Einstein and the real world

Re “Patron saint of distracted students,” Current, April 8

When I started to read Walter Isaacson’s article, I was expecting the usual diatribe accusing teachers of stifling our students’ creativity. No doubt the answer to cold fusion is sitting in my sixth-period class, and I am too concerned with taking attendance, grading papers and attending parent conferences to notice it, assuming I even cared.

Well, I was wrong. I now see what I believe to be the author’s point: If Einstein is sitting in my class, his genius will eventually become evident. Whatever I do as a teacher is pretty much irrelevant. When his or her theories are peer reviewed and published in Scientific American, the joke will be on me, and I welcome that. In the meantime, I will continue do the best I can for the 160 other students I see each day.

STEVEN L. RICE

Thousand Oaks

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Thematically, Isaacson’s piece on stimulating imagination and promoting creativity in education is certainly a noble proposition. However, the suggestion that encouraging the traits of Albert Einstein among schoolchildren is misguided. Einstein’s singular genius far preceded his rebelliousness to the then-held belief that absolutes exist in science.

Einstein struggled with quantum physics emotionally and intellectually but could not refute it. Attitude was not an ally at that moment. Respectfully, I would like to inquire as to how one would set out, as Isaacson suggests, to “succeed in training a new generation of Einsteins?” Training a genius is a concept that defies understanding, and “impudence” would not be the catalyst even if it were possible.

FRANK O. CLARK

Los Angeles

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I wish Isaacson could have a talk with some of my kids’ teachers. As far as I can tell, the chief effect of our schools’ “increased focus on science and math, and our newly increased emphasis on testing” is a crushing burden of homework that leaves no time for reflection or wonder.

Class time is dedicated to the tedious task of correcting this mountain of homework, with little effort invested in nurturing curiosity about a topic.

LESLIE EDWARDS

Del Mar