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"Wait a minute -- doesn't school already offer repeated examples of the effects of practice on results?" No, not in the sense that Adams proposes. The key fact

• dcx 16y ago
  This is true. I did high school in Western Australia, where your university admission is determined by a percentile scaled factoring in your peers' scores, school and other information. It's complex but the end result is a very fair system. However an unfortunate side effect is that your classmates' scores going down makes your score goes up. We found out years after graduation that there were quite a few students who actively hid the amount of study and after-school tuition they did, possibly due to the above incentive. In school they felt like naturally talented geniuses, which made it feel futile to compete. Kids don't really have a clear picture of hard work creating ability, because in their experience they only see talent and potential, not end results. I think Adams' idea would be a pretty good demonstration of this.