Friday 18 March 2022

In praise of tutoring

We all know that JS Mill had some of the world's smartest people as his tutors, including Jeremy Bentham. 

It may be more general among historic geniuses.

Spanning kingdoms and continents aristocratic tutoring had a several-millennia long run. If we fast forward almost 2,000 years we can find Bertrand Russell, one of the undeniable geniuses of the 20th century, who was a classic case of aristocratic tutoring—raised by his rich grandparents, he didn’t even attend school until he was 16, and had a revolving door of tutors to equal Marcus’s. Many of whom were impressive scientists and intellectuals in their own right, e.g., J. Stuart, one of Russell’s tutors, had himself been a student of Lord Kelvin (that “Kelvin”). 

Shame that tutoring like this doesn't scale. 

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