Dr. David Raque

© Susan Todd-Raque

Recent research has suggested that while practice does not create talent, without practice no matter what talent a person has, the talent will not develop. There are many examples of this concept. Michael Jordan, whom many consider the greatest basketball player ever to play the game, was cut from his high school team.  Sports fans know the rest of the story. Everyone who played with Jordan said he was always the last player to leave the gym, even when he was considered great. Regardless of his talent, he believed with practice improvement was the result. Let’s make no mistake: heredity sets the limit, but practicing can extend one to reach that limit.

Talent can be developed, genius is borne, but without practice one’s genius remains dormant. Since most of us were not born geniuses, we must focus on our individual talents. As parents we all have to face the reality that most of our children are not borne with genius.

Thus, the more important focus as a parent should be to help your child find their talents. How does a parent do that? To begin with, you have to provide incentive to your children to find their talents.  From the time your child can begin to understand language you read biographies to your child. Psychologists have known for many years the most persuasive form of learning is modeling or identification. There is no better way to engender enthusiasm about being successful, than to hear about someone’s life that found his/her talent and became successful.  Next, as a parent encourage your child to develop their interests even though you may not think their talent is obvious. By encouraging, I am not saying you should tell them they have talent when they don’t, but by encouraging them you should reinforce them finding their talents, their passions, and then practicing to improve their talent.  In Fannin County, even if you are financially strapped, there is the Fannin Historical Museum, the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association, and of course, the library. Other sources of information are the skilled professionals and experts in the fields of their interest. Surely, the engineer on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad would explain to your child how a diesel engine works.

The other ingredient for success is the working memory capacity, which trains a person to remember what they learn.  Those early learning skills may seem redundant and boring, like multiplication tables, important historical dates, names of notable figures in history, documents which changed history, but are invaluable for a child’s future skills in whatever they do.

Success comes through developing working memory capacity, talent and practice.