Philistine and Genius

by Boris Sidis

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Genres: Education

166 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

1867-1923
Boris Sidis was a Ukrainian-American psychologist, physician, psychiatrist, and philosopher of education. Sidis founded the New York State Psychopathic Institute and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. He was the father of child prodigy William James Sidis. Boris Sidis eventually opposed mainstream psychology and Sigmund Freud, and thereby died ostracized. He was married to a maternal aunt of Clifton Fadiman, the noted American intellectual.

Reviews

[Mariano Avila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boris Sidis, father of the brilliant James William Sidis offers a vitriolic criticism of the American educational system--much of which seems to still be current. The primary points to take are first, that one must focus ones parenting efforts on installing love of knowledge in a child between ages two and three. After that, he argues, it's too late. Second, fear of discipline, of punishment, of mythologies and fairy tales are poison to a child's mind. Fear is the antithesis of creativity, one must never use fear to instruct or educate a child. Third, routine and habit create patterns of complacency and inactivity in the brain; do not make this the foundation of education. Keep the child's brain active and in constant variety with instruction through games. Fourth, critical thinking, and teaching a child to identify evil in any circumstance are the two foundational elements of early child education. Finally, Sidis borrows heavily from the thought of John Stuart Mill, from the classical Greeks, and makes only a single endorsement of any educational system: Montessori's. overall the book is thought-provoking and in many ways still current in its descriptions of educational systems focused on money-getting rather than on critical thinking. One should not read this with the same expectations as one places on contemporary academic articles on psychology or pedagogy. Not surprisingly, it reads more like a classical Greek text.

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long time fan of Boris Sidis. The book raises important questions about how we turn the genius of a man into a philistine. Or most importantly, how our education instead of bringing out the best in human mind (it's desire and thirst for knowledge) suppresses it in order to benefit the economy. So instead of beauty, we have mediocracy, instead of genius, we have mental depression.

"Our educators are owl-wise, our teachers are pedants, and all their ambition is the turning out of smooth, well-polished philistines. It is a sad case of the blind leading the blind. The love of knowledge, the love of truth for its own sake, is entirely neglected in our modern schemes of education".

Personally, being somewhat disenchanted with university education, i decided to take matters into my own hands...and still do.

[GDM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tremendamente decepcionante. La primicia era buena, y el escritor parecía el indicado para llevarla a cabo. Sin embargo, salvo por los capítulos 10,11,13,15 y 16. El resto es totalmente prescindible y el autor solo se dedica a hacer un descargo más político que otra cosa.
Esas excepciones salvan la obra, por lo que no me arrepiento de leerla, se hace bastante llevadera por otro lado, y es una obra corta en sí.
Me llevo de aprendizaje, no hacerme ilusiones de un autor solo por las personas que lo rodearon. Boris Sidis, padre del hombre más inteligente del que se tenga registro, ¿Escribiendo un libro relacionado a la crianza infantil? gran primicia, mala ejecución.