How To Raise a Genius

Ode magazine (September 7, 2005; www.odemagazine.com) published an interview with brain researcher Makoto Shichida who has founded over 350 schools in Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore aimed at stimulating pupils’ right brains. Here are some of his responses…

How do I become a genius?

"Everyone is born with the capacity to be a genius. That particular talent is located in the right brain. But it is precisely that portion of the brain that the prevailing educational system fails to tap into. Schools are unilaterally geared to the left brain, which is rational, linear, and selfish, while the right brain is more geared towards intuition and love for others. The right brain has a mechanism allowing it to quickly absorb a lot of information -- right at the pre-verbal stage of infancy.”

Babies absorb information?

“Absolutely. The fetus develops the right half of the brain earlier that the left half. In their first months, babies are extremely eager to learn and open to new impulses. For example, parents can show their baby flash cards very quickly -- one card per second -- enabling them to learn to read much faster and earlier as children. Even the ability to calculate, which was always considered a left-brain activity, can be sped up by stimulating the right brain. But this must always be done in a relaxed and pleasurable way. Parent mustn’t force anything."

What makes us a genius?

“Geniuses have found the right balance between their right and left brains, while ordinary people use the left half of their brain.”

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