilities, but they should not desire to be
- stars.
- An important function of genius education is instilling the capability for self-education. It starts
- with establishing in the child independent interests. Little by little we can instill in them
- self-education, independence, and creative work. The pedagogical co-worker cannot always stay
- at their side. So one of the most important educational tasks is to teach self-education. The latter
- contributes to, among other things, the child liking what they do, and in their life work is not
- separate from hobbies.
- What, in your opinion, should be the relationship between children and their peer group?
- The contemporary psychological and pedagogical literature emphasizes in one sense the
- importance of the peer group. But in my pedagogical concept it receives a slightly different
- emphasis. According to me, it is not primarily important for a child to have suitable companions
- of the same age, but preferably to have spiritually (mentally) appropriate partners, friends
- worthy of the level of their intellectual capabilities. If the social relationships of a child are
- exclusively or for the most part limited to groups of the same age, this will slow the progress of
- an exceptionally capable child.
- One often requires that children not stay too long among adults.
- This is disadvantageous only if the intellectual level is too different, and if the relationship
- between child and adult is not suitable, for example, if the adult imposes everything on the child
- so they take away their independence and initiative. But if they try to correctly develop these
- traits in the child, it is not damaging, but on the contrary is useful. About this I do not want to
- say that a child should always be in the company of adults. One must find the right proportion of
- being with adults and peers. I believe that passing their time in the company of those who have a
- similar level of intellect and similar interests and sense this well in these interactions is decisive.
- Zsuzsa is a concrete example: if at the age of 13 she had played chess only with 13-year-olds, who
- were weaker than her in many categories, this would have been less than useful for her. And for
- her opponents it would not have been nice to be “knocked out” in every match. Zsuzsa herself
- would not have profited, because she needed playing partners at a similar level, and those were
- found only among adults.
- However, this was not a cause for concern, as the age difference itself did not prevent friendly
- relationships with others, and having good friends and colleagues at the same time. And
- friendship often flowed from work relationships. Thus one’s work is at the same time a hobby.
- You raised all three of your daughters to be chess geniuses. Why? Were they inclined in that
- direction, or did you guide them in that direction?
- As I said, intellectual capability is in principle educable in any direction; by appropriate methods
- a genius can be formed in any field. From the viewpoint of the pedagogical experiment it would
- Raise a Genius! - 37
- obviously be a stronger hand if I had raised them in three different fields (mathematics, chess,
- and music, for example), declared beforehand. This would certainly have been successful. But
- my financial situation then and my free time did not permit this. If the three children had
- needed three instructor-tutors, we would have had to go with them to three different places, we
- would have had to buy a piano, and books about music, chess and mathematics, etc. So in our
- system, learning was more easily solvable as the children formed one team, and what is most
- important, the family could be together more. I attribute a central role to the family, and I enjoy
- it very much if the family is together a great deal.
- Is it not disadvantageous that all three children specialized in the same field?
- The disadvantages are almost trivial beside the advantages. It is true that some psychologists do
- not promote this way, thinking that the children will jealous, envious - later even hostile. But
- this does not occur with correct education.
- Can you describe how you imagine a day in genius school?
- Probably thus:
- - 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.
- Would you accept a job in a genius-educating school like this?
- If you are asking if I believe in its success - then yes. But if I were to endeavor to do something
- like this in practice, that would depend on the conditions, whether I received sufficient social
- support. It is not only for this that I have been wearied by the many battles up to now, but also
- because it is very important for pedagogical participants in genius education to have tranquility
- and trust. Without this the work will not progress. If one must endlessly dispute with the press,
- with various authorities and poseurs - incapable of acting - pedagogues and psychologists,
- defend oneself against them, this damages the work. For me a single battle like this is sufficient.
- On the other hand, I will still have to concentrate for several years on the further development of
- my daughters.
- Raise a Genius! - 38
- You have done pioneering work, with its risks and burdens. You have taken on not only a
- pioneering war, but a guerilla war.
- Maybe. Despite this, I think that the method of genius education I sketch is not too complicated
- a structure. So one should not fear it as much as people do now, however fearsome it seems now.
- Raise a Genius! - 39
- 5. Esperanto: The first stage of foreign language learning
- “Over all the earth there was one language and one speech.” - Genesis 11
- “A hundred of the grandest ideas would not make as great and beneficial a revolution in the lives
- of humanity as the introduction of an international language will.” - L. L. Zamenhof
- “No privilege for any nation, or any language…” - V. I. Lenin
- Before further presenting your pedagogical system, permit me to digress a little. I know that
- your whole family speaks Esperanto. Did you choose this at random? Or does this function as
- an aid to chess playing? A necessary part of your pedagogical system?
- All of these. But you have not mentioned the most important. Esperanto is for me a humanistic
- value, which besides being a weapon against racial, tribal and national discrimination, also plays
- a role as a remedy for linguistic inequality. It has been made to be one of the possible ways to
- fight for equality and equal rights of the population.
- But if it is so obvious, why has this language not spread more widely?
- The reason is - besides prejudice - principally economic. Humanity must fight for a long time for
- every progressive idea. The need to emancipate women is obvious, just as is the necessity to
- achieve racial equality, despite neither of these being easily effected. For me, genius education is
- also completely self-evident, but many people nevertheless hold prejudices about it. The same is
- true of Esperanto. A part of people well feels in circumstances of “divine wrath.” The confusion
- of Babel means a pleasant living environment for them. There are also those who by intense
- labor learn 2-3-4 foreign languages and unwillingly give up their acquired position. On another
- plane, the economically and politically dominant nations also want to dominate linguistically -
- in current circumstances this relates to English - and obviously would not vote for Esperanto. A
- monopoly on one or another historical national language means at the same time discrimination
- against peoples and languages. In contrast, a neutral language, linked to no nation, would
- manifest the linguistic equality of the peoples. Because of this I consider it a humanistic battle to
- endeavor to introduce Esperanto. In my concept the languages of every nation are of equal value
- from the viewpoint of quality, so there should not be a hierarchy of languages among them.
- Do you think that historical languages will disappear more or less soon?
- No! I think just the opposite: if the languages of every nation are of equal value, then everyone
- can use their own for their first language. But as a second language, a complement, there should
- be an independent neutral language that can act as a bridge between the various nations.
- “Human speech needs two languages,” says the eminent Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy,
- “one for nation, family, art, and self-expression, and one to serve the community, humanity, the
- world, and communication.”
- Raise a Genius! - 40
- Everyone accepts that there needs to be one or more common languages. But why should this
- be an artificial language, Esperanto; why not English, Russian or Chinese?
- English is undoubtedly the most internationally widespread language, and I recommend that
- everyone learn it. Next Esperanto! Today this would be natural. Because in most countries
- English is spoken only by a narrow stratum of people, and generally imperfectly even by them.
- Its study requires a great deal of time and energy, so it can hardly become a world language for a
- great number, for the simple uneducated masses. It presents an unacceptable disadvantage for
- those who live outside of English-speaking regions, and it would overshadow
- non-English-speaking cultures.
- Why Esperanto should rightly be chosen as a world language is easy to prove theoretically. From
- a pedagogical and sociological viewpoint, Esperanto is a consciously planned created language.
- It has become a living language which will have, and already has now, its own traditions. It has a
- past, present and future. Among existing planned languages it has proved without a doubt to be
- the best, the most conformed to its goal. Logical, easily learned, and capable of expressing every
- nuance, it can function as a tool for communication in the international community, and is
- suitable for mass distribution. It can become a common second language for the masses. Lev
- Tolstoy wrote that Esperanto “completely fulfils the requirements for an international language.
- I will endeavor to spread this language and, which is paramount, convince everyone of its
- necessity.”
- Why do you argue so unambiguously for Esperanto?
- Because Zamenhof (1859-1917)’s planned language is perfect from a logical and linguistic
- perspective; its grammar is clear, transparent, without exceptions, and at the same time capable
- of expressing anything. Its syntax is easy. Zamenhof, who knew Russian, Yiddish, German,
- Polish, Hebrew, French, English, Latin and Greek well, created it not from an artificial, invented
- vocabulary, but from the living word-stock of the Romance, Germanic and Slavic language
- families and international vocabulary. Thus its vocabulary seems “known” to many speakers of
- other languages. From time to time, arguing for Esperanto, I give a decisive and sufficient proof:
- “Now I will say a few phrases to you, and you will certainly understand them.” And this has truly
- happened.
- Say a few of these phrases!
- “Esperanto estas internacia, simpla kaj logika lingvo. La ŝako estas ludo, scienco, arto, kaj
- sporto. Zamenhof estis genia homo. La nova libro estas interesa.” It is probably not necessary to
- 1
- translate these. Learning this language is is also important because it is like a logic puzzle, an
- 1 “Esperanto is an international, simple and logical language. Chess is a game, a science, an art and a
- sport. Zamenhof was a person of genius. The new book is interesting.”
- Raise a Genius! - 41
- exercise in logic. It was not by chance that the French Academy of Science determined in 1924
- that Esperanto is a masterpiece of logic and simplicity.
- Thanks to this it is advantageous from a pedagogical perspective?
- Yes. Its vocabulary is easily learnable, its grammar is rapidly assimilated. Its orthography is
- phonetic and its pronunciation melodic. It is learnable almost ten times faster than other
- languages, and it also serves as a foundation on which other languages can be constructed.
- Related to this, the research of the American psychologist and pedagogue Thorndike, who
- carried out a lengthy and massive experiment in various schools, is worth mentioning. First
- Esperanto was taught in various school periods at various levels, and then French was
- introduced in similar conditions. Thorndike emphasised the great pedagogical significance of
- Esperanto in the results of the experiment: learning Esperanto proved to be 15 times easier than
- other foreign languages, that is, its instruction was that much more effective.
- And it has been proved that time dedicated to Esperanto is abundantly repaid when learning
- following foreign languages. It is generally known that possessing one foreign language makes
- assimilating a second one easier. While for solidly learning a foreign national language (English,
- for example), around 2000 hours are needed, for learning Esperanto only 200 are needed. If the
- knowledge of Esperanto shortens the time needed to learn English only 20% (and current
- experience confirms this), then for the two languages together we need 200 + 1600 = 1800
- hours, so less time than if we learned only English.
- I propose to effect this principally now, when we are transitioning from Russian, up to now
- required in Hungarian school instruction, to other languages. Here is a chance for the
- government and the leaders of educational institutions to restore what they abandoned, and
- introduce the choice of Esperanto - of course, they should produce the propaganda necessary for
- this goal. This would also be useful for teachers; it could be an obvious and rapid solution for
- training current Russian teachers in a new language area.
- Permit me to mention one pedagogical perspective again. The relatively rapid success of learning
- Esperanto can contribute to avoiding the feeling of inferiority caused by students’ supposing
- that they are not capable of learning languages, and the growth of linguistic inhibition.
- Esperanto brings the child a rapid sense of success in the field of language learning. If Esperanto
- could play a role in school merely as a logic game, it would still be worth introducing it as a
- compulsory subject.
- What is the character of Esperanto as a cultural movement?
- Esperanto is not only a language, but a symbol of the fight for linguistic equality, and also a
- movement with a very wide network of international organizations, conventions, and gatherings.
- Even children’s conferences are arranged. Almost every significant specialist area has its own
- global organization, as does chess.
- Raise a Genius! - 42
- Esperanto is at the same time also a spontaneous community movement. For example, the
- subscribers to the “Passport Service” make overnight lodgings available free of charge in 50
- countries of the world. Esperanto is a language of both scientists and tourists.
- It is undoubtedly a multi-faceted language, but it has not so far leaped over the obstacles
- mentioned above. Is it possibly not suitable for literature?
- It is certainly suitable! One can express any nuance, any feeling, in the language. Many works of
- world literature have already been translated into Esperanto, and it even has its own literature.
- Permit me to list only a few statistics. Esperanto textbooks appear in about 100 languages. There
- are over 100 Esperanto specialist dictionaries. Radio programs in Esperanto are produced in
- many countries. There are more than 10,000 Esperanto-language books, and there exist
- thousands of original Esperanto works. Around 100 magazines appear monthly in Esperanto. I
- have also published pedagogical papers in Esperanto, and these have been translated into many
- national languages.
- How are Esperanto and chess related?
- By function, of course, they are not related. But the fact that they are both based on pure logic
- and artistic life creates a similarity between them; also, they both bring people and nations
- closer to one another. Moreover, a few chess problems were published in 1892 in the magazine
- “The Esperantist.” Since the 20s, chess books have been regularly published in Esperanto. At the
- Budapest conference of the International Chess Association (FIDE) in 1926, Esperanto was
- proposed as a language for organizational matters. This proposal was not accepted, but the
- association took the point of view that although Esperanto would not become an official
- language, it would nevertheless be ready to work together with the movement. Since then the
- contact has stayed close. For example, I almost never attend foreign competitions without
- encountering Esperantists among the organizers, competitors or the public. I can add that not
- only chess players but other athletes support Esperanto. In 1965 a group of Hungarian athletes -
- among such people as Laszlo Papp, Gyorgy Karpati, Andras Balczo, Ferenc Sido, Gyorgy Szepesi,
- Dezso Gyarmati, Gyula Zsivotzki, and others, the most outstanding Hungarian Olympians,
- petitioned that Esperanto be made an official language of the Olympic Games.
- You are completely enthusiastic, speaking about this. Obviously this is about something more
- than merely logic or rationality. I know that you are a strong pillar and organizer of the
- “Talent” foundation supporting Esperanto culture and scholarship.
- Yes, and of course I willingly donate my writings, expertise and ideas to an institution whose
- charter contains, among other things, the following:
- - The development of children’s talents to a high level.
- - The dissemination of the Esperanto language, and the distribution of its related way of
- thinking and culture.
- Raise a Genius! - 43
- - The protection of the environment, and practical realization of environmental education
- according to the principle “Think globally, act locally.”
- Raise a Genius! - 44
- III. Chess
- 1. Why chess?
- “Who thinks it merely an art is a bad chess player. Who thinks it merely a sport is also a bad
- chess player. In the end there can be those for whom chess is a science. Those are no less bad
- chess players.” - M Najdorf
- “Mental activity is possibly the greatest pleasure in life; and chess is one kind of mental activity.”
- - S. Tarrasch
- “Chess is for me the whole world, but the world consists not only of chess.” - A Karpov
- Why did you and your wife choose just chess as the object of your experiment?
- When we began the practical foundation of our genius-educating theory, at first we planned to
- experiment with mathematics, chess and foreign languages. Influenced by several factors, we
- decided in the end in favor of chess. The following factors mainly motivated me:
- - We desired to prove our theory in the field of mental creativity, because such
- experiments had happened neither in Hungary or elsewhere.
- - In this we chose chess because we became convinced that - compared with other fields -
- one could attain measurable results more rapidly, and principally because here the
- system of evaluation is more delineated, more established, and thus more objective and
- precise. This allows proving the success or failure of the experiment more singularly. We
- decided correctly, for then we did not even imagine how many difficulties we would have
- to surmount during our work. If we ourselves, and even the girls, had not been able to
- show and prove the results, the attacks would have been much more inhibiting for our
- work. It is much easier to objectively prove who is better and stronger in the competition
- at the chess board.
- - In our preconceptions, chess is a complex cultural phenomenon, specializing in which
- brings fewer dangers. It is an activity that can be done not only at a young age - anyone
- can actively compete from infanthood to old age - and it can develop the kinds of
- versatile capabilities in a person that one can use well in other areas, in other specialties,
- spending one’s life at a high level, even after a sudden change, if for example one tires of
- the game of chess or for another reason abandons it. Therefore specialization in this field
- does not make a child’s future uncertain on the occasion of eventual failure or fatigue.
- - The fact that after our first child a daughter was also born gave a further motive for the
- decision. In addition, we could establish a goal to prove the similarity of the intellectual
- capability of boys and girls - and what was most important, in the field which until then
- had been cited as proof of the opposite.
- - In the end, we decided that chess in itself is a complex, very valuable, and beautiful
- activity: a game, a science, an art, a sport, and a psychology simultaneously. Tarrasch
- Raise a Genius! - 45
- says wittily, “I pity people who do not know how to play chess as I pity those who are not
- able to love. Chess can make people as happy as love.”
- I have heard from many people, “Well, yes, those Polgars have become famous people, but
- chess is not really a very complicated af air. If Polgar might prove the same in another field,
- let us say linguistics, mathematics, or music…!”
- I am certain that I could fulfil this work in other fields as well; this follows directly from the
- essence of my theory.
- Is chess not very complicated? I think that doing anything at a high level in any field is difficult.
- Chess is neither easier nor more complicated than other spheres of activity. (Although in it one
- can hardly cheat!) Those who know and appreciate the game of chess all say that it has the same
- cultural value as any branch of science or art.
- Can the game of chess be compared to science or art? Is it that multi-faceted?
- The secret of chess lies in its complexity. In that it is simultaneously a science, an art, a sport,
- and a game. Behind these four traits many others are queued that even today I verbalize with
- difficulty. Something like that chess is at once these four, that it is complex. The fifth trait is
- complexity.
- How much is it a science?
- In as much as it is not chance that produces the final result (as in card games). Chess has a
- continuing framework, an internal logic, and it is recognizable, analyzable and unhideable for
- everyone. We can learn its rules by analysis, synthesis, and intuition, and apply them with great
- creativity. It is thus like other sciences. For example, it is like mathematics, where we have a task
- to solve, for which we must find a formula or some way of solving. The same applies to chess.
- We have a position in which we must find the objectively best possible move, we must invent a
- plan, that is, a way which on the basis of the knowledge of the objective rules leads to the best
- result. Each phase has its theory: there is a theory of openings, mid- and end-games. Various
- strategies and tactics have been formed, etc.
- Science is that whose results have been shown to be useful for humanity…
- Chess is also useful because it satisfies some societal need of the person; it is a spiritual
- entertainment, a sport, a game, an art. Chess satisfies these needs - with scientific demands.
- Raise a Genius! - 46
- On this basis we could speak in the same way about the theory of sport in general, about
- football or swimming, in concrete terms. Or does the theory of chess mean more than these?
- Definitely more, because those are physical sports, and although they also have theories, a
- footballer does not need to learn the theory of football to play well, does not need to study a
- library’s worth of literature.
- This is true, but specialists, trainers, and researchers who want to write about it must become
- acquainted with the theory.
- In the final account, yes, but in chess it is not only about this; those who accomplish the activity
- (chess players) must assimilate the science, and competition itself acts to create the theory.
- If you play a variation in chess and it proves bad, you lose, and you must correct it. If you fail
- again, you must try another time, and while you do not assimilate the right way to solve things at
- a scientific level, you will not become a successful player. It is not sufficient to know the theory
- of chess, one must always creatively reinvent it. The player must be a discoverer, and without
- this no one can achieve success in competition today. To create a new idea in chess today almost
- demands a scientific team.
- I agree with this. I see that you have a database of 4,000 volumes and 200,000 matches, and
- to develop possible variants the girls did typical laboratory work. But how far can this
- research work be taken? Are there no signs of exhaustion?
- Although chess is a relatively closed system, I claim that it has not been completely discovered.
- A single person will certainly never be able to completely discover it. Human capability and
- knowledge always have limits, obstacles, and imperfections. Do not forget that chess is also a
- sport. Its exhaustion has been feared many times, but the more scientific it has become, the
- more that has been learned, the more new problems and tasks to solve have been found in it.
- Is it also an art?
- Yes, chess is also structured by the rules of beauty. A tactically and strategically consistent match
- is not only logically impressive, but also emotionally and aesthetically, and the discovery of an
- unknown technique (eventually a combination) gives not only knowledge but also an artistic
- experience. Because of this there exist prizes for beautiful matches; they give pleasure not only
- to those who create them, but also those who watch or later play through them. The same as in
- other branches of art: for the creator and the receiver, that is, “re-creator,” the same aesthetic
- experience, the same emotional effect, is given, that can lead to an internal purification. Chess is
- a “miracle.” Chess compositions, problems, or analyses of chess are artistic works.
- Raise a Genius! - 47
- How does one choose matches that are worthy of prizes for beauty?
- There are two kinds of matches worthy of prizes for beauty. One is a game without errors, played
- with logical precision (one could say with scientific foresight); the other is a victory constructed
- on an original progression, or a surprising trick.
- Have your daughters ever had games worthy of prizes for beauty?
- Of course, but not only games that win prizes can be beautiful, like superb works of art; prizes
- for beauty are only given in a few competitions, and it is not required to give them. Most of the
- most beautiful matches never receive a prize for beauty.
- How much is chess a sport? The public understands sports most often to be activities with
- physical ef ort.
- First let me speak of a matter that is not sufficiently known to the public. Chess as well demands
- a strong physical state. It is not by chance that every prominent chess player also practices some
- physical sport as a supplementary activity. My daughters play table tennis or swim 1.5 to 3 hours
- a day.
- What kinds of sporting values can we talk about in chess?
- The same as in other sports. Sport is a regulated competitive activity with fixed rules and judged
- by the results achieved. These characteristics apply also to chess. It is similarly a competitive
- game realized with fixed rules, ranking the players on the basis of their achievements (currently
- mostly by Elo points and competition results); and chess requires regular preparation and
- participation. Chess is one of the most popular so-called great branches of sport, like football, ice
- hockey, basketball, or tennis. There are both amateur and professional competitions. It has
- spectators and participants including legitimate professional competitors.
- Chess develops characteristics like those of athletes: willpower, competitiveness, the drive to
- win, a strong physical state, a competitive routine, etc. It includes rules of sportsmanship and
- consequences for violating them. And in chess the result is decided in competition, and a better
- or worse place follows one’s current state of preparation or tuning. Aside from many joys, the
- game can cause some sorrows, because one’s current achievements are always measured in
- competitions, and one can be at the same time a good chess player and a bad competitor.
- And chess has its rules of justice, and there are forms of conduct that do not conform to these.
- Some unsporting things are whispering by kibitzers or timers, or the use of tricks off the board
- (for example, if one blows cigarette smoke in the opponent’s face, nibbles something, or kicks
- the table or even the legs of the opponent, etc.). In the same category is psychological warfare:
- slander of others, unfounded gossip, unjust press campaigns, and the like.
- My standpoint on this question is rigorous, and coincides with the opinion of, among others, the
- Soviet grandmaster D. Bronstein: every technical trick, feint, or ruze is permitted on the
- Raise a Genius! - 48
- chessboard, but off-board psychological or physical deceptions influencing the personality of the
- opponent are damaging and, morally, must be refused.
- By means of chess I also want to form the personalities of my daughters. I always say to them
- that it is more important that they are people - virtuous, honest people. From this it follows that
- my daughters always play fairly. This means that they do not cede even half a point to one
- another. For example once Zsuzsa had the chance to win a competition with a monetary prize,
- but Judit, in the penultimate stage of the competition, did not cede the half point necessary for
- this.
- So your daughters PLAY chess?
- Of course, the game of chess is by its nature, and not just etymologically, a game. It is a practical
- activity not merely in competition. There do exist professional and amateur competitions, but
- chess also has an entertaining form. People play it in cafes, in plazas, on beaches, among friends,
- at family tables - at beginner and the highest levels. Something interesting: it is enjoyable at
- every level! The game as a game is also a part of high-level competitions. A superb quality of the
- game - compared to sport or work - is that it is not a required activity, but a freely chosen hobby.
- Chess as a game is a creative and self-improving occupation, and thus it gives a pleasant and
- enjoyable feeling. My daughters like playing chess, so for them it is in one sense also a game.
- I am inclined to believe this, because I once asked some second-grade elementary students,
- where I teach chess, if they felt sorry for the Polgar sisters, because they played chess 5-6 hours
- a day. They answered, No, why would we feel sorry for someone who played so much?!
- We see that children often understand better, or sense things better than adults. Many times
- people have asked us, full of concern: are we not damaging our daughters, are we not depriving
- them of their childhoods, do they play enough? These questioners do not understand that our
- daughters like chess, and for them it is also a game.
- So chess is not only a serious job, but also a game with cultural value?
- Yes. High level activity can transform the one into the other. Scientific work also has an artistic
- character, high-level art is founded on science, and highly-evolved sport is based on scientific
- foundations, and also presents artistic elements, and we find a bit of play in all of them. And
- even a game can have its science. And again: the fact that chess can also function as a method of
- communication establishes direct interpersonal contacts.
- Raise a Genius! - 49
- This is probably the last taste of honey in the jar, thanks to which many pedagogues think that
- one should include chess as a required subject in elementary school instruction. (The renowned
- Soviet pedagogue Sukhomlinsky says this also, as does the developer of a new type of
- educational system in Hungary, Jozsef Zsolnai, who wants to integrate it in his system.)
- I agree with this, but one should be careful not to take it for a traditional required subject, and
- thus making the children afraid of it. It would be right to introduce it in general instruction, and
- not only from the specialist viewpoint of sport, but also for pedagogical reasons. We know, for
- example, that it is difficult to teach a child who is sitting for a long time in the same place. By
- means of chess one can get them to sit this way. Because of the game-like nature of chess, one
- can easily teach the children how to concentrate. With the help of the game they would learn to
- develop their persistence and capability to concentrate. Chess makes one accustomed to
- structured problem-solving.
- I do not claim that one should prefer chess to drawing or music in school. But if there were, for
- example, six first-grade classes in some school, then one should require a choice between
- drawing, music, chess or even bridge eventually. I do not know why one or the other should have
- a higher priority. One can learn and also educate children by means of chess.
- In my opinion, aside from school instruction, one can apply chess in several other fields. For
- example, Dr. Tamas Bartha claims it can apply in training managers, as specialists in
- management. Indeed, managers often face similar dilemmas in practical life to chess players.
- Clearly this also applies in several other fields. We can truly rejoice that this game or sport
- currently enjoys a growing popularity. Do you have a proposal for how one could grow its
- popularity as a sport even more?
- Of course. One can introduce varied novel forms of competition and games. For example, a pair
- could play against another pair, alternating moves. Chess players call this a game for four hands.
- In this game variation one could form homogenous or mixed pairs (women and men) and the
- length of games would be decreased.
- One could arrange so-called blind competitions (not for blind people or the visually
- handicapped), in the same way as decreased time limits. One should popularize competitions
- with 5- and 30-minute matches. One could organize telephone, fax, radio and television matches
- more often. A great disadvantage of chess competitions with traditional time limits (for the
- competitors as well) is, that they drag on for a long time, sometimes for several weeks, always
- causing greater and greater stress. They require long absences from one’s family. In addition,
- the organizers must spend more, and eventually the spectators do not have the time to observe
- the games. Slow games are boring for lay people.
- In the practice of qualifications, it would be worth considering introducing three steps of
- grandmasters for active competitors: super-grandmaster above 2650 points, grandmaster above
- 2550, and candidate grandmaster above 2450.
- Chess should be accepted for the Summer Olympics. One should organize a yearly individual
- and team world championship competition with several game time limits (5-minutes,
- Raise a Genius! - 50
- 30-minutes, standard time). All this would increase peoples’ interest and attract more recruits,
- athletes and amateurs around the chessboard.
- Raise a Genius! - 51
- 2. How did the Polgar sisters learn to play chess?
- “In chess a partner is as essential as in love.” - S. Zweig
- “Chess is preparation for life.” - B. Franklin
- “One cannot play chess while the house burns.” - Italian proverb
- Public opinion considers you a chess teacher, and believes that this is the field where you can
- certainly add something. Some people are even convinced that you are hiding a secret.
- So I will reveal it: I have applied my general pedagogical concepts in a specialist field. I could
- apply them to others as well. I am certain the results would be similar. There is no magic even in
- chess instruction, so I want to “warn” those who are expecting to discover miracles. The main
- pedagogical method and explanations of basic psychological ideas can be found naturally in
- pedagogical, psychological and technical chess textbooks.
- There is at least one aspect of your method that astonishes everyone: namely your results in
- the field of chess pedagogy. How did your daughters learn to play chess at the age of 4 or 5?
- How can one achieve disciplined and continuous work in infants?
- 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. If I may
- advise: one should make sure that before everything the father or mother should not diminish
- the child’s habit of chess playing by too much severity. We should make sure not to always win
- against the child; we should let them win sometimes so that they feel that they also are capable
- of thinking. In this way we should bring them to a feeling of success.
- How would you formulate the essence of your instructional methodology? What lies in it that
- makes you so successful?
- I think that there is nothing astonishing in it, nothing secret: I try to apply my psychological and
- pedagogical knowledge to chess instruction. Of course I supplement this with my own ideas, and
- try as a consequence to realize it in practice. Self-evidently I always look for suitable co-workers
- who are prepared to help me.
- At the start it is most important to awake interest. We should make the child aware that who
- learns this knows this. And chess is learnable. If we educate the child such that they can be a
- partner, can accept, create, and initiate, then we can always entrust them with more
- independent tasks. We should get the child to love what they do - to such a degree that they do it
- almost obsessively. The Hungarian psychologist Tamas Vekerdy warns of the same thing, that
- infants more easily master things that awake and draw their interest, their attention. And even
- at the beginning, the child should feel joy. We should not be angry, if they jump around here and
- there during a chess game; indeed, it is a known fact in psychology that even though a child
- Raise a Genius! - 52
- might frolic aimlessly because of their age-appropriate character, their thoughts can still stay on
- the task. We should not tell them everything; we should try to get the child themself to say
- something! We should not ourselves make all the moves; we should try to get the child themself
- to make the moves! This is the so-called Socratic method, and the essence of instruction in
- problem-solving - projected onto chess.
- Of course great success is not achievable without motivation. At the age of 5-6, if the activity is
- sufficiently interesting, success can also function as a strong incentive. Stimulation,
- encouragement, and instilling passion and trust are very important. If the parents and tutors tell
- the child that they are foolish and bad, the child will probably truly believe this. But the opposite
- also applies: if we say that they are clever and skillful, they will believe that as well. They often
- truly believe that, and try harder to actually become so. I consider it a basic principle that
- success is extraordinarily important. When I began the experiment, I thought that although I
- would not let my daughters avoid failure, they would nevertheless need to grow up accompanied
- by success. The proportion of failure to success should be 1 to 10.
- Should one apply all this according to the nature of early childhood?
- Of course, one should make everything appropriate to the stage! With regard to the content of
- instructional materials and also the duration of instruction, one should start from the traits of
- the age of the child, and tailor the tasks for the optimum ability of the child. At first we should
- only play chess for half an hour; after some time a bit more. After a week we can extend the
- duration. At first we should solve only simple problems, and with the passing of time we should
- always progress to more complicated ones. One should get the child to play a great deal, but
- always with suitable partners, who have a generally similar playing ability. On some occasions
- they can be weaker, on some stronger, so that the child experiences what winning and losing are
- like. But one must certainly find the right proportion. In childhood they should play rapidly, so
- they should play many blitz matches and those with a short time limit.
- I know that you possess a large library and card file system with 200 thousand records. How
- did you use this at the start, and how are you able to use it now?
- We have a library with 4-5 thousand volumes that greatly helped with the children’s instruction
- and learning. It is well organized and provided with several different catalogues. We organized
- the card file system (which we have just supplemented with a computer database) by the names
- of players, variants of openings and types of middlegames. The girls knew how to use it from a
- young age, and if they need anything, they can find it in seconds. The chess books serve us as
- manuals.
- We use the card files for openings as a first step in inventing new openings. For a single variant
- we look through 50-100 matches, to choose - mainly for comparison - the most appropriate, but
- my daughters themselves are capable of inventing novelties. And because this catalog contains
- complete games, they can on those occasions study the middlegames of those matches. The
- database is similarly suitable for writing articles and analyzing matches.
- Raise a Genius! - 53
- We use the catalog by names to prepare for opponents. We developed the catalog of
- middlegames for two purposes: one is strategy, the other is the tactics of middlegames. A section
- of middlegame strategy contains 40-50 types. For example, an isolated pawn, castling long,
- occupying open lines, etc. In a section of tactics, for example: gambits for major pieces in
- squares f7, g7, h7, g6, h6, f6, d5, c3, or intuitive pawn and major piece gambits, etc. If I want the
- children to look over some type, for example, they research 50-100 examples of it, and after this
- study they become informed enough to be certain of the legalities and induce generalizations.
- We do not have an organized collection of end-games in the form of card files, but we have
- enough related books. The encyclopedia of endgames published in Yugoslavia, and the collection
- of pawn and rook endgames, etc., are very good material. They substitute for the most part for
- the card file.
- Children at an early age like mate combinations of two or three moves very much. These are not
- too difficult, but aesthetically very beautiful and entertaining and help the children master the
- mate, develop their combination ability, and enjoy the game of chess. We have already released
- two books about two-move mate combinations, and we still have a lot of material in manuscript
- form.
- Doesn’t problem-solving in repetitious topics contradict the idea of independent creative work?
- Of course not, because we do not do the problem exercises only in the form of topical
- problem-solving. The children have worked through a great many of these kinds of books, where
- the problem topics are mixed, or where they are not arranged by topic.
- And competition means the exercise of independent creative work; as does the analysis of their
- own competition matches (and often their publication in the press). With regard to competition,
- it is very important that the child take part in competitions that have a suitable level for their
- ability. In a too strong competition an onerous failure might occur for the child, and in a too easy
- competition they do not develop their skills, nor do they experience success. If the child loses in
- competition, we should never reproach them: losing is sufficiently painful for them. Rather we
- should console them and encourage them to further work. We should help them discover the
- reasons, shortcomings or errors and correct them. We should be attentive to not only enduring
- and mitigating failure, but also to having too much self-confidence, for this is as unrealistic as a
- lack of self-confidence.
- What do you think about blindfold games? I know that all your daughters play well with their
- backs to the chessboard.
- The development of chess memory is very important. In competitive chess one plays for a fixed
- time, so a good memory capacity helps save time. In contrast to science, here we may not use
- manuals, so rightly or wrongly we must memorize the concrete information. We also may not
- move the pieces to work out variations. We must analyze and plan in memory, and it is not
- irrelevant how many moves we can calculate beforehand, think through in memory. For a good
- Raise a Genius! - 54
- blindfold player this happens more easily, better and more precisely. Blindfold games develop
- spatial visualization skills, thinking about the whole board.
- How can one develop their blindfold playing?
- First by visualizing matches. Later, by developing positions (that is, continuing a game from a
- given situation) from diagrams, analyzing board positions without moving the pieces. Finally, of
- course, by playing many matches with one’s back to the opponent and the board. Memory
- exercises also give information, enlarge and develop the imagination.
- What do you think about blitz matches, where the players only have 5 minutes each?
- Many fear that this makes the game superficial, and hinders profundity and concentration. I
- think that these kinds of games are not generally damaging: they are obviously even useful. A
- chess player must very rapidly - precisely and well - look over the chessboard on many
- occasions. Let us think about time pressure during a match. During a competition game it is not
- irrelevant what kind of first idea comes into our head, and also during analysis or at school how
- rapidly we progress should not be neglected. By means of blitz games we can exercise ourselves
- very well in opening variants. It is natural that we experience the utility of blitz exercises most in
- blitz competitions.
- You mentioned that the girls regularly write specialist articles for foreign periodicals. Why is
- this important?
- If one writes an article, one considers a matter more deeply than without a goal, thinking alone
- or speaking with someone about it. One of the best methods for developing one’s ability is to
- write articles, essays, and books. This requires conscious preparation and active analytical work.
- Do you consider foreign languages as tools for helping to work in chess?
- Yes, they are doubly necessary tools for working. On the one hand, it is necessary to study the
- (foreign) literature, on the other a chess player is a world traveler, so they need to interact with
- companions in the sport and others. Thus I attribute a great significance to foreign language
- instruction. But right now I think that for Zsuzsa fewer languages would be sufficient. The two
- younger girls first learned English and Russian, and I will encourage them further to learn
- Esperanto more deeply. (Zsuzsa has learned 7-8 languages, and this has clearly slowed her
- development in chess.)
- Raise a Genius! - 55
- To which should we attribute greater significance, in your opinion: the theory of openings, of
- middlegames or the theory of endgames?
- It is very important to find the right proportion. When teaching children, one often neglects
- learning endgames, and later vice versa, one over-estimates their significance. I always claim
- that a chess player, in every stage of their development, should spend more or less equal time
- studying these three parts of the game. Later they can devote less time to the endgame, which
- one uses less often; openings and middlegames are in every game, but not every game develops
- to an endgame. This does not mean that I underestimate the importance of studying the
- endgame.
- How do those who neglect opening theory instruction in infancy argue?
- They claim that one should start with the endgame, because in it there are fewer pieces on the
- board, so the child can more easily look over the situation. They are incorrect. An endgame can
- be very easy, but also very difficult. It is not the number of pieces that determines the difficulty
- of a problem. A middlegame combination can also be easy, interesting and simple; even some
- variations of openings. In my opinion, one should teach all three areas at the start as equally
- important, so that the child’s problem-solving can develop in all areas. For a successful
- competition game one must open the match well, orient oneself in the middlegame, and
- successfully close the match in the endgame. If one begins with a bad opening, things will be
- difficult from the beginning of the match, possible irreparably, and this will soon result in the
- end of the game. The argument that for learning the repertory of openings it takes 2-3 years also
- supports the idea of studying openings early. One must assimilate endgame theory not by
- mechanistic grinding study, of course, but principally by analysis, discovery, and creation of
- novel variations…
- You have mentioned several times that many people at many times have posed obstacles to
- your daughters’ development, instead of supporting them. Does this influence their style, or
- decelerate their development?
- This self-evidently influences their style. Zsuzsa, who has received the most “blows to the
- cheek,” has become the most careful player. It is easier for her sisters, as they can face the
- “powers-that-be,” representing the authorities, three at a time; thus the negative effect of
- decelerating forces affects their futures less. But if their development had not been decelerated
- they would certainly have progressed even faster.
- Representatives of political organizations caused the greatest damage; power is in their hands.
- The responsibility for this falls even on the “highest” leadership, because people advised or
- referred to him in situations that discriminated against us. Sandor Szerenyi, the ex-president of
- the Hungarian Chess Association (he resigned in 1989) even now, in a just-released interview
- said, “I always acted in line with what I agreed with Janos Kadar [chief secretary of the
- communist party], Istvan Buda [minister of sports], or with other comrades occupied with
- sporting affairs.”
- Raise a Genius! - 56
- For what do you blame the leadership of the Hungarian Chess Association?
- They did not help with our specialist work. For example, for many years they did not send my
- daughters to youth world championships, although my daughters were the best in the country.
- They wished to remove Zsuzsa from the top of the women’s world rankings. This effort led to
- Zsuzsa in fact being removed (to the second place); Chiburdanidze went ahead of her - unjustly -
- because she received a “gift” of 100 points to her score.
- Not just then, but only after several years, they presented her to the International Chess
- Association (FIDE) for the title of women’s grandmaster. They misled public opinion in the
- press. They did not send Zsuzsa to the men’s competition, although she had qualified for it in the
- Hungarian men’s championship. For several years she was not allowed to travel to foreign
- competitions - whether in capitalist or socialist countries. (The Ministry for Internal Affairs
- refused our written request for a passport completely until the middle of the 80’s, declaring that
- “your extraterritorial travel is harmful to public order.”) They did not trust our daughters, did
- not establish a tranquil atmosphere around us, and I could go on endlessly…
- Even now we are pressured by concerns about a lack of tutors. Our daughters stand in vain at
- the top of the world rankings, they were first in the Olympic Games in vain, they won gold
- medals in world championships for their ages, and Judit received an Oscar prize in vain. Zsuzsa
- has not had a tutor or training partner for several years. The situation of the younger girls is not
- much better. Although with Zsuzsa they form a small team, a specialist work group, this in itself
- is very little. Only now can we expect a minor step forward in this area - we will soon receive
- help from other countries. A Dutch patron is now altruistically paying for a training partner for
- the girls, and he has similarly bought a personal computer for them that is useful as a work tool.
- A german journalist provided us with a database program. He also taught the girls how to
- operate the machine.
- Does the Hungarian press influence your work?
- It does, and very unfavorably. We would have progressed more if there had not appeared many
- years of attacks, malicious articles that falsified the facts. We also had lawsuits with the press.
- Although we won all of these, we nevertheless have no wish to be endlessly fighting legal battles;
- for us relatively tranquil preparation and good work is more important.
- What kind of press response have you had in other countries?
- People write about us, whether in specialist, psychological or pedagogical matters, with the
- greatest acclaim. This recognition increases our belief in the work and our persistence, and
- signifies a clear success for us. Naturally this brings recognition for Hungarian chess and
- Hungarian pedagogy and psychology as well. Almost 40 thousand articles have appeared about
- us up to now.
- Raise a Genius! - 57
- Now a specialist question: do your daughters play a game of combinations or position?
- The younger ones prefer combinations, while Zsuzsa prefers positions. A truly great player must
- alloy both styles. Unfortunately, Zsuzsa has had many tutors who represented the positional
- school, and thus after some time she took it on. Now she finds herself at a stage where she is
- recreating her style. V. Korchnoi has convincingly warned how one can change styles: “I did not
- know how, and did not like, to attack; defense was my milieu. My opponents often used this
- one-sided strategy: they intentionally threw away a pawn, because they were certain I would
- capture it. And often severe consequences followed. I came to understand that I must vary my
- style, and that I needed to know attacking and fighting for initiative.” And Zsuzsa attacks well
- and knows well how to combine; she merely needs to “take back” her caution a little. The
- outstanding Hungarian chess player Geza Maroczy said, “Whoever sits at a chess board without
- wanting to win, and needing to win, who only hopes that an eventual inattention of their
- opponent will help them to an unexpected lucky point, and who considers their opponent
- stronger, can never achieve success. For the cowardly chess player there is no joy in a
- competitive game, but pain, torment, and psychic stress.”
- What do the children think of themselves?
- Ask them!
- I asked them. They unanimously said that Zsuzsa is a thoughtful positional player, Zsofia
- prefers risks, and Judit - although she is closer to Zsuzsa - tries to alloy the two styles. Related
- to this, I am interested in what makes, in your opinion, a good training partner?
- They should like their work as a tutor and training partner. They should be honest, have
- experience in training and competition; it is useful if they also compete (old achievements in
- themself are not sufficient, mainly if they are accompanied by pathological vanity). The
- personality is important. They should be ready for collaborative work, intimate reciprocal
- communal activity. The young competitor should not be able to always do everything with them.
- They should be self-critical, and the development of the student should be important to them.
- They should take care that their disciple not always be attached to them. If they have a great
- reputation in the field, they should criticise very carefully; this can have a very great effect.
- They should respect the young competitor, trust in them, and strive to create a tranquil
- atmosphere around them. It is not sufficient for them to only oversee and direct; they should
- encourage and influence the development of the disciple, but take care not to paralyze them.
- They should know how to treat the young person fairly. They should encourage attempts at
- original competition research. They should be capable of expressing recognition, they should
- know how to praise the worker and the successes of other. They should avoid indifference, be
- enthusiastic (“Enthusiasm is something infectious” - wrote Selye), and they should be suitable
- for raising this ability higher in others.
- Raise a Genius! - 58
- You are a father, a tutor, and a manger in one person. How do you balance these functions?
- These three functions were interwoven in fact only at the beginning. Today my daughters are so
- superior to me that I cannot be their tutor. I only organize the training team. I am their
- father-manager, and I will say sincerely that I only play even these two roles with difficulty.
- It would be easier to only be a manager without a fatherly role, or a father without managerial
- functions. The biggest problem is that a father can only with difficulty demand that the child
- complete these difficult training tasks, which - well, let us say - children do not do willingly.
- I believe this; it is indeed know that fathers - out of “love” - often do not even demand a
- minimum of discipline from their daughters.
- This is not only a question of love. A tutor who is not a father to his student may dismiss one
- who does not complete the tasks according to his demands. But with one’s own child, he cannot
- do that. The trainer father of our European table tennis champion Csilla Batorfi says the same:
- “It is hard for a father to demand something that is tedious for a child, they may even dislike him
- for that.”
- However, we should not make too much of this problem. It also has an advantage: if the child
- loves me, they will complete everything more easily.
- The three girls together possess around 40 Guinness World Records. It is obvious that they
- beat each other’s records. But let us switch to another topic! How does the press evaluate the
- chess achievements of your daughters now?
- The press of the last year has responded very positively. I will cite several opinions as specimens.
- I must say that in past years no one believed that women could also - at least almost as well -
- play chess as well as the most skilled men. One must compare this with current statements!
- M. Gurevich (one of the strongest grandmasters in the world) writes in Actuell Schachmagazin
- (July 1988) about Judit: “...this girl is a giant. It is completely certain that no one has shown this
- kind of result at 12, including world champions Fischer and Kasparov. In which Bible is it
- written that the world champion of the 2000s must be a man?”
- Grandmaster Keen (Chess, 1988-08-08): “If Judit can sustain the admirable arc of her success,
- then it seems completely probable that around the turn of the millennium she will be able to
- take on the role of a challenger in the world championships. At the age of 12 neither Fischer nor
- Kasparov, nor Nigel Short had walked at such a high level of success.”
- In the New York Post (1988-09-10), grandmaster A. Soltis directed the following question to the
- ex-world champion Tal: “Who has the greatest chance among current chess players to step in the
- place of Kasparov?” Tal: “Ivanchuk and Judit Polgar.”
- Under the title “The Wonderful Polgars” the Spectator (London, 1988-10-29) writes: “Judit is
- the most extraordinary phenomenon in the history of chess… At such a young age no one - even
- Raise a Genius! - 59
- Kasparov - was as good… nor Bobby Fischer… Go anywhere and bet that at the end of the
- century the world champion will be a woman.”
- Daniel Molnar (Reform, Budapest, December 1988): “When I asked Kasparov if he considered it
- possible that in a few years they would be opponents [speaking of Judit Polgar] for the title of
- the ‘men’s’ world champion, first he explained a bit about the difference between the male and
- female brain, and later with a sudden ‘Although God knows!’ he ended the interaction.
- Grandmaster Speelman (a candidate for world champion) declared with English phlegm, ‘I do
- not understand how anyone believes this impossible’.”
- On the title page of the chess journal New in Chess (February 1989), under the photo of Zsofia
- one read “Super-Sofia.” In Inside Chess (7/1989) we find, “Zsofia conquers Rome! This result
- was willingly accepted by even Kasparov and Karpov.”
- In his article “Judit is better than me this time,” which appeared in Reform (1988-04-05),
- Tamas Harle puts the following question to Karpov: “What do you think about the Olympic
- achievements of the Hungarian girls?” Karpov: “If they sat at the chess board again, I would give
- a greater chance to the Hungarian women.” Harle: “How much do you think the Polgar
- daughters will achieve?” Karpov: “Zsuzsa is extraordinarily strong, but Judit… At that age
- neither I nor Kasparov played like Judit does now.”
- In the Hungarian magazine Szabad Fold (December 1988), Tibor Florian wrote, “Zsuzsa’s game
- is multi-faceted. She has enormous knowledge about openings at her disposal, she even knows
- openings that she never uses. In the middlegame she evaluates the position objectively,
- realistically, and thus she can handle positions of any type. She is persistent and prudent in
- defense - she loses very little - rich in ideas and elan on the attack… And she does not lack what
- is most important in the endgame - patience.
- Judit’s game is also characterized by a good foundation in opening theory, a childlike
- unprejudiced evaluation of positions, and a good endgame technique. In many ways she is
- similar to Zsuzsa, but her game maybe contains more dynamism, initiative, and sometimes an
- ‘urchin defiance’. Zsofia is in fact a ‘socially handicapped’ child: there exist ‘best’ and ‘worst’
- daughters, but there are no ‘middlest’. She also knows and sees much on the chessboard, but she
- might lack courage to do much. She likes artistic, aesthetic solutions. All three daughters are
- modest and charming. Zsofia smiles the most. While one often sees child chess players who are
- morose and closed, the Polgar daughters have stayed open, merry children. This is clearly
- attributable to the prevailing ethos in their family.”
- Raise a Genius! - 60
- 3. How do we get our children to like chess?
- “There are two kinds of people: some conform to circumstances and play cards; others want to
- change their circumstances and play chess.” - M. Collins
- “If you play your opponent into the ground at the chessboard, this does not prove that you
- played the best.” - English proverb
- “It is easy to lose one’s way on the chessboard; all the squares look the same.” - J. Szekely
- Let us continue the chess lesson. There certainly are parents who would be interested in how to
- teach 4-5-year-olds how to play chess.
- I will tell you some of my tricks. I took two pieces of graph paper, one for me, the other for the
- child. We marked out 8x8 squares. First we began to learn the name of the squares. I named a
- square, she found it and marked it with an X. Later she named one, and I marked it with a dot.
- (This could be done as well with different colored pens.) At the end of the game we checked the
- results of the task, and counted how many each one had done. For the next step we learned the
- colors (white and black) of the squares. We named a square, and without looking at the board,
- we had to say the color of the square in question. (For this one could use the method of a square
- net.) This activity is somewhat similar to the well-known game of Battleship.
- When should one use diagrams?
- In this case age-appropriateness is also very important. First one should learn the movements of
- the king. We practiced this for several days, and later we play “king against king.” The task is
- this: one king must reach the opponent’s baseline, that is, one must go to the other side of the
- board. Whoever does this first wins. If some king can stand next the other, then the game ends
- without a decision. When we had learned this well, we added the next piece, the pawn. In this
- game the goal was the same: to get to the other side. After several days we added the rook, then
- the knight.
- After 3-4 weeks we arrived at the queen. Understanding the queen’s mate followed later.
- Possessing this knowledge, we played great pawn battles during the following weeks. That is,
- only the pawns and the two kings were on the board. After a pawn changed to a queen we played
- until mate. The children really liked this. During this we started learning the knight’s moves.
- This is most difficult for children, but not truly a problem, although one must carefully practice
- this.
- Later we became acquainted with the simplest mating moves. First I collected around 1,000
- one-move mate diagrams; later I found two-, three-, and four-move mate diagrams and posed
- them as problems. Only after this did we begin playing real chess. The time we spent getting
- there lasted about 3-4 months. We should not begrudge the time for this! In this way we
- assimilate (very deeply and solidly) not only rudimentary knowledge, but the children become
- Raise a Genius! - 61
- accustomed to the carefully considered and foundational game, work. Possessing solid
- knowledge, they simply and easily learned the later tasks. The possessed resolution, and
- self-confidence, and arrived at success. They experienced the knowledge and enjoyment of its
- use.
- After the start, the following step is combinations. We solved many combinations, for example: I
- sacrifice one or two major pieces, and in the end the weaker force wins against the stronger, so
- the small beats the big. Of course in this case one should be careful: give only easy combinations
- at the beginning. The child cannot solve very difficult ones. It is valuable to play many miniature
- matches, as these (less than twenty moves) contain many combinational elements. These also
- interest the children, and because of the flashiness and shortness of the matches the child’s
- attention does not waver.
- When the children began to play well, we switched to memory exercises (to widen our
- knowledge as well), for example we played several miniature matches in our heads.
- This is a hard problem for adults. Do children do this easily?
- Yes. More easily than memorizing a poem. When a five-year-old child learns verses, they do not
- always understand the logical interrelationships. But in chess they know that one move follows
- another, and they are able to get through the steps.
- One should then almost teach the children to “play” like a game. Do you have more advice?
- One should have great patience. We should let the child arrive at a sense of success, but we
- should not handicap ourselves (we should not give up major pieces or an advantage in pawns),
- because in that case the structure of the game changes. Preferably the parents or teachers should
- provide a temporal handicap, or weave intentional mistakes into the game, so that the child can
- use them for themself. During the game the tutor should organize their position on the board
- intentionally as is appropriate for the student and the development of the child at their age.
- I ask about a small practical matter. Should one also teach the use of chess timers, or is this
- superfluous as some claim?
- Chess timers can make the game especially interesting for a child. (And their use can enliven and
- make other kinds of games and studies enjoyable.)
- Can one teach children using similar methods in the framework of school instruction?
- Yes, but at a more rapid pace, since this applied to older children. The essence is always the
- same: both at home and at school one must teach each part carefully, and everything always
- solidly. Half efforts make no sense, since the next stages will lack a foundation on which to
- construct the material to be assimilated. In addition it seems to me that one of the deficits of
- Hungarian teaching is that one does not construct knowledge upon other knowledge. I consider
- Raise a Genius! - 62
- it a further error that - mainly because of the lack of intensive instruction - after three weeks the
- child forgets what they learned earlier.
- Do you have proposals for how to inspire students during school hours? Should one give
- grades?
- If the instruction is good, one has no need of giving grades. In addition, this truly makes no
- sense in chess. I would rather arrange various in- and inter-class contests. It is worth sending
- children to foreign competitions only if we feel that they will do well there. Competition only
- makes sense when it is evident that it will develop those who are capable of it, and can inspire
- greater accomplishments on the basis of the results. We should never drive students to failure.
- But there are some who develop in leaps.
- These kinds of children should be switched to higher classes or compete with them. For
- competition there are also various adult contests possible. The current school organizations are
- not suitable, because one is not occupied with the children where one should on the basis of
- their innate capacities. It is useless to try to make a child jump 120 cm if they are capable of only
- 80. But it is as useless to make them jump 120 if they are already capable of 180. They will not
- develop by this.
- How do you explain that you also organized your daughters’ chess instruction in the
- framework of home schooling? Is there no organized chess instruction in Hungary?
- Unfortunately this problem has not been solved. Aside from a few sporadic local initiatives
- (sometimes in the city of Tapolca, for example) there is a lack of systematic chess instruction -
- despite that the world is taking a great step forward in this field as well.
- There are no clubs in Hungary with regular daily chess instruction. Even the youth tutor of the
- Hungarian Chess Association does not direct regular training. This is strange, because in no
- branch of sport do the youth have such a deficit of training. There are no chess tutors, or if they
- can nevertheless be found, they do not even make a half-hearted effort. The best chess players
- mostly only compete, and do not pass on their expertise. Although one should be aware:
- successful education is not possible without a great deal of work. Education only bears fruit after
- 10-20 years. But if we begin it only ten years from now, we will have results after only 20-30
- years.
- In which country are there good chess schools?
- There are many in the Soviet Union. The Soviets begin chess instruction very early. There are
- nursery schools that focus on chess, and there are elementary schools (boarding schools) where
- the students only go home on Sunday afternoons. However, it surprises me that these schools do
- not function with sufficient efficiency, as though they had been bungled… It seems to me that
- Raise a Genius! - 63
- they count on a few eminent chess players certainly growing somehow or other out of so many
- children. But also in England, the Netherlands, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany,
- they are doing a great deal to educate young people in this direction.
- By what instructional techniques can one contribute to children liking chess and to its more
- successful instruction?
- The two most important instructional techniques are the television and the video player. In the
- US they have produced video cassettes for chess instruction. In one of these, for example,
- Seirawan lectures about chess topics. We need many like this. I believe that I do not need to
- detail the advantages of television, but in Hungary, for example, there are almost no television
- chess programs. In the Soviet Union and the FRG there are many like this: interviews,
- broadcasts of competitions, complete presentations of matches, etc. But maybe the most needed
- instructional tool is the computer, because:
- - Personal computers primarily fulfil the role of databases.
- - Chess computers can serve as good partners, especially for children, beginners, and
- amateur chess players (my daughters play blindfold games with computers).
- - With chess problems one uses them to check for errors.
- - Powerful computers are usable primarily for precise analysis of endgames with few
- pieces.
- If this depended on you, would you found a chess school? What method would you introduce
- there?
- I cannot respond to the first question, but if I were to establish something like that, I would
- primarily implement those ideas I have proven and successfully applied with my daughters.
- Is it possible to suppose that if it were to implement these kinds of schools, Hungary would
- stay at the pinnacle of the contest of nations for a long time?
- The question would be answered by asking if others also did the same or not. If one worked with
- similar methods in twenty other countries, one would attain similar results there, as I could
- promise.
- Raise a Genius! - 64
- 4. Chess in psychology, psychology in chess
- “The game of chess, like scientific research work, is primarily a passion.” - A. Szentgyorgyi
- “A good player deceives their opponent; while a bad player deceives themself.” - J. Szekely
- “I avoid struggling, on the contrary, I’m always thinking about winning.” - R. J. Fischer
- Your genius-education system is constructed on a strict unification of pedagogy, chess theory,
- and psychology. However, in my opinion it is worth separately examining how they are
- interlinked. Let us first examine the psychological side!
- Chess and pedagogy are woven together by many threads. Chess has its own place in
- psychological research, and psychology is also present in competitive chess playing.
- Competitors expect and can receive help from psychologists. Competitive chess playing
- demands a specific state of mind, whose conscious influence - and theoretical foundation - can
- contribute to a successful competition.
- Psychological knowledge can strongly aid in understanding one’s own personality. What are my
- weaknesses? What are my virtues? How am I progressing in self-instruction? In which direction
- should I be going? Which style is most appropriate for me? One can pose many questions to
- oneself. If it is true that without a certain degree of self-knowledge one can succeed in no area of
- life, this relates even more to competitions of every kind.
- Psychologically founded competition can seriously help in the development of personality traits:
- it forms the will and emotions, increases persistence, self-discipline, competitiveness, etc.
- Botvinnik, for example, emphasizes that a competitor must reach a state of maximum capability
- during a competition, and he thinks that the development of an appropriate mental state and
- humor are also very important. By means of special training he has mastered fighting his
- negative emotional manifestations. He has also developed his ability to concentrate on himself
- to a maximum. He has successfully alloyed in himself tranquility and aggression. Currently
- psychology functions as a supplementary science for every outstanding competitor…
- … used to understand the opponent …
- Naturally chess is also a mirror for the soul. Certain of the opponent’s psychic traits are well
- reflected in their play. Studying them can deliver a great deal of information about the
- temperament and character of the chess player, so partners can prepare themselves for each
- other. This is also important because chess training occurs without the psychic atmosphere of
- the struggles of competition. One can also analyze past matches before the competition to
- determine what the opponent is like and choose the most appropriate tactics. If I know their
- weaknesses, I endeavor to choose the variations of play and style that will be psychically
- uncomfortable for them. If I know that they do not like surprises, I must surprise them with an
- Raise a Genius! - 65
- opening or combination. If I know they have an aggressive temperament, I endeavor to direct
- the game to a calm flow, etc.
- Emanuel Lasker is just that chess player who regards the personality of the person highly, hiding
- behind the “life” of the chess figures. For example, he has many times made not the positionally
- optimum move, but that which he considers most unpleasant for his opponent. He even risks a
- worse move merely to annoy an opponent. This will not disequilibrate a good chess player today.
- If things work like that, one can evidently misuse psychological knowledge…
- One can, of course, as one can on certain occasions misuse any knowledge. Thus for honest
- competition the ethical standard and correct moral bearing I mentioned above are necessary.
- What are the abilities whose development you consider specially important?
- I will list several which Dyakov, Petrovski, and Rudyik (they performed an interesting
- experiment on grandmasters in 1925) describe in their works, as well as Lasker, Krogius, Fine,
- Kotov, Hartson, etc. Above all it is necessary to achieve and maintain a good physical state,
- health, and state of nerves. A chess player must sit at the chessboard with a sufficient reserve of
- physical strength and good nervous system that they can resist unpleasant and annoying
- provocations. This requires serious physical hardiness: these effects touch the very “soul”
- (attacks by the press, for example, can significantly decrease one’s powers of accomplishment).
- Persistence, as well as physical, mental, and soulish stability are worth the same, as they are in
- physical branches of sport, where they are called hardiness, but in fact there also they mean
- conserving the ability to work in spite of sustained and repeated burdens.
- I would put in this category the ability to handle monotony, the capability to sustain interest and
- persistent attention. Their lack can cause significant oversights, chess blindness, errors made in
- winning positions, or overlooked combinations, for example. Maybe the most important
- component of stability is whether the player can concentrate in the “main direction,” holding
- themself apart from distractions, annoying factors, that is, how much they can “apply” their
- knowledge and character.
- Further: discipline and self-control. It is not possible to achieve good results without conscious
- discipline and self-discipline. During a game mental factors intrude one after another:
- after-effects of earlier defeats, stress about possible variants of the match, the sex, age and
- psychological tactics of the opponent, and random or intentional changes in the surroundings.
- One factor that must be noted is the capability to educate oneself on the basis of realistic
- self-knowledge, which manifests as constant self-criticism and readiness for self-correction.
- While it is possible to have healthy self-confidence, self-deception certainly leads to failure in
- chess.
- It is very important to develop several intellectual capabilities, among which are a good memory,
- preparation in combinations, a capability for pure logic and an appropriate intuition. For
- example, a good memory serves to easily visualize the moves and combinations of pieces in the
- Raise a Genius! - 66
- match. Preparation in combinations enables goal-directed assembly of thoughts and ideas, as
- well as imagining the pieces during movement and in different situations.
- Apart from everything the development of a healthy capacity for conflict is specially important -
- primarily, of course, for competitive players, but it can be useful for anyone. The conflict
- happens simultaneously in various fields:
- - the struggle to rise above oneself (current results, one’s own obstacles),
- - the struggle to acquire a definite position in the group or community,
- - the struggle with the opponent,
- - the struggle to attain or get near to some “extra-competition” goal or value.
- Of course it is true that sport - aside from being many other things - functions as one of the
- possible methods to promote and distinguish oneself. The latter should never be directed against
- others or in a fashion damaging to others. This is a basic premise of the athletic life. The conflict
- presupposes the knowledge of the opponent, the evaluation of their strength, the knowledge of
- their style and their victories. In Hungary, Geza Revesz has focused on the psychology of chess
- players in order to use it in the developing of talents. I can continue the examples. Experiments
- performed in the Soviet Union in 1925 aimed at founding a new branch of psychology: chess
- psychology. The Soviet chess grandmaster and chess psychologist N. Krogius created something
- worth attention in this field.
- Lasker as well claims that chess style is a projection of certain aspects of the personality. In his
- opinion, one can also infer the chess player’s characteristics from their game, and this is correct.
- Because of this psychology can conceive of chess as a test in which aspects of the person are
- mirrored. Obviously this test, like others, can be accepted only as one part of a complex
- investigation.
- What is your opinion of scientific research on specific abilities, and all in all regarding the
- evaluation of others’ capabilities?
- Unfortunately one often performs this evaluation without having sufficient information; even
- some specialists do this although knowledge of the personality, and within it, the realistic
- evaluation of abilities is very significant both from a theoretical and practical viewpoint.
- Many make the error of trying to derive information on exceptional abilities on the basis of
- intelligence tests. In the literature, for example, Margit Varro researched extraordinarily
- musically talented children, and found with them that intelligence tests are insufficient. Geza
- Revesz, a renowned specialist in talent research, came to a similar conclusion. He observed in
- testing exceptionally talented children that their intelligence was hardly greater than solidly
- middling-intelligent children. According to him, the result of the test also did not characterize
- the “extraordinary intellect, comprehensive ability and mental level of the children” well. Many
- researchers in other countries, many chess psychologist among them, concluded the same on the
- basis of their research.
- One of the most important methods for recognizing creative capacity is also the research of
- biographies. One can recognize, learn, and evaluate this merely on the basis of actual actions.
- Raise a Genius! - 67
- Every attempt to define capabilities outside the particular sphere of action leads to logically
- erroneous findings.
- A very important aspect is comparing the results (competition results and inventions) of
- exceptionally capable people. The principles of researching child creativity are not different in
- that sense from those principles which guide us in analyzing adult inventions. But because it is
- about currently developing children, one should not neglect the nature of the developmental
- stage in evaluating creativity! To analyze the endowments of exceptionally capable children, and
- to have a picture of their expected development, one must collect inventions and competition
- results from various periods of development, and compare them on the one hand with
- themselves, and on the other with childhood inventions of other exceptionally capable children.
- Family archives are very useful for this: photos, newspaper clippings, specialist reports,
- correspondence, chess matches, etc.
- Can one also use chess in medical psychology?
- Yes, both in diagnostics and psychotherapy. For example, therapy direction can be helped by
- chess, when it brings a patient success (or otherwise). To completely simplify: if I sit with a
- patient and see that they should strengthen their self-confidence, I let them win; if I see that
- they have too much self-confidence, and it should be decreased a bit, I do not concede the game.
- One must, of course, sense the proportions correctly. Aside from this, chess is a therapeutic
- method also in the sense that it is capable of activating the personality of a sick person, and
- stimulating their dull spirits. On certain occasions one can use it to strengthen results already
- attained.
- Does this property also apply to psychopedagogy?
- Definitely. It is very applicable, for example, with antisocial, neurotic, emotional and
- aspirationally defective children. By it a child’s attention can be captured, and the game can
- bring at the right time the experience of success. Again I simplify: if someone plays chess a lot,
- they have less time to do drugs. Deviant acts are generally performed by those who do not have a
- compass, perspective, who do not experience success in other fields.
- Do chess teachers utilize the results of psychological research?
- Although this is certainly useful for them, in my experience they rarely do this. Generally they
- merely instinctively use scientifically proven expertise. I should give an example: many people
- pass examinations in logic, but how many people consciously apply logical theorems? Well, the
- matter is similar with chess psychology as well. Unfortunately.
- Raise a Genius! - 68
- Let me verbalize a question of many parents. By which psychological-pedagogical method can
- I recognize chess talent in my child? Namely, many say: I would willingly raise my child to be
- a chess player, but I am not able to recognize whether they have a talent for this or not.
- I believe that every child is potentially talented in chess. Specific capabilities are not people’s
- endowments from birth, but one must make them manifest through education. So the ability to
- recognize chess talent is not really a problem. The question should rather sound like this:
- whether the parents are ready or not, whether they have sufficient self-confidence and courage
- for the education. I can educate every healthy child to be a chess master. Parents should be
- interested in how chess masters are made to be chess masters, and be able to study how to create
- similar psychological and topical conditions for their child. They should not worry about
- whether the child has talent or not!
- Raise a Genius! - 69
- 5. On the emancipation of women
- “Only an equal measure! Allow to women what is allowed to men, or do not allow to men what is
- not allowed to women.” - B. Bartok
- “Among every woman know to me, Mme. Curie is the only one whom success has not
- corrupted.” - A. Einstein
- “Teaching girls is needed as well as youths; they are as useful to the country as these.” K. Mikes
- At this time both nationally and internationally, great attention is turning to the struggle of
- your daughters for equal rights for women. Do you all think that there will come a time when
- the “men’s” chess world champion is a woman?
- You express yourself incorrectly. A woman will never become a men’s chess world champion
- because the title “men’s chess world champion” does not exist. A world chess champion can be a
- man or woman. Kasparov’s title is not “men’s champion,” but simply chess world champion. For
- a long time the game of chess has been such a men’s activity that the creators of its rules did not
- even expect it to be called a “men’s” competition. So there is no such thing as a men’s chess
- competition.
- So women are allowed to compete in men’s competitions without a sex test?
- Our daughters are allowed to play in men’s competitions any time: this is not contrary to the
- rules. But in women’s competitions, Olympics, and world championships, only women are
- allowed to compete, which means that the women’s accomplishments are not equal to the men’s,
- and these competitions are merely “second-class.”
- You are in the first rank of the struggle for equal rights. In the words of the philosopher
- Gyorgy Andras Szabo, “You have become an early revolutionary” in the battle. It is true that
- several women have now entered men’s competitions, but you are the only ones who have
- lately not played in women’s competitions (aside from the Olympics). You have done this to
- prove that women have not lagged behind men. How did this goal appear in your experiment?
- I believe that this is the sole point that was formed incidentally, during the work. I generally
- planned the whole of my pedagogical system before the birth of my first child. I did not
- anticipate that only daughters would be born, and when they were born, I encountered a
- particular problem: discrimination against women.
- How did this af ect you all?
- When I wanted to guide my first daughter Zsuzsa to the summit, in the spirit of my pedagogical
- concept, many tried to hinder us in this. She was not permitted to compete among boys; she was
- Raise a Genius! - 70
- forced to participate only in girls’ competitions. Of course, my primary goal remained to prove
- the correctness of genius education, but I supplemented it incidentally with the goal of
- demonstrating that biologically there exists no essential, decisive difference between the
- intellectual endowments of men and women, and arguing by this that one has no right to
- support the “subjugation” and shoving aside of women.
- People did not let you develop this ambition of yours?
- The experts communicated to me that Zsuzsa could only practically be raised as a mere women’s
- competitor; women were simply not capable of results equal to men, etc., etc. On the one hand
- this old song was heard; on the other hand discriminatory regulations rained down on me.
- Was it then you decided to turn against this idea?
- Yes. First I studied the literature and saw that girls could start out brilliantly in this field. In the
- first elementary grade they show similar or better capabilities than boys, and they progress
- similarly until they take on and play the womanly roles demanded and destined for them by
- society. These roles later act negatively on the development of their capabilities. For example,
- the fact that girls are introduced early to house cleaning, washing, and cooking, educated to
- follow fashion, pay attention to details of clothing, etc., or that they are prepared for life so that
- they are married as soon as possible, contributes to the formation of these disadvantageous
- roles. So one expects essentially different things from them than boys. Do not misunderstand, I
- do not wish to say that women should not take certain feminine roles that are good and
- necessary. It is important that they are married, are mothers, raise children, etc. But they can
- also do this together with the husband, and so raise children together, take on familial burdens
- and advantages together. Maybe men will storm at me for this opinion, but I believe that I must
- declare it in the interests of societal justice and emancipation.
- So for you it is evident that girls develop similarly to boys in school, and you concluded from
- this that women can attain the same results in chess as well, and on the basis of this you
- created a special strategy.
- Yes. Its essence is that for women one should create approximately the same psychological and
- (chess) specialized conditions, and then they will attain the same results as men.
- I tried to arrange this for my daughters. But I could not solve the problem of others, both chess
- friends and and society, believing in them. Few tutors were inclined to accept this theory, but
- there were many who explicitly disapproved of and opposed it.
- Raise a Genius! - 71
- What did you base your hopes on? If we look at current competitions, we find a considerably
- large dif erence between men and women.
- Current results are not scientifically trustworthy, for as the psychologist Sandor Klein
- determined, we know only that current adult women are weaker in chess than adult men. But
- what causes that, whether biological endowments or only education, we cannot determine from
- the fact itself. Experience proves that in other mental fields like mathematics or language
- learning, girls keep up with boys one hundred percent during the whole period of school studies,
- not only in elementary school but also in middle school. The differences appear to be drawn only
- later. So the facts let us infer in favor of equality.
- According to Gabriella Rasko, “A great many experiments have been performed throughout the
- world regarding intelligence, including memory, logic, abstraction and combinatory abilities.
- The results clearly prove that the average intelligence quotient of women essentially compares to
- those of comparable populations of men, at least in civilized countries. When evaluating logic
- tasks separately, the widely disseminated assertion that women’s capability for logic is less
- worthy is found to be baseless.”
- Endre Czeizel interprets one of the tendencies of modern genetics thus: “Various research
- methods have long since proven that, for example, in the area of spoken communication and
- spacial orientation measureable dif erences between the sexes can be shown. Women’s spoken
- communication is significantly better than that of men, who for their part have a better
- capability of spatial orientation. Somewhat humorously, one could say, “Women sacrificed
- spatial orientation for increased speaking capability.”
- I nevertheless stand by the opinion that research up to now has only examined completed
- products: youths and adults, and has not sufficiently explored growing children without
- discrimination.
- Moreover, as G. W. Allport, an American socio-psychologist writes, “We have made too much of
- primary and secondary sexual characteristics, and fluffed up these differences according to the
- imaginary theory one uses to justify discrimination against women to their disadvantage.”
- One should also research the genetic results in a population that lacks social differences! In the
- name of freedom of research, I demand that we cast doubt upon the starting points above, as not
- necessarily proven. This is why I adopt, as a logical consequence of my system, equal rights for
- women.
- Nevertheless, tell us which arguments are still launched currently against women’s equality.
- For example, the weight difference of the female brain, or that female blood has fewer
- erythrocytes, etc. According to neurophysiology, these factors do not signify a disadvantage for
- women. Or that women menstruate, and this hinders them in competition. About this it is my
- opinion that on the one hand it does not cause difficulty for all women, and on the other that
- today the timing of menstruation can be altered. (And, among other things, anti-cramping pills
- Raise a Genius! - 72
- exist.) The argument is often heard that (alluding to the properties of the female psyche) women
- are generally attached to old and customary things, that they fear novelty, are not sufficiently
- courageous, lack initiative, cannot be aggressive, are too mild and weak, are not oriented to
- completeness or success. But the research of the world-famous scientists Mead, Allport,
- Maccoby, and others proves and demonstrates that on the contrary these hallmarks of
- psychological nature are without exception socially determined. And I agree completely with
- this.
- If this is so, why do teachers (and mainly the chess association) not hear these facts?
- Well, this is a more complicated question. This has several causes. First, because the current
- system is convenient for women themselves, since female chess players can stand among the
- women’s elite with much less effort, and those who stand there would not willingly give up their
- positions. This is the reason why the greatest enemies of my daughters can be found among their
- “own kind,” women: the latter fight them tooth and nail. According to the current women’s
- world champion, Maya Chiburdanidze, it is not possible for women to achieve the knowledge
- that men can. And if she considers herself unsuitable for that, she will certainly not say that she
- knows those - my daughters, for example - who with suitable support might be able to do so.
- Someone said ironically, “The Hungarian Chess Association is needed to ‘check’ the Polgar
- girls.”
- Yes, their “blessings” we have received abundantly. Slander, contempt, discrimination, press
- campaigns. They also say that we lack patriotic feeling.
- This is obviously myopic; the Polgar girls often appear on the title pages of the world press
- beside or even before Boris Becker, Stef i Graf or Italian footballers. Judit Polgar was awarded
- a chess Oscar, and in my country there has never been a chess Oscar prize even among men.
- Provincial Hungarian viewpoint!
- A provincial and selfishly male point of view. One of the main causes of discrimination against
- us is that men wish to prove their superiority to women on the basis of differences in this field. I
- do not claim that men and women are equal in current society, but that indeed the cause of this
- inequality is not biological but social. And I begin the proof for this in a field that serves as the
- last and greatest argument for “manocrats,” the game of chess. Those who promote the idea of
- intellectual differences between men and women always end up using chess as an argument. But
- maybe my daughters’ results will unmask the flimsiness of their arguments.
- So what is the essence of such great opposition?
- Modern genetics has already accepted the similarity in IQ of men and women, but it theorizes
- about the diversity of dispositions between the sexes. This as well I do not believe. This is
- formed similarly under the effects of societal education; the game of chess is taught to very few
- Raise a Genius! - 73
- girls (why?!), and mathematics is also not considered a “sport” for girls. But if female
- competitors wish to achieve similar results to the chess world champions Karpov and Kasparov,
- they must learn in similar conditions, and must compete in similar conditions. Anyone who
- prepares herself to be a mere woman competitor faces different demands from the environment,
- expects different things of herself, and experiences success and failure in a different way. Female
- competitors are at a very low level, and if we wish to change this situation, we must make
- women compete among men, and absolutely only among men.
- In my experience, whoever competes among men attains better results than someone who plays
- with both men and women, and of course immeasurably better than someone who enters only
- among women. This draws the following figure:
- Female Competitors
- Who play in women’s Who play in both women’s Who play with women in
- competitions and men’s competitions similar conditions as men
- 1 2 3
- A mountain analogy: the most direct route to the summit leads up a steep slope.
- 2700 2700 2700
- 2400 2500
- Only a winding A winding path combined Only a steep slope
- path upwards with a steep slope
- From this viewpoint chess is in no way different from other intellectual areas of study or
- specialties. In study competitions no one thinks of demanding that someone first prove their
- worth among girls and only later enter among boys. It would be more than strange if Rozsa
- Peter, the outstanding Hungarian mathematician could not receive her doctorate in
- mathematical science if she did not prove that she is the best mathematician among women.
- Today mathematics competitions are not organized separately for boys and girls, and if someone
- tried to do this, they would immediately be advised to resign their post. Why then should one
- separate the sexes in chess?
- Because we consider chess a sport.
- Are mathematics competitions not a sport, then? They also have Olympics! And are there
- separate Nobel prizes for women and men?! Absolutely not! Among intellectual activities it is
- only chess.
- Raise a Genius! - 74
- Do you think that in current circumstances one could end separate competitions for men and
- women?
- They should be ended at all levels, because this is the reason women cannot develop further.
- And because women say, If I am a star at the female level, why become so at the male level? It is
- very strange that at the conference in Dubai in 1986 a discriminatory rule was voted in according
- to which a women would not be allowed to play in a “male” team in global competitions in the
- future. The grandmasters’ advisors are rightly occupied with the plan to petition the
- International Chess Association to end this kind of discrimination against women, even to
- initiate the complete end of women’s chess.
- Did you intend to have your daughters compete with men from the beginning? Did you not
- fear that this was the kind of level that would lead to failure?
- I did not fear, because I assumed that men and women have equal capabilities at their disposal. I
- agree with Janos Selye, “Women can also become eminent scientists.” I started from this, that
- although it was not yet proven in one sense that women can attain the same results as men, as
- long as the opposite was not proven, there was no right to exclude women. But up to now my
- experiment has confirmed only a part of the correctness of my hypothesis, since I have proved
- only that it is true for this age group. If my daughters do not further prove it in later times, it still
- does not follow that it is not possible. Errors can hide even in my educational principles. But it
- greatly hinders my daughters that few believe that they can achieve results. So aside from my
- methods, there are also external effects, circumstances independent of us, that strongly
- influence the development of this “match.”
- Many people consider you a curious bird, even those who feel liking for you, whether in or
- outside your country. They say, What would happen if the girls also entered in women’s
- competitions? Even on the worst occasion they would not lose, although they might not seem
- extravagant. A colleague of mine, a university professor and renowned chess player from
- Baku, Yasha Abasov, declared, for example: “For a certain time I have also thought that Soviet
- women’s chess is so superior that it is not worth being occupied seriously with competition.
- Relatedly, I considered the fact that the Polgar sisters only play against men to be a typical
- female caprice… But after the Olympics in 1988 we had to revisit everything.”
- Understand well, the matter is not as simple as that! The personality is a very complicated
- system. I will give a seemingly unproblematic example: My daughters took part in the Olympics
- for the first time in 1988, and immediately became champions. What did this result in? They
- gained more self-confidence, became more famous, narrowed the circle of those who bet against
- them, they did not need to fear crude discrimination any longer, they received more
- encouragement, etc., and all this worked well. But they possibly became too self-confident, and
- experienced success not in a realistic measure, and this had a negative psychological effect: I
- observed that they played more and worked less. The idea seized them: If we are at the summit,
- Raise a Genius! - 75
- why work any more than now? I fear that from the viewpoint of the final goal, the men’s world
- championship competition, these Olympics worked disadvantageously.
- I have a provocative question: your younger daughter was awarded an Oscar prize this year.
- Will you suggest that she accept it, or dissuade her on the basis that it will help in the battle
- against discrimination against women not to accept a prize for women?
- Of course I will not dissuade her, for several reasons. On the one hand, I myself helped her to
- decide to participate in the women’s chess Olympics; on the other hand she has in fact achieved
- the best result in this global competition. In 1988 as well, she won another competition much
- harder than the Olympics, she stands at the summit of the women’s global rankings, etc., so she
- deserves the prize. I am only against discrimination against women.
- So you are not a militant feminist.
- Of course not. I have raised my daughters to be true women. I have not only not hindered their
- feminization, among other things, but on the contrary: I very much expect that their
- psychosexual development is also normal and healthy. I work towards their being regarded as
- true, attractive, attention-getting women. I endeavor for them to fulfil suitable so-called
- “necessary womanly requirements.” Among them I disapprove only those things that could be
- harmful to their intellectual development.
- If it were necessary, I could also confirm that the girls are indeed truly joyful, frolicsome, and
- sympathetic. Friends, specialists, and intimate acquaintances claim the same. The famous
- female psychologist Judit Meszaros, who lives with you in the same house, said to me, “These
- girls are charming and womanly. Although they dress a bit more simply than their peers, they
- are as attractive as them.”
- And this logically leads me to the idea of love. Love that could lead the girls down new paths.
- What will happen if “He” shows up? Richard Muenzert, the notable West German psychologist,
- a supporter of the Polgar family, introduced the theme: “The time will come when these
- charming and pleasant girls will burden the heads of boys not only with chess combinations;
- they will also turn their heads.”
- This is a very important and decisive question, and I myself do not know how to give a definitive
- answer to it. In any case, I am raising my daughters so they get married, have children, but
- always remember that they have the kind of life program, and stand on such summits, that they
- should not give it up. I hope that they will have two loves, their careers and the ones they care
- for. And that they “cheat” neither of those. Furthermore, they are also responsible for one
- another. They form such a strong team now that they should preserve it; they must, if necessary,
- also sacrifice, principally if they are recompensed with joy. I hope that they will also solve this
- great task of life well. A good example of this for them is the Curie couple. One thing is certain:
- Raise a Genius! - 76
- getting married in itself has risks, but one must also accept risks. But this belongs to the second
- and third acts of the psychological-pedagogical experiment.
- But how does it relate to those concerned that they are flag-bearers for the emancipation of
- women?
- Ask them!
- I have already asked all three. Zsuzsa answered reasonably that this is an emotional feeling;
- she often thinks about the idea and she is proud that she competes at the chess board also for
- equal rights for women. Zsofi answered flippantly, “Of course we willingly participate in the
- experiment, and happily we prove - if we win (and we like winning) - the skillfulness of the
- female sex.” Judit, the youngest, had the shortest answer: “I don’t care about that.”
- Raise a Genius! - 77
- IV. The Meaning of the Whole Thing
- 1. The family as a value
- “Do not spit in a well, for it may happen that, thirsty, you may come to drink from it.” - I. A.
- Krilov
- “Other people are among the most elementary needs of the person.” - K. Marx
- “It is not possible to find a substitute as good as a good father.” - V. A. Sukhomlinsky
- Many consider the most important result not the achievements of your daughters, but the
- familial ethos in which you live. “In this family,” writes the West German Reinhard Muenzert,
- “harmony and love reign. This is possibly the greatest success of the Polgars.” Do you agree?
- Of course it gladdens me to hear that even foreigners observe what we hold together and kindle
- internally. Which one considers the greatest result depends on the viewpoint. I would choose the
- happiness of our family. “Harmony and love reigning” in our home, although important, is not
- the only factor in our happiness. I can declare one thing with definite certainty: without a good
- family background and loving family relationships my daughters’ successes would never have
- happened.
- I can imagine that you stood with a fully elaborated family model even before the of icial
- registered your marriage.
- Yes, of course. I planned our life in my imagination. I thought that everyone must do this.
- Considered communication beforehand is a precondition for a healthy marriage. It is important
- that both adults clarify for themselves whether they want to entirely live in a marriage, and if
- yes, what they expect from it. Who will have which function in it? Later they should endeavor to
- manager their lives so that they in fact follow this mutual agreement or - for the happiness of
- both - they should change it together.
- I do not think that spouses inevitably become strangers to one another after several years; I even
- confess the opposite: with the passing of time they can keep loving each other more. Reciprocity
- in work done for the partner, the place of mutual life experience, raising children, good habits,
- etc., all contribute to this. Although it is fashionable nowadays to tire of one’s partner as early as
- possible, to emphasize the unfavorable aspects of marriage and the disadvantages of mutual
- compromise. I think that one should not make too much of mistakes, and one should look for
- that which is pleasing in one’s partner. This is not too difficult, as the good side of a person is
- generally stronger than the bad side. A basic need of children is to feel secure, but they will
- hardly receive this in a family where one conflict follows another. One should try to make
- quarrels mild and rare. In our home the principle applies that we should end the day only in love
- and peace. Naturally I do not wish to say about this that if the situation becomes very bad one
- Raise a Genius! - 78
- should not divorce; this would possibly even be good for the children just in interrupting a life
- lived together burdened with conflict.
- The success of genius education would indeed be doubtful in either case. What, in your opinion,
- would a healthy family model be like?
- I think that two people link themselves together by marriage so that both their lives become
- more complete (and diverse) and happier. On the other hand, in order to have children, at least
- three if possible, to whom they give everything necessary to also become happy. We planned for
- six children, but circumstances prevented us. One should not consider raising children to be a
- necessary evil, make it instead joyful and creative.
- But it should also be specialist work!
- It can also be specialist work, but preferably a calling, or an additional calling. Obviously not
- everyone can leave their job and stay at home to raise children, but it would be desirable for one
- of the parents to do so. I consider it totally possible for men to stay at home and raise children.
- One thing is certain: education also needs much more educated parents. One should devote
- more time to the children. I propose that the state should establish, alongside marriage
- counseling, “parent counseling,” and even child-raising classes for parents.
- What do you think about open marriage?
- I am not a convert. I even think it dangerous. Naturally I have nothing against it in theory, if one
- can achieve a normal education for the children. In these kinds of cases, both adults organize
- their lives as they please. If they can arrange them so they are also good for the children, then I
- say: OK! If not, then it is irresponsible.
- The danger is hidden in this, that open marriage often lends a sporting character to human
- relationships, and the sex life - in my opinion - is not appropriate for sport. If these relations are
- without emotions, I disapprove of them, and if they are based on love, they have another risk,
- that the feelings of the two partners will cool at different times; one still loves while the other
- does no longer, and this emotional “winter” hurts the one who still loves. I do not believe that
- anyone has the right to cause hurt, often very bitter hurt, to their partner, and eventually
- provoking by this even suicide.
- But let us speak of the conditions for specialist education! I do not believe that someone can do
- careful and outstanding work, if they often change partners. Think of a scientist who sits in a
- library in the morning, and maybe stays there until evening. I did this for a long time. When I
- went home, I continued the work. So I ask how one can do with with changing partners? And
- mainly, it is not irrelevant - let us return to education - whether I love the women with whom I
- have children, and whether she loves me! It is not irrelevant whether we together love the
- children. Finally, it is not irrelevant what the child sees in the home.
- Raise a Genius! - 79
- Do geniuses need siblings?
- Yes, a good brother or sister is of great value, but who becomes a good sibling depends a great
- deal on the parents and the education. But a good friend is more valuable than a bad sibling. I
- am very happy that our children our good sisters, good friends, good colleagues, and they love
- each other very much. And this is a matter of education: one must establish a healthy
- competition among them, but to raise them to help each other at the same time. Many believe
- that human contacts become better on their own. However, one must always be doing
- something for them, to improve them unceasingly, to form these contacts. This demands much
- energy, but it certainly pays.
- They say that someone who has three children is a hero in current circumstances.
- I do not accept this qualification. I have observed that in many families that have three children,
- life generally flows very peacefully, the parents are more balanced and the children develop
- normally. Their experience is that they can always count on one another.
- Are three children not too much of a burden?
- It is difficult to answer this. If the problem of lodging is solved, it is not too much trouble in a
- family of a medium financial level. For example, I have never dressed fashionably. And I have
- raised the children to prefer clean, sporty, simple clothing. Similarly I do not much care about
- cuisine. One must learn to rationally manage money. And one should teach the children about
- this independent of whether one lives richly or poorly.
- Did you spend time preparing yourself for fatherhood?
- Of course. Before marriage. Before planning this experiment, I read through a long series of
- specialist books on fatherhood. And I had to set myself to this “work” emotionally as well.
- How much should parents intervene in the future of their children? Should they influence the
- choice of profession, partner or politics?
- Let us begin with the choice of profession. I will speak only about parents who seriously
- endeavor to smooth the way for their children. Among them there are two types. Some say that a
- child should be many-faceted, “taste” everything, and in adulthood or close to it they should
- decide for themselves what they will do. I can also understand this standpoint. However, if the
- parents wish the children to achieve genius results, then - in my opinion - the parents’ decision
- should not be put off, and one should decide the direction of their specialization even in infancy.
- Raise a Genius! - 80
- But is the knowledge and capability of the parents suf icient to guide a child along the chosen
- route? What will happen if by some tragic event they can no longer help.
- Let us examine the first question to start. Are parents capable of the task or not? I believe that if
- they are decisive and have a suitable viewpoint, and are also in the habit of reading some of the
- literature, and are not ashamed to ask help from others, they are definitely capable of this kind
- of work.
- In the other matter: if an unfortunate accident intervenes. This can happen. But if something
- intervenes, the people involved do not even then lose much more than if they had been traveling
- a different road. A child can become a good specialist, a good teacher, a good economist, etc.,
- without being a genius. Even if one raises a child from a different viewpoint and with different
- methods, a tragic event could still intervene, could it not?
- Both ways of instruction, multi-faceted and specialist, can create healthy, happy children, and a
- good family ethos. But one must consciously choose either system, and implement it
- consciously. Freedom of education is as much a fundamental human right whether one educates
- by my method or some other.
- Let us switch to the choice of life partner. What role do parents have here?
- Two extreme tendencies are drawn out in history. One extremes is when parents themselve
- choose a life companion for their child. The other extreme, to which by my belief we have now
- swung, is what we now experience, when parents are almost completely excluded from the
- choice of partner. In my opinion the ideal would be a combination of the two tendencies, some
- kind of middle way, where the parents’ opinion is also important, so the children also hear their
- opinion. This is important, because it surely can be supposed that parents wish good for their
- child, and they are more experienced, and they are not blinded by feelings (young love), so they
- can decide and anticipate more objectively. Further, as it applies to a healthy family, then to a
- certain degree, directly or indirectly, the generations will live together and work together to raise
- the following generation.
- Thus in my opinion a good decision is made communally, of course the young people should
- have the last word.
- Should the parents have the right to a veto in your conception?
- This is about independent adults, so here a veto should not exist. Today parents have only
- practically a 5-10% “vote.” In my opinion 40% would be more ideal, and the young people could
- still decide 60%, so in the end they would choose. In our case 50% was parental influence and
- 50% our own decision. I am very happy that I obeyed my mother, because I have a wonderful
- marriage. If I had married the woman I originally wished to, my educational experiment and
- happy marriage would have dissolved away.
- Raise a Genius! - 81
- How much can the family influence a child’s choice of faction, or the development of
- worldview, world conception, or political orientation?
- I always smile to myself when someone says: now I am raising the child to be a believer (or an
- atheist), and later in adulthood they should choose their world view for themselves. It is indeed
- decisive what kinds of influences reach a child in their family, what kind of example they see, in
- which direction they are raised - not only in what subject, but in what world view. I consider it a
- completely natural matter that parents will hand down their own world view: for indeed they
- can give nothing else. It is therefore absurd if someone - being religious - says to their child: you
- should be an atheist.
- At the same time I believe that one should hand down in childhood fundamental moral values,
- which are generally human, so one does not need to restrict them, in the traditional sense, to any
- particular world view or political party.
- What role does the family and parents have in preparing the child for a life of sport?
- Sport is one of the best educational methods that parents have, because they hardly have to
- make an effort; in almost every child there is a desire to move, to actively compete. At the same
- time the practice of sports makes one used to observing certain rules, and contributes to right
- conduct, a regulated way of life, and discipline. Plus it is very useful if the members of the family
- play sports together, if they do anything together. If the family plays sports, they pass more time
- together, and this is incomparably beneficial. But if this is not possible, the child should visit a
- club, and train for one or two hours a day, even if they do not want to become an athlete. But if
- they want to become a competitor, then it is obvious that the parents and tutors should have a
- plan and follow it.
- In Hungary, people still have reservations about experiments (not only in chess, but in other
- areas as well) in which the parents are partly or completely tutors for their children. There is
- the Batorfi family (table tennis players), Temesvari (tennis), and Mizser (pentathlon). But you
- are the first where an independent family “enterprise” has been formed.
- The official institutions completely disapproved of this enterprise then, and even now they do
- not appreciate it on its merits. The attitude of the press is also strange. When the Capital Council
- gave my wife and me a medal “For the Sport of Budapest,” some “competent” journalist
- indignantly and demagogically wrote that other parents also deserved it, because other parents
- also care for their children. He is definitely right about the latter. But he forgot to add that we
- are different from other parents in that we, forsaking our jobs, through long years of 15-hour
- days - directly or indirectly - made a huge effort for the development of our daughters in the area
- of chess. We bought neither a summer cottage nor a car, nor anything like that; we only paid for
- tutors and a chess library. Sometimes we slept only a few hours in two days, because we were
- preparing a sample from 200,000 matches for our children. We studied the literature nightly.
- We had to fight for the possibility of our daughters’ development in extraordinary ways. This
- article appeared in the beginning of February 1989 in the magazine Esti Hirlap. I will not name
- Raise a Genius! - 82
- the journalist, as I agree with the author Gabor Goda: “Debate means raising the other - despite
- the difference in viewpoints - to a certain spiritual rank. Take good care with whom you begin a
- debate, lest you raise a bunch of meritless people to a spiritual rank!”
- The press and sports organizers also do not like parents to follow the sports careers of their
- children with special care. Ironically, they call these “hockey moms” or “tennis dads.” Some of
- the mass media even now treats these kinds of parents dismissively.
- This kind of conduct is damaging because it causes a child’s trust in their parents to falter. It is
- easy indeed to make children uncertain. On the other hand this kind of rough influence can
- awaken family conflicts, which could be “avoided.” I support the family in relation to this also.
- One must protect and shelter peace and respect in the family.
- Another question: who wears the hat in your family?
- In general my wife does the housework, but when she accompanies one of the girls out of the
- country - and this happens often - I take care of the household. But during our marriage she has
- been able to continue her education: she learned languages (she speaks 7 or 8), acquired three
- degrees, traveled throughout the whole world, and practiced languages, collected a great deal of
- knowledge, saw many beautiful things in nature, architecture, and museums, so her life has been
- full, despite fulfilling “womanly” tasks at the same time.
- In addition, she participates in the pedagogical experiment, in which she also works together
- creatively, because we do and are a little communal pedagogical group experiment. I wanted to
- have the housework or part of it done by someone else, if our material circumstances enabled
- this, because then she could better dedicate herself to her specialty, her profession, but during
- our work together for the development of our daughters’ capabilities she was practically in a
- somewhat disadvantageous situation. But my family structure would be against my principles if
- she only cared for the household or the uncreative part of child raising.
- From the tone of your discussion I feel that you have a crisis of conscience.
- I myself also confess the clarification from the ancient Jewish literature, according to which the
- command of Holy Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” does not apply to your father,
- your mother, your children or your wife; you must love them more than you love yourself. I
- sincerely confess that I have a bit of a crisis of conscience, but I do not accept the opinion that I
- am realizing an orthodox family model.
- What do you think about your wife?
- I believe that our results are a product of our common activity. But rather ask her!
- Raise a Genius! - 83
- An example from Mrs. Klara Polgar: A thread goes where the needle pulls it
- I have already spent several days with you, Mrs. Polgar, and I see that you spend the whole
- day working silently and intensely. The house shines with order, dinner is ready on time, and I
- can assert with a clean conscience that it tastes good. Was this kind of work destined for you?
- Yes and no. At the center of my life, along with my family, is chess. I do everything that
- contributes to the preparation of my daughters. The world revolves around them, and I believe I
- have the task of being their manager. If they need textbooks, I bring them; if they need
- translations, I do them; I correspond with foreigners; if necessary I drive the girls; sometimes I
- give interviews; other times I clean the house. I make dinner and wash the clothes. So I believe
- that I have so vast a “repertoire” that in the end I am not bored. If there were only housework for
- me I would surely find it boring.
- If I could compare your family to a great tree, your husband would be the roots and the thick
- part of the trunk, and you would be the triple top of the trunk that supports and links together
- the three bright, healthy child branches with the trunk. Do I have a good view of this?
- The initiator of the big idea was Laszlo, but I have always participated in its implementation.
- Tireless work from both of us is necessary for the girls to achieve success. But instead of the
- comparison with the trunk and roots, I prefer quoting the proverb, “A thread goes where the
- needle pulls it.” The thread is me. He thinks of things, and I try to implement them in practice,
- as I am able.
- If you like, consider my next question a provocation. You are participating in an experiment
- one of whose goals is is to prove that there is equality between men and women, at least
- regarding the intellect. In your family - as you have said - one fulfils the function of the needle
- and the other that of the thread, so it follows that nevertheless there are dif erences between
- men and women.
- An occasional visitor might be inclined to believe that in our home the physical work is separate
- from the mental, and that mental work belongs to Laszlo and everything else to me. But in fact
- the matter is otherwise, because I very often drive to chess competitions with Zsuzsa, Judit or
- Zsofia, and then Laszlo stays by the hearth and does all the tasks at home. But of course there is
- also a certain level of “discrimination” with us, as there unfortunately is in every family. The
- time is still far off when this kind of discrimination will cease. Of course ideals always diverge
- from reality, because the latter also depends on the given conditions, and the conditions still do
- not enable the full implementation of the ideals.
- Raise a Genius! - 84
- Did you plan your pedagogical program together?
- In fact, it was Laszlo’s dream. When I first met him, in 1965 in Budapest, I only listened and
- listened to him. Sometimes I had the feeling that he was a fantasist who was full of ideas one
- could only half believe. I went home with the thought that I had made the acquaintance of a very
- interesting person, but I did not believe that I could ever become his wife.
- Afterwards we corresponded a great deal. It is unfortunate that these letters were not preserved,
- because we sent each other wonderful letters. At the start they were not much about love; we
- exchanged opinions about pedagogical ideas.
- Do you remember anything you did not believe about him?
- I did not believe that in 24 hours one could get through as many matters as - according to him -
- were bottled up in him… Where to start? He said that he had been occupied by psychology,
- pedagogy, philosophy, and art, that mathematics also interested him, and as well he was an
- educator, a teacher, took part in the youth movement, visited libraries, swam, etc. He listed so
- many things that I did not believe him. Time passed, and we corresponded…
- And his pedagogical concepts?
- At first I doubted that one could begin serious work with children so early. Zsuzsa was three and
- a half when he began her specialization.
- What did you think about at first, when you began the experiment?
- We knew that we wanted to manifest something significant in the children, but at first it was not
- totally clear which specialist field we would choose. Zsuzsa progressed very well in mathematics.
- She had already learned all the material from the first four grades by the age of four. Then she
- saw some chess pieces by chance, which was later shown to be a “happy accident.” She found a
- chess set in a drawer and began to play with it. At that time Laszlo was often with her, and one
- fine day coming from work I saw that they were playing chess. I was very surprised.
- So the beginning was an accident. Not a planned choice?
- Speaking for myself it was not planned for the child to become a chess player. Zsuzsa first
- learned Russian in a Russian kindergarten, then German, and chess followed, which was a new
- game for her, and which she seemed to find very interesting.
- Did Laszlo know how to play chess?
- He knew how and loved to play; I remember that one time he asked me to play with him, but I
- did not even know the moves. I said that it was very boring for me, and did not interest me.
- Raise a Genius! - 85
- Unfortunately this was the truth, but when Zsuzsa began playing chess I was ashamed that a
- child was capable of mastering something that I still did not know how to play.
- Aside from this accident, what motivated staying with chess?
- We could have chosen something else; we could have continued the mathematics or foreign
- languages; nevertheless we decided on chess - in my opinion because we felt that Zsuzsa was
- very happy at the chessboard. And because this was the first success, and we thought: if
- someone wins on 64 squares, that is already proof. Although the grandparents and neighbors
- often shook their heads: a girl at the chessboard? What a thing!
- So many found the choice strange. Obviously it is not an accident that in public opinion this
- kind of activity makes children’s lives joyless and unhappy. Did you hear those kinds of
- opinions?
- Unfortunately we had to face them. It is true that chess is not traditionally a children’s game.
- People don’t hear about girls playing chess; people think it is a game for boys. Many asked me:
- what kind of mother are you? Why do you let your husband play chess with Zsuzsa? I had to
- struggle with myself, and had to reconsider if I was doing this well and rightly, if I agreed. But
- looking back to the past, I now believe that my motherly “greatness” really consisted in letting us
- follow this road.
- You are best able to answer: are the children closed up in themselves, turned away from the
- world, or do they truly live happily?
- I believe that my daughters live at least as happily as any of their peers. But I might claim that
- they live even more happily. In my opinion they are balanced and have very rich internal lives.
- Many doubt that they had and have real childhoods. I feel that they have not only real
- childhoods, but also those that prepare them for all of life and are foundational for their
- happiness. A person is truly happy when they do what they are willingly occupied with. They
- have found themselves, and are also respected for it. They have been doing from infancy things
- that are close to them, about which they are self-confident, and doing which they feel good about
- themselves.
- Were there any methods during the girls’ educations that you threw out or modified or
- changed?
- I would not speak the complete truth if I claimed that we raised all three in the same way. But of
- effort, love, care, and provision we gave the same level; indeed we loved all of them equally
- strongly. Of course circumstances differed with Zsuzsa, Zsofi and Judit. I gave the most
- languages to Zsuzsa. Unfortunately I made an error with Zsofi. She was not diligent enough, and
- Raise a Genius! - 86
- maybe also for lack of time left language lessons behind, although both Zsofi and Judit learned
- English and Russian and basic Esperanto.
- How many languages do you speak?
- I have assimilated 7-8 languages: I am a teacher of Russian, German and Esperanto, and I know
- English and Ukrainian, and I know a bit of Bulgarian and Spanish.
- Are the children healthy?
- Yes, luckily. Aside from colds, (and sometimes ear infections for Zsuzsa), they are never sick.
- Do you have, or have you had, an ideal for families? Have you succeeded in realizing it?
- I always wanted to live a beautiful, peaceful family life, and to make my children good, honest
- people, who achieved at a high level. I believe that we have accomplished this. As a mother and a
- wife I am very happy and balanced. I believe that if reciprocal love and respect reigns in a family,
- one has what is most important.
- What do you think about open marriage?
- I condemn it. In this area I am conservative; I insist on the traditional role of the family. In the
- current uncertain world this small community is maybe the only refuge where one can feel
- oneself truly well, where one is completely free. I believe that I also need it very much.
- Have you raised your daughters in a religious spirit?
- No, completely not.
- Are you also not religious?
- No. My parents were not as well, and I was also educated thus. I do not need religion.
- Have you taught your daughters about so-called women’s roles? For example, do they know
- how to cook as well as you?
- If they are capable of solving extraordinarily serious chess problems, which demand a great deal
- of energy, inventiveness and skill, why could they not also master cooking, if necessary? They
- have certainly learned, but at this time I do not tire them with this kind of work. And I did not
- know how to cook when I was married.
- Raise a Genius! - 87
- What plans or ambitions do you have?
- Plans, dreams? I want to continue what we have begun, for the girls to achieve a higher level,
- and my work certainly contributes to that. Of course as a mother I want them to marry, have
- children, make me a happy grandmother, and enjoy the fruits of my labor as a pensioner.
- You wanted to raise geniuses. Have the girls really become so? Do you also think your husband
- is a genius?
- I think he is the greatest genius. In our family there is no lack of genius, but he is most truly so.
- It is his idea that we are implementing. When I first told a journalist that he was a genius, he
- marveled and did not believe me. That the girls have become so is owed to very serious,
- stressful, balanced, responsible work, which has been and is being implemented under his
- guidance.
- Moreover, in this matter Klara Kasparova (the wife of the world champion) said: “... Without
- clenching one’s teeth, without visible and lasting work, it is not possible to achieve the end goal.
- For us the idea of ‘tranquil’ does not exist. From the age of 9 [for Gary] not even a day passes
- without serious intentional work. We are constantly working. It is very difficult to reach the
- summit.” (From the work of Reinhard Muenzert: Die Familie Polgar und ihre Bedeutung für die
- Anlage-Umwelt-Kontroverse-Deutsche Schachblätter. 1989 pp. 32-35).
- How do you see yourself?
- I believe that I am an adaptable type. I have adapted to this great idea. I have submitted myself
- to chess, and this adaptation is my “genius.”
- And if Laszlo establishes a school, to educate exceptionally capable children?
- I will also take part in the work. I would teach languages, and endeavor to help with everything
- so the school would function well.
- Raise a Genius! - 88
- 2. In the minority
- “Learning is a Jewish sport.” - Saying
- “What do Jews learn better than non-Jews? How to hate and persecute Jews.” - The Talmud
- “I cannot be a Jew to the bones, the less I can completely not be a Jew.” - G. E. Lessing
- It seems to me that your Jewishness is something other than a simple link link to a community.
- It is at the same time an important source of your pedagogical concept. Is my opinion correct?
- Yes. The consciousness of my identity undoubtedly attached me from birth to the Jewish
- community; I am primarily in this sense attached to the Jewish people. One of the veins of my
- pedagogical system incontestably originates there, but the analysis of my state of existence also
- hides philosophical relationships.
- It is generally known that Jews have achieved outstanding results in the field of mental
- activities. This poses the theoretical question: does this have a biological genetic cause, or is this
- socially determined?
- The fact is that today a newborn baby, being Jewish, has a much greater chance, by the
- statistics of Nobel prizes, at this prize, than if they are born in a non-Jewish family. This seems
- to many to be genetically determined.
- I have a completely different opinion. I conclude that social “heredity” and the response to one’s
- own Jewishness causes this phenomenon. I accept - this is indeed a fact - what Endre Czeizel
- also mentioned on Hungarian Radio (1989-05-23), that the proportion of Jews among Nobel
- prize-winners is 30%..., and if one is born Jewish, they have a hundred times greater chance of a
- Nobel prize than an average non-Jew. And most of the Hungarian Nobel prize-winners were
- Jews. Among chess world champions their proportion reaches - to my knowledge - more than
- 50%: Lasker, Steinitz, Tal, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Kasparov and Fischer are half Jewish. However,
- I claim that this is also socially determined.
- More precisely?
- To mention a few factors: The first essential point is that Jewish families - partly because of
- strong traditions - are relatively stable, and they are always very concerned with education.
- Another reason comes from the minority status of Jews and from the frequent persecutions
- throughout their history. How do these factors contribute to the development of the mind? From
- a negative side in this way, that because of the always disadvantageous situation of the Jews they
- always had to appear in almost everything doubly more capable than others. Because of the
- frequent persecution they knew that at any time they might have to leave their homes, dwellings,
- and even homelands, and begin lives elsewhere. So what is fixed in Jewish tradition? “Learn, my
- son, because (1) only thus can you succeed in life, and (2) if you must flee, no one can take
- Raise a Genius! - 89
- knowledge away from you, so you can take it with you anywhere.” Jews could not take their
- houses with them, so they customarily preferred to buy no houses or unportable things, but gold
- and diamonds and trinkets, so that during persecutions they could pocket them and run away.
- And their knowledge bore fruit everywhere.
- On the other hand, Jews are always on the periphery, and this awakens stresses in them; they
- become “eternal adolescents.” Adolescents do not know whether they are children or adults, and
- their uncertainty comes from this. Similarly, Jews most often do not know to what degree they
- are - for example - Hungarian, or Jewish, or both. This situation is difficult to clarify to
- themselves. Because of it they constantly live with internal conflict. This makes them develop
- with open minds, a habit of problem-solving, and also develops their adaptability. (This can also
- cause certain negative qualities, for example over-sensitivity, loudness, aggression, extremism,
- being critical of oneself and others, a very strong ambition for accomplishments, over-driven
- activity, etc.)
- If these traits are a constant of history, do they not become hereditary?
- No. Mental capabilities or acquired qualities of a person are not hereditary. I accept, of course,
- that certain diseases are more frequent in this or other peoples. But the causes of disease should
- be searched for primarily in the life circumstances and way of life. Thus there exist, for example,
- typical Jewish diseases. But mental traits are unambiguously socially determined.
- So in your opinion, with regard to intellectual gifts and moral traits every people is equal in
- potential?
- At birth every person is equal. After birth a person takes on so-called ethnic-psychological
- characteristics, adapting to cultural traditions and educational demands. This means that
- throughout history the so-called Jewish qualities are always changing. For a long time people
- have falsely accused Jews of not being capable of creative physical work, of always being
- cowardly, which, even if partly true, followed from the education and imposition of the
- environment. But today one cannot find these qualities in the Jews living in Israel or elsewhere.
- Today the soldiers of the Israeli army are the best warriors in the world; Mossad is one of the
- most effective secret services in the world. The Jewish settlers also surprised the world with
- their oases growing from the desert of the Holy Land. So today it is no longer valid to say they
- are only occupied with mental work.
- What characterizes the Jewish pedagogical tradition?
- The Jewish religion stipulates that parents should teach their children from early childhood. The
- Talmud stipulates that parents should be the first teachers of a child, because they are
- emotionally close to and love them. It is important that a child senses what a parent expects of
- them; this strongly influences the level of their needs, and later also that of their
- accomplishments. In a Jewish family children are raised to love knowledge, like books, and
- Raise a Genius! - 90
- respect each other. One does not begrudge material sacrifices for the development of a child’s
- capabilities. One is brave enough to challenge them early and teach them intensively.
- How much did your Jewishness contribute to the development of your system? Did you
- consider the tasks prescribed in the Jewish literature as personal duties, and teach your
- daughters because of that?
- Probably not. I accepted those stipulations, because I found them to be well-founded and
- rational. Of course my family had something in common with my system, because my parents
- were already quite occupied with me in kindergarten. They taught me much, for example,
- translating from Hebrew to Hungarian and similar things. My great-grandfather was a
- pedagogue and taught languages in his school in intensive form to 4-5-year-olds. All of his
- students became exceptionally talented people. For example, the world-famous author, poet,
- and translator Jozsef Patai attended his school. In one of his works he remembers my
- great-grandfather with pleasant feelings.
- What does Jewishness mean to your family. A religion, a culture, an identity, an ethnicity, or
- pedagogy?
- Pedagogy definitely, this is certain. In a larger sense I accept my Jewishness as an ethnicity, in
- the same way as my Hungarian-ness. Of course I have been affected by good Hungarian culture,
- and good Jewish culture, and good European culture in general.
- Jews can feel in their own flesh what it means if people act toward them like Nazis or
- chauvinists. So Jews endeavor to cast away all prejudice, and represent equal rights and equality
- for all people. Not understanding this, people often accuse them of cosmopolitanism.
- Or of being world citizens?
- I confess sincerely that I accept even this. Although I am a Jew and a Hungarian, in practice I
- primarily respect in a person human values and not nationality. I also accept being citizens of
- the world. I consider both Hungary and the Earth my homeland. I say the same thing as Bela
- Bartok: we must assimilate only good and valuable culture, whatever nation it belongs to…
- What still links you to the Jewish people?
- That 600,000 Hungarian and 6 million European Jews were exterminated in the Second World
- War, so I wish to be a living memorial. And another matter still: I am a Jew not because I accept
- it, I would also be a Jew if I did not accept it, because the fact that others consider me a Jew
- inevitably determines my situation.
- Raise a Genius! - 91
- What does Jewishness mean in your life from the viewpoint of a religious world view?
- I was born into a religious Jewish family. My father is still a Jewish believer. After my parents’
- divorce, my stepfather was the chief rabbi of the city of Gyongyos, and a teacher of the Talmud
- in a rabbinical seminary. Until around the age of 13 I was not very religious; at 12-13 I led youth
- religious services. I prepared several children for their “Bar-Mitzvah,” the initiation rite into
- manhood. But at the age of 14 I encountered a teacher of biology and physiology who guided me
- to materialism. Primarily he guided me to freedom from the Jewish high school and orphanage,
- and now I am an atheist.
- For a Jew there are two possibilities: assimilation or integration. At that time I drifted
- unequivocally toward assimilation. I felt that I had almost nothing in common with the Jewish
- people. I grew up primarily in Hungarian culture, and I believed that I could assimilate. But
- experience made me recognize very early that Hungarian anti-Semitism (more precisely: not
- Hungarian anti-Semitism in general, but that of some Hungarians) would not allow that. At 23 I
- recognized that the road of assimilation was in practice not possible. Because of the lack of
- acceptance of society. Because of the definite condemnation of Jewishness by non-Jews. Now it
- is my opinion that the task is to integrate. Integrate, in other words, to conform in such a way
- that we openly accept our Jewishness.
- Do you still experience unpleasantness because of your Jewishness? Do you encounter
- anti-Semitism nowadays?
- I have experienced a great deal of unpleasantness both in childhood (and my parents as well),
- and as an adult; even now it is abundant. We often receive foul, hateful letters and telephone
- calls, for example, “Disappear from here, your place is in Auschwitz,” and the like.
- What do you see as the cause of the still living and loud anti-Semitism?
- There has always been anti-Semitism in Hungary, but now, partly because of the stresses that
- accumulated during the dictatorship, partly because of the economic difficulties, its voice is
- becoming louder. In an unfavorable economic situation people usually look for a scapegoat, and
- they find one most often in Jews. In addition, people see that some Jews are spiritually and
- materially rich, and this evokes more hatred.
- What can be done to counter anti-Semitism?
- Anti-Semitism fears only opposition. Only organization and organizations can fight against it. I
- have never understood those Jews who are ashamed of their Jewishness, and are self-hating or
- hurtful to other Jews, to prove to those around that they have nothing in common with such
- things. If someone strikes another person, and that one does not strike back, later they will
- regularly and even for pleasure beat them. But if the one does fight back, the other will think
- twice the next time, whether to strike.
- Raise a Genius! - 92
- It is my firm conviction that only groups or organizations (Jewish organizations among them)
- can successfully fight against anti-Semitism, and for that reason I find it the foundation of
- democratic Jewish associations in Hungary very praiseworthy. In addition, it is psychologically
- beneficial that Jews can live and in fact experience group life in these associations, because this
- “filters” or dulls anti-Semitism to some degree. It is advantageous if a group restrains the
- unfavorable effects, so an individual need not suffer them alone. In this way stress is lessened,
- and commonality gives strength, initiative, and support. Jewish organizations are needed which
- take upon themselves the responsibility to fight against anti-Semitism. Without this how could
- we expect non-Jewish organizations and their members to fight against it?
- Of course, one should not make too much of anti-Semitism, but in my opinion it is as much an
- error to trivialize it. We should think of Jews unfortunately marching to Auschwitz,
- underestimating the significance of being forced there, believing that they were only going to
- suffer at hard labor while the war lasted…
- In you opinion, is it possible to fight against prejudice by means of information?
- Mere information and debate cannot successfully fight against anti-Semitism and prejudice.
- However: one must speak about it often, openly and honestly. If besides debate various
- well-intentioned social effects are strengthened, then it is to be expected that anti-Semitism will
- retreat. For this a long time and patient, persistent work are needed. Looking at the whole
- world, I am also optimistic about this question.
- Raise a Genius! - 93
- 3. Chief witness for genius education: the happy children
- “A person is happy if they have work and are able to love.” S. Freud
- “There does not exist such a modest happiness that it can avoid the teeth of malice.” - V.
- Maximus
- “A person lives to be happy and pass on that happiness to others.” - A. V. Lunacharsky
- It is my experience that everyday people would be uncertain if you said to them, “You as well
- can raise a genius.” They observe from afar, but in general do not let that thought near, which
- they find bizarre. They fear it a little. I have asked several young people if they would raise
- geniuses. They answered: if they could know that the child would be happy, maybe yes, but if
- there were no guarantee of that, and the risk were too great, then no.
- I believe that that answer is permissible and sympathetic - I also hesitated. The future of our
- children is on my heart, and my chief aspiration is to make them happy. But is not enough to
- merely desire the happiness of our children; we must create and develop in them the capability
- to be happy. Many ways lead to happiness, although not all with the same certainty, but among
- them the most certain and guaranteed is - in my opinion - that of genius education. Because of
- this I chose that way.
- According to contemporary opinion, the contrary is true, that is, that the life of a genius is
- dif icult: it is more dangerous to follow that way than a traditional, average way of life.
- Again a wrong opinion. It is incontestable that a genius’s future can also be difficult, but that
- does not mean that a difficult human life cannot be happy, and it mainly does not mean that
- people with easy lives are happier. Among non-geniuses, there are proportionally more unhappy
- people, like alcoholics, drug addicts, lonely, neurotic, irritable, monotonous, aimless people, etc.
- Even if I accept this claim, it does not follow from it that geniuses will arrive at happiness. One
- reads of many cases in newspapers where, for example, an Olympic champion leaves their
- sport and declares that they will never take an oar in their hand again, or stand at the tennis
- table, or leap into the water, etc. They have become weary, cheated of their hopes, over-sated.
- I do not doubt that there are bits of truth in those stories. People can also be found who are
- bored of their present occupations. There are those who are fed up and who make sudden
- unthinking declarations. But we should not judge too quickly, or derive theoretical conclusions
- from those stories.
- Firstly, sports journalists are thirsty for sensational stories, and blow everything out of
- proportion; they make unthinking declarations seem like definitive decisions. Secondly, I am
- acquainted with many athletes who, after leaving the sport, continue their activity in the same
- field as trainers, club leaders, referees, or managers. Finally, why is it bad if someone modifies
- Raise a Genius! - 94
- their career or changes their specialty? I do not understand this disapproval. Why is this bad?
- This simply demonstrates adaptability. To change one’s career one must have several diverse
- kinds of capabilities. I really see this as an advantage of geniuses. The abilities of geniuses can be
- converted more effectively than those of others. Changing careers truly proves the vast sphere of
- freedom for a genius’s life, and not their deficit. However, I must remark that the situation of
- stars of physical sports is more disadvantageous; they can become aged in youth as a result of
- their sport.
- How can it be proved that genius and happiness belong together?
- This is also provable theoretically, but I can confirm it with the example of my daughters - in
- practice. In theory genius and happiness are more interlinked than the opposite state. As I have
- already mentioned: genius = work + luck.
- Happiness is a complex phenomenon (a process and a state), which also contains components of
- genius. It consists of several elements: enjoyment of work, honesty, health, wisdom, material
- conditions, cheerfulness, love, optimism, courage, tranquility, lack of worry, fulfilment of duties,
- the satisfaction of spiritual and material needs, a sense of joy, satisfaction, perspective, a correct
- view of life, a full experience of love, rest after work done well, creativity, success, establishing
- goals, high-level needs, and I could continue for a long time… To summarize and categorize
- these components, we can describe happiness with the following formula: happiness = work +
- love + freedom + luck.
- I categorize under profession: work, accomplishments, creativity; under love: feelings given to
- others and reciprocated; under a state of freedom: the potential and capability of a person to
- become an independent, autonomous, and creative individual; and under luck: the union of
- random external (recognition, peace, family environment, etc.) and internal (health, strength,
- physiological endowments, spiritual and material goods, etc.) factors.
- Happiness is a complex phenomenon in this sense. From the formula it is possible to sense that
- it does not exclude, but indeed includes the components of a genius’s life.
- I agree that happiness and adult genius are interrelated, but the answer to the question of how
- this relates to the happiness of genius children does not directly follow from this. Many think
- that a genius child equals a robbed childhood, and a child prodigy equals the wonder: “a
- child?”
- You have verbalized a very important question, although a bit ironically. Firstly, childhood is not
- so uncloudy as average people remember nostalgically. As a teacher I saw that very often not
- many people had a happy childhood. Others also confirm my impression. A few days ago I read
- in the philosopher Eva Ancsel, “Observe a child’s face at length, and you will see: if fate exists, it
- begins very early.”
- Parents do much for the happiness of their children, but they do not all raise them well, or do
- not succeed in what they wish. They do not prepare children well for the future; often the
- Raise a Genius! - 95
- “suitcase” the parents give them for their life is not sufficient. And they do not always take
- precautions materially. They buy the children gifts, high-fidelity sound systems, cars, and
- similar things, but they begrudge the money for language instruction. Later they shove the
- responsibility onto school - which generally lack the necessary conditions - and to the circle of
- bad friends.
- Of course I do not only blame parents for this situation. Society also does not give the necessary
- support. For example, it happens that people frighten parents who wish to fully develop their
- children’s capabilities away by the argument that they are too ambitious. They say that they are
- pushing their children to achieve in that way what they themselves never succeeded in
- achieving. I personally know a person who wanted to walk with their child along the same way
- as ours, but when the press and radio opened a full frontal assault on them, the parents’ nerves
- almost collapsed, and they gave up working on the matter.
- Can you prove, despite all this, that your daughters are happy?
- Yes, I firmly claim this, and among my educational successes I consider this the most important.
- I am doubly joyful about this! First, because it is true, and second, because the value, sense and
- utility of my pedagogical method of genius education has been proved in practice by this.
- But how can you attest to your claim?
- Primarily by the reality. Look at my daughters, and if you have a bit of psychological sense, you
- can determine much from their appearance, and how they carry themselves, their laughter,
- unworriedness, their movement. It is not by chance that I proposed publishing many photos in
- the book, so that others could also see this.
- I know that you never boast about your way of life, but if others doubt the happiness of your
- daughters, you must illustrate how colorful and varied their lives are.
- They have already met many famous people: prime ministers, ambassadors, and Princess Diana;
- they have taken part in society receptions with millionaires, and mayors; they have played chess
- with UN delegates in the UN headquarters. They have connected with world-famous artists,
- Olympians, and world champions; they have participated in a counter-narcotics campaign in
- Canada; they have been in special direct TV program; they have given TV, radio, and newspaper
- interviews throughout the whole world. A little while ago they took part in the reception given by
- the US President Bush in Budapest.
- In the Strait of Magellan, close to the South Pole, they played with penguins; in Australia with
- kangaroos and koalas, and in the Negev desert with a camel. In Iceland they sunned themselves
- in a meter of snow, threw snowballs in bathing suits, and saw the famous white night. In New
- York they flew in a private helicopter between skyscrapers. They have hiked in the
- Mesoamerican old-growth forest, and glided on parachutes into the Gulf of Mexico.
- Raise a Genius! - 96
- They have played chess in interesting places, like the center of the Common Market in Brussels,
- and the World Trade Center in New York, one of the tallest buildings in the world. They have
- visited such amusement parks as Disneyland, the Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Prater in Vienna,
- and the most famous botanical gardens and zoos in the world. They have played in the casino of
- San Juan, swum in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Mediterranean, Dead, Caribbean, and
- Black seas. It has happened that when it was gloomy winter in Europe, they summered in
- Australia or Mexico. (In summer, if we are home, they sun themselves most often on the
- panoramic terrace on the roof.)
- They have visited and continue to visit the most famous museums of the world: the Louvre in
- Paris, the British Museum in London, the Vatican Museum, etc. Wonderful airports welcome
- them, in Singapore and Dubai, for example. They stay at the most famous luxury hotels. They
- have seen wonderful fireworks in Paris and Biel in Switzerland. The have walked around and
- seen the sights in cities like New York, Vienna, Reykjavik, Zurich, Paris, Cannes, Varna, Sofia,
- Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, Copenhagen, Brussels, Buenos Aires, San
- Juan, Moscow, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Athens, Salonica, Rome, Madrid,
- London, Mexico City, Prague, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Las Vegas, Baden-Baden,
- Bucharest, and Belgrade. I could continue for a long time.
- They regularly participate in Esperanto gatherings. If they want to and have time, they take
- pictures and videos, they listen to music, they collect chess books, chess-related stamps,
- chess-themed pictures, and chess sets. They have a large collection of records and cassettes.
- They have many friends in various parts of the world with whom they correspond, contact
- personally or telephone. The house - if they are home - always stands open to guests.
- Thus for the “color” of their lives. But I am sure - and this truly gives me strength - that this
- nevertheless is not the most important thing for them, besides their family, their sisters, their
- successes, and their communal joy.
- I can add that I have never visited you without coming across a guest, several guests actually,
- friends, chess colleagues. But what do the girls say about their own lives? Do they feel that they
- are happy?
- Ask them!
- I do not want to ask them directly, as I fear that they will mock me like another journalist
- asking similar questions.
- So I will speak myself. For example, yesterday my oldest daughter Zsuzsa, who is at the age to be
- thinking of marriage, said to me, “Papa, how happy I would be if I had a daughter like me.”
- Raise a Genius! - 97
- This is a very spirited response to the question. Not less striking is her response to my interest
- in whether she would raise her son or daughter as you raised her. She said first, “I don’t
- know.” But after further insistence she answered, “I feel uncertain that there is in me the same
- amount of sacrifice and selflessness as in my parents.” For me this is a convincing argument, a
- “QED.” Those who know them well think the same. Your neighbor, the clear-sighted
- psychologist Judit Meszaros, decidedly answered yes to my question whether the girls are
- happy. “Certainly, although maybe in other ways than other girls. But happiness does not
- wear a uniform.”
- I quote several statements of psychologists who know your family well. For example, an article
- by Jochen Harberg appeared this year in the West German magazine Stern entitled “Genius is
- Plannable.” Having heard the girls’ laughter, the author closes the article with the words, “...
- this signals that these girls are happy.”
- Reinhard Muenzert, the renowned psychologist (his book entitled Schachpsychologie appeared
- last year in the FRG) writes the following: “In the end has the experiment truly succeeded?
- Should one not say that although the girls have achieved good results, are they also happy
- people? Have they not been educated too narrowly, deprived of a carefree childhood? I was
- able to observe the Polgar family… and what I saw absolutely convinced me: I saw three
- totally natural, friendly, charming, sensible, and frolicsome girls. They are often joyful. One
- can clearly see that they are happy.”
- In this category belongs the article by the psychologist and international chess master Leon
- Pliester with the title “Prodigies,” which he wrote for the periodical “Dutch Chess Player”
- (1986), whose contents he personally confirmed a little while ago when he visited the family,
- “Of course when I visited Budapest in September, I wanted to use the occasion to become
- acquainted with the girls. I was interested in not only their chess abilities; I wanted to
- experience for myself what kind of prodigies they are, where the secret of their strength in the
- game is hidden, and what kind of education they received. I was agreeably surprised when I
- met two warm-hearted parents in the company of three charming, untroubled children. I must
- acknowledge that this family impressed me deeply: I highly admire their way of life.”
- Permit me to also mention an evaluation in Hungary. Not long ago Mrs. Laszlone Dudas, who
- wrote a successful thesis at the Pedagogical University of Eger regarding my educational system,
- visited me. According to her, “It is clearly evident that the children are happy. I could not find
- even one element in their life that could make one suppose that they were less happy than their
- peers.”
- These opinions, citations, and instances cannot separately be considered scientifically valid
- proof of the happiness of the three girls, and they are also not enough to refute opinions that
- the girls are joyless, tedious “chess machines.” But all this information together can be
- considered a sort of proof. In addition, I can also personally attest that all of your daughters
- are healthy - both physically and mentally. For 4-5 months, when I was visiting you, they were
- not sick even once. I spoke to their doctor, and even he did not remember when they were ever
- ill. During this period they participated in many competitions, bringing outstanding successes
- Raise a Genius! - 98
- and also relatively weak achievements. From a psychological viewpoint the latter case
- interests me: how do they justify losses to themselves? I did not hear them even once attribute
- a lesser accomplishment to external factors. They never cast the blame on their surroundings,
- or the weather, not once did they excuse themselves by a cold or a toothache, as I have become
- “accustomed” to hearing from competitors in other branches of sport.
- I was once present for a “miracle”: I overheard a telephone call informing you of an
- outstanding victory by Judit in England. Zsofia took it at home with a wide smile and signs of
- unclouded happiness on her face, proudly she snapped her fingers - without the smallest
- shadow of jealousy.
- Another time I became a witness to Zsuzsa’s linguistic juggling, when in a circle of foreign
- guests she smoothly interpreted from German to English, from English to Russian, and from
- all of them to Hungarian, completely accurately. The reader should think about what it would
- be like for one’s most important problem - this is about Judit - to be whether or not to train a
- bit more in table tennis, to become a player of international rank, or not to take on any more
- and so damage her uninterrupted high-arching chess playing career. To all who would wish to
- become happy, I desire only these kinds of worries.
- We must also discuss a theoretical question concerning this idea. Can one intentionally educate
- for happiness, or should we leave it to create itself? According to Freud, “The plan of Creation
- does not contain the intention of making people happy.”
- I am a pedagogue, so I am concerned “ex officio” with the goals of education, and it is natural
- that one of the goals of education, happiness, must have its place in my system. Can one
- intentionally educate for happiness? I think that yes, even if not with the same certainty as for
- concrete language understanding or skill in physical sports. The first and essential condition for
- becoming happy is for one to want happiness. Many people want to make their children happy,
- want to see them thus, but they do not do enough, or even very little. They let themselves be
- guided by accidents of education. I, on the contrary, have the principle that one should approach
- and perform education very intentionally for happiness.
- The specialist pedagogical literature ought to research this.
- The literature does not even place the basis of the theory of education on happiness. But my
- genius education concept can serve as a contribution to the development of a theory on
- happiness.
- What can be considered a goal and what a method in your pedagogical system?
- The all-encompassing goal is undoubtedly happiness, and in relation to this genius education
- can be considered a method, but also it is about a dialectical process: in real life one grows
- through the other, that is, they prepare and strengthen each other reciprocally. Achievements
- lead to feelings of happiness, and happiness gives new motivational strength for higher
- achievements. Thus the method is formed from the goal and the goal from the method.
- Raise a Genius! - 99
- Nevertheless, what would happen if genius education contradicted the happiness of your
- daughters sometime?
- This is not acceptable. But if there were some breakdown in my system, then undoubtedly the
- goal has the higher rank, and in its interest I would abandon bad methods.
- Now, luckily, there is not even a shadow of danger. So you have proved that it is possible to
- raise geniuses. This is all very well, but what does this serve? Does it validate the ef ort?
- I answer with a unequivocal and decisive “yes.” It validates it, because this leads individually to
- happiness, but it is about more than just that: genius education is desirable and beneficial in a
- social sense as well.
- I see that you do not understand the question, so I will try to express it again. Is genius
- education a completely positive goal? Do we need a so-called hierarchy of values? Gasping, we
- climb to the summit. But for what? This can be neither an individual goal nor a social
- program.
- What to say? I do not claim that at the bottom or middle of the pyramid an individual cannot be
- happy, although let us not make the bottom level a societal goal! Humanity progresses, and the
- history of our country needs as many and as good specialists as possible, and always more
- creative geniuses. Without this progress will be gone. If society does not strive for the summit, it
- cannot progress.
- If it is true that education determines our intellectual development in a decisive way, it could
- easily happen that less ethically developed geniuses could be more damaging than
- medium-capable ethically developed people.
- The history of humanity shows that primarily the less capable or middling capable (thus not
- geniuses) and the morally undeveloped are dangerous for society, especially if they gain power
- (like Hitler). Of course, it is also dangerous if a very talented person in some specific field, but
- immoral, is in charge. For example, Napoleon was undoubtedly an extremely talented organizer
- and leader, although he used these abilities to endlessly make war and subjugate peoples.
- Genius education - according to my definition - aims for the development of personality, happy
- people, and the development of socially and morally progressive individuals. Therefore I say:
- genius education, education for happiness, and humanism are unified things; one does not
- develop one without the others. In addition, whoever intends to raise their children as
- outstandingly capable people would certainly not wish them to become ethically undeveloped,
- dishonest people. In history geniuses represent more good than bad.
- It is true that one can turn most of the elements of my educational method - as tools - in any
- direction. But the same is true for any tool, even a stone. With a stone one can break a nut, and
- Raise a Genius! - 100
- also a human head - but the stone is not the guilty one. Although I am not responsible for how
- one applies my concepts and methods, it is nevertheless my duty to warn about the possible
- dangers of incorrect, damaging application. So it is not permissible to apply only part of my
- methods - namely those related to intensive training in some narrow specialty - while neglecting
- my standpoint on moral education. It is necessary to raise exceptionally talented specialists so
- that they present extraordinary qualities not only in their specialty, but also in morality.
- People often claim that scientists are not responsible if others use scientific achievements for
- immoral goals. This is only partly true: today it is generally not possible to use scientific results
- without the active collaboration of scientists. The more educated and the more talented someone
- is, the greater is their social responsibility. My wife and I endeavor to live conforming with this
- principle, and we have raised our daughters according to it as well.
- Education has two “M”s: miracles and mistakes. You have proved the one, but it also has risks.
- Sandor Klein thinks as follows: “I must say that when I did not know about the Polgar
- phenomenon, I did not believe that it was possible to raise geniuses. But if one could
- successfully achieve this, why couldn’t another? If people are truly this educable, the greatest
- risk lies in the extremely large responsibility on the parents. But if we do not utilize this
- method, then our responsibility will be enormous: we have at our disposal a wonderful thing,
- and we do not use it.”
- Raise a Genius! - 101
- 4. Your life should be an ethical model
- “Guilt does not worry a mis-educated person.” - The Talmud
- “What is humanism? The love of people, nothing else, and by this to rebel against that which
- dirties and shames the human person.” - T. Mann
- “Pleasure does not go along with virtue, but virtue goes along with pleasure.” - Aristotle
- Leafing through the preceding chapters, I observe now that to my questions requiring rational
- answers, you always reacted by revealing emotional “colors” and moral values. I feel a bit like
- I did when reading Kant, who wrote, even about the purest logic and cold consequentialism,
- always with high pathos, if it had to do with morality. What is the reason for this?
- Whoever wishes to live in peace with themselves and others, who wish to have a clean
- conscience, who is occupied with promoting pedagogy, who loves their family, who wishes to live
- in harmony with their social environment, cannot leave out ethics. Without moral values one
- lacks a compass for life. The task of people on this Earth is to conduct themselves and others
- toward perfection.
- During our interactions the thought always kept coming back to me: why are you, who have
- been hit by so many blows, misunderstandings and traps, and yet not closed yourself of or
- retreated or been of ended, now publishing your thoughts, methods, and experiences, when the
- fruits of your labor have matured, your chosen road been shown to be correct, and when you
- have no more need of insisting there is evidence?
- For me it is an internal law to do good. In my whole life I have endeavored to realize high moral
- values; I have always believed in moral ideas, and as a pedagogue and a father I have always
- disseminated them. I could not live otherwise than what I profess. Striving for harmony between
- words and actions, needing to put ideas into practice, is an integral part of my moral concept
- and practice. Because of this every kind of small-souled reaction, vengeance, or trickery is far
- from me - for me openness is an internal command. Although I know that this book will “incite”
- many to attack, I know that people will criticize and offend me, and I have exposed myself to
- hostile action, but nevertheless I am taking this step - not following the counsel of the wise king
- Solomon: “Do not be too virtuous, and do not reason too much: why must you confuse
- yourself?”
- Many who know you more closely claim that your primary interest is not chess, that your
- pedagogical theory is not most important, but it is the moral model that you have implemented
- in your life. They say that you are a hero of our time: you have endured a dif icult trial, during
- which you have succeeded. You have not let yourself be diverted from your way, have not
- changed your skin, and have stayed simple and modest. They praise you for throwing a stone
- Raise a Genius! - 102
- in the deadly water of the world of chess since the 70s, because you have invented a new family
- model, because your individual example has become a socially and morally applicable model.
- This is too much, in a certain sense. I did what I had to do, and now I am doing the same with
- this book. I am passing on my experiences, as the Talmud says: “Who knows something
- beautiful and does not pass it on is as guilty as one who knows something ugly and does pass it
- on.”
- The book is about the education of geniuses. Do moral geniuses exist?
- Let us approach the idea from several sides! If we understand the notion of “genius” to be
- activity in an avant-garde level of the current epoch, and social maturity or “perfection,” then a
- moral genius is one who stands at that level of moral “perfection.” Extraordinary people always
- appear in extraordinary situations (Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Tivadar Herzl, Raoul
- Wallenberg, Ignaz Semmelweis, Albert Schweitzer, etc.), who we must definitely call moral
- geniuses. But people can become moral geniuses not only in extraordinary circumstances.
- Permit me to relate to this the thought of Bertolt Brecht: “One must pity the people who need
- heroes.”
- I agree with this, that one should pity the people who need heros, but I would add that one needs
- to pity even more the people who - when they need some - do not have heroes. Moral education
- must not suggest: “Be a hero!” It must pass on values which in times of need can lift a person to
- be a hero. A moral genius is an example - both in extreme situations and stable periods. An
- example always finds followers.
- I have also spoken with the master trainer Janos Gyimesi, who responded to my question
- whether there were geniuses in the sport of basketball as follows: “If five players train
- themselves in basketball, I say that a fivesome is at work, but if there appears among them a
- Larry Bird [an American professional basketball player], then six geniuses are now playing on
- the court.” Indeed, a genius has an emanation, an aura. From which qualities do you choose,
- when you “plan” a moral genius?
- I see before me a person who is sacrificial, honest, and courageous; a good friend and family
- member, not cynical, not egotistical, but empathetic and good-hearted, who feels responsibility,
- is attentive, and is capable of keeping secrets, who does not misuse their power, does not gossip,
- and can master their ambition, who is just, demands quality, an internationalist and not
- envious, who generally behaves in a friendly way and does not judge others easily, who is
- persistent, has initiative, conscious of duty, critical, self-critical and conscientious, who relates
- well to learning or ignorance, and who is capable of self-education (self-perfection), who has
- self-control, who is sincere and strives for freedom for themself and others, whose ethics are at a
- similarly high level, who is modest, able to love others, who has solidarity, tolerance and
- Raise a Genius! - 103
- politeness, has a healthy competitiveness, is helpful, peaceful, and well-intentioned, who shows
- respect to those who merit it, etc. This kind of person is definitely an exemplary moral authority.
- Whoever has in themselves all of the qualities above to a high level is a moral genius, even if they
- never become a hero, and even if those around them never consider them to be one.
- How should we raise moral people?
- A person is not born morally ready, does not bring moral values along from the womb, a
- maximum capability to become a moral being. But how they become, a loving family member or
- a hateful one, an altruist or an egoist, a humanist or a fascist - is not genetically fixed, but
- depends primarily on education and surroundings. As with all abilities, the moral ones can be
- and must be learned.
- It is true that here childhood influences are most important. But an adult is also formable in the
- same way. Democracy can transform into fascism or fascism into democracy. It can also happen
- that someone leaving prison can arrive in a good society and become an honest person.
- Here also we cannot let ourselves be led spontaneously: one must structure morality
- intentionally. In our century ethics is a very neglected field of instruction education. One could
- certainly do much more in this regard, than society has done until now. Not only family and
- school education can have an enormous role, but also a scientific direction for society and the
- use of mass media. Information itself of course is not enough, although it is better than nothing.
- One must create the conditions for the practice of morality.
- What do you think about the so-called decalogue of moral values?
- I feel that this code is superfluous. The moral life of a person is so complicated, complex, and
- wide, that it cannot be contained in 6 or 12 or 128 points or commands. Moreover, this kind of
- rigid and closed system I think radiates from a dogmatic way of living. Of course this does not
- mean one cannot, from the viewpoint of education, formulate some changeable, modern
- decalogue.
- Try nevertheless! What kinds of principles do you think are important for you?
- I will do as you desire, and list ten principles without more thought. This means that tomorrow I
- might insert other values (preserving the originals) between the following ten:
- 1. Be an example: live such that others follow you!
- 2. Learn and work hard, be demanding on yourself and others!
- 3. Be willing to love, give and receive love!
- 4. Live with yourself and others in peace, live a healthy and moderate life!
- 5. Strive for happiness and endeavor to make other people happy!
- 6. Have humanistic ideas and fight against prejudice!
- 7. Preserve peace and tranquility in the family, raise your children as perfectly as possible!
- 8. Be honest, respect your and others’ freedom!
- Raise a Genius! - 104
- 9. Trust the development of people, nurture small and large communities!
- 10. And finally, the wild card, that is, everything that you think moral and current, but which
- is not in the other nine points.
- If you could state one “command,” what would it be?
- I will quote Hillel from the Talmud: “Do not do to your brother human what is unloveable for
- yourself - this is the whole law, the rest is mere details.”
- From the values above comes a humanistic, puritan concept. I think that you truly live
- according to it in a simple manner, while many consider you really contradictory: a careerist
- and lover of money.
- I am neither an ascetic nor a puritan. However, there come times when one must reduce one’s
- needs. Thus it was at the beginning, when almost in misery - feeding ourselves on bread and
- butter - I began the work with my wife and daughters. But I do not consider myself an ascetic. I
- refuse asceticism in the same way as the other extreme, hedonism.
- I do not claim that I do not require that which is owed to me. For example, this year when we
- signed a contract with the sports club MTK, the press published that we receive 600,00 forints a
- year. In past years this sum was much less. It seems a large sum of money, but one should not
- forget that it pays for us five, and it is no more than 10,000 forints net per month. (= Monthly
- salary, competition fees, financing for training, and other fees together.) Is that a lot?
- Do not misunderstand me: I am not saying that someone should give their worth without pay.
- We also wish to charge the price that other professional competitors do, because we are really
- worth it. According to our competition and advertising value. I also require money for hosting
- guests, but this is a different matter, which we spend on not luxuries, but books, tutors, language
- learning, and the like.
- Mate Gaspar, international chess master, who often visits you, says regarding this: “These
- children are not pampered. I have seen pampered children, but these are not like that.
- Regarding the classical dilemma, ‘a villa or a child,’ people generally vote for material goods.
- Not the Polgars. One can see what kinds of circumstances they live in, and what kinds of
- material dif iculties they also have. So I consider their way of life and the fact that even now
- they have not changed their original habits not only a pedagogical model but a moral one. As
- people, they seem too normal to me.”
- In my opinion my life is normal, not extraordinary. I am convinced that other people can do the
- same, and there are times when a possible example can indeed become a model.
- Raise a Genius! - 105
- “The example of the Polgar father is decisive for the future,” wrote Andras Mezei, “because the
- future of the Hungarian people depends on whether it is capable of recognizing, culturing, and
- increasing spiritual perfection.” Is the pedagogical experiment we have been speaking about in
- harmony with the moral values explained above, including whether one has the right to
- experiment with people?
- The object of a pedagogical experiment can be nothing other than a person, and for their good
- one not only has the right, but even the duty of performing pedagogical experiments. In fact, all
- parents, even if not consciously, “experiment” with their children. An intentional, humanistically
- organized experiment is much more likely to succeed. Experiments are one of the methods of
- scientific discovery, by which we rigorously and organizedly establish some phenomenon,
- condition, or cause. During an experiment we can observe the supposed effects and modify them
- as desired. I agree with the academician Pal Tetenyi, who differentiates between, on the one
- hand, experiments in closed and open systems, and on the other - from the viewpoint of their
- effects - those dangerous or safe for people. The specificity of our experiment consists in it being
- performed in a closed system, and its danger is zero.
- Our program has been repeated many times throughout history. Similar life paths are known of
- many exceptionally capable and accomplished people. We merely did it intentionally, and by
- this raised it to the status of a theory. Our experiment is, in an absolute sense, humanism. The
- experiment is not contrary to moral values, as it is useful and gives happiness to its participants.
- It does not hinder specialist and moral progress, harmonious development of personality; it
- even has the opposite effect. By decreasing failures, lack of success, and unhappiness, the
- formation of a way of living and the realization of life principles are effected in ideal
- circumstances.
- Of course one must perform the experiment with great responsibility and optimism. But for this
- society must be more tolerant. This kind of complex experiment lasts for 15-25 years, and can be
- disturbed by external factors in many ways, like a lack of understanding by official authorities,
- the press, and public opinion. Traditional educational methods can be either damaging or
- beneficial. Our way - in our experience of the experiment until now - has proved to be primarily
- good and beneficial. In my opinion it is an example that others can repeat in creative ways.
- Today you have many admirers; although some people still try to shove you aside, they cannot
- erase you any more; your results are woven today into the fabric of Hungarian society. You
- are not now merely an object of sensation or discussion: you have a valuable social influence.
- Primarily because you have implemented your pedagogical theory in practice on yourselves.
- In pedagogy you have created a model worthy of following because you have unified theory
- and practice.
- But maybe I am speaking too much. Maybe my extended laudatory sentences only weaken the
- power of proof of the fact, as in the words of Albert Szentgyorgi, “One honors a creative artist
- best not with words of praise, but with understanding and appreciating their work.”
- Raise a Genius! - 106
- So: who is this book speaking to? Who are you addressing?
- It is addressed to my colleagues, of course, to specialists, to psychologists, pedagogues, to those
- who are interested in chess, but primarily to parents, grandparents, future fathers, mothers,
- teachers. They should think about this way of life and the fact that one can in this way raise a
- happy person.
- I do not give a prescription, only a way of life, and I wish to persuade no one to raise geniuses. I
- merely wish to show that it is possible to raise geniuses. I invoke no one, and instigate nothing;
- everyone must decide for themselves what they wish to do. I am only passing on my pedagogical
- system, and guiding everyone along the road that I have also traveled, with the certainty that it is
- possible and necessary to raise geniuses, because geniuses become happy people.
- Budapest, June 3, 2004
- Raise a Genius! - 107
- Biography of Laszlo Polgar
- He was born on May 11, 1946 in Gyongyos. His first degree was in philosophy; his second in
- psycho-pedagogical education. He had a 15-year successful career as a teacher, and later
- managed the training, competition, and promotion for his daughters. He acquired his PhD with
- a dissertation on the development of capabilities. He is a master teacher (this is the highest level
- of teaching recognition in Hungary).
- His daughters have won 12 Olympic gold medals, and several world championship titles. Since
- 1984 they lead the women’s world rankings. They have been awarded Oscar prizes several times.
- Specialist books, graduate degree work and doctoral dissertations have analyzed and recognized
- his pedagogical activity.
- Around 20 books have appeared by him. The first “Raise a Genius!” appeared in 1989 in
- Hungarian.
- Raise a Genius! - 108
- The Polgar Girls’ Latest Competition Results
- Zsuzsa:
- - The first woman to receive, after fulfilling the standards, the title of “Men’s
- Grandmaster.”
- - World champion in speed chess.
- - World champion in blitz chess.
- - World champion in chess with traditional time limits.
- - Olympic champion several times.
- - Oscar prize several times.
- - Beat by a large margin the world champions Chiburdanidze and Xie.
- - Won the separate men’s blitz chess championship.
- - Even match with Anatoly Karpov 3:3 in 2004.
- - Even match with Anatoly Karpov 3:3 in 2005.
- - First in the world rankings in 1984, 1985, and 1986, later second after her sister Judit.
- - Winner of very many international competitions.
- - In 2004, when Judit had her child, she switched back to first place in the women’s
- rankings.
- - Gained a university degree, mother of two sons.
- Zsofia:
- - Olympic champion several times.
- - Silver medal, after her sister Zsuzsa, in the speed chess world championship.
- - Her competition result in Rome is a Guinness world record: out of 9 she received 8.5
- points, ahead by two points of world-famous men’s candidates for world champion. This
- result is the 5th best result in the history of chess (after Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, and
- Alekhin. Judit is the 6th per her Madrid result).
- - An Oscar prize.
- - World champion in speed chess in men’s under-20.
- - Silver medal in the world championship of traditional chess for men under 20.
- - Winner of very many international competitions.
- - Finished high school, mother of two children.
- Judit:
- - Olympic champion several times.
- - US Open #1: 8 points out of a possible 9.
- - First ahead of men’s world champions in Benidorm.
- - The youngest grandmaster in the world at the age of 15, breaking the record of Robert
- Fischer (at the fulfilment of the first standard she was no more than 13).
- Raise a Genius! - 109
- - At 15 won the Hungarian men’s super-championship.
- - Several Oscar prizes.
- - Beat in an even match at 5:3 the men’s world champion Anatoly Karpov.
- - Beat the former men’s world champion Boris Spassky at 4 ½:3 ½.
- - In the match of the globally chosen team against Russia, beat the world champion Gary
- Kasparov.
- - By a vote of - the most important publication - Sakk-Informator (regarding the best and
- most beautiful match) finished 7 times in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.
- - Since January 1988 has led - without interruption - the women’s world rankings, and 7th
- in the men’s world rankings.
- - Winner of many international competitions.
- The Polgar girls have 15 Olympic gold medals.
- Elo Ratings
- Judit: 2735
- Zsuzsa: 2567
- Zsofia: 2500
- Age A. Karpov Zsuza Zsofia Judit
- Learned chess 4 4
- 3rd category 7 7
- 2nd category 9 8
- 1st category 9 10
- Candidate master 11 11
- Master 15 13 12 10
- International master 18 13 14 11
- Grandmaster 19 19/20 14(1) 13/15
- (1) GM standard + 1.5 points
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