Outstanding authors’ school experiences
Journal Title: Educational Psychology - Year 2015, Vol 50, Issue 8
Abstract
The analysis of school experiences presented in the article was carried out based on a study of autobiographical materials. Autobiographical narratives are the appropriate method to use in search of the specific nature of the way exceptional people experience themselves in the world as they are not always subject to the regularities defined by quantitative psychological research (Żurko, 2008). When events are analyzed after the fact, both the narrative's author and researchers can get to know the individual in a historical and holistic perspective. The participants represented different areas of work. Information concerning school education included in biographical materials decided on the choice of randomly selected authors. The study did not include musicians (composers) as their education often proceeds in a different way than the education of authors in other fields. Outstanding authors, who change paradigms and revolutionize the fields of their activity, are subject to the same school education as all other students. The outstanding authors' attitudes were analyzed based on their opinions on the quality of their education, grades and relationships with their teachers and schoolmates. The analysis was to show if their school education had reinforced or hindered the development of their creative potential. Individuality is a distinctive feature of outstanding authors; that is why their attitudes toward school education were and are individualized. As children and teenagers, the outstanding authors poorly integrated with their schoolmates as their interests were different, they were more mature than their peers and were rejected by them because of their unconventional behaviors. They grew up on the fringes of school society and were not educated by their peer group. It was found that school grades were not good forecasts of future creative achievements. Both the authors who were very good students as children and teenagers, and those who were mediocre or failures at school introduced new paradigms and trends in their fields. Their passion for learning, motivation and their own activity – and not their school education - was what determined the outstanding authors' achievements.
Authors and Affiliations
Grażyna Mendecka
Keywords
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