The write-up about Tao when he was ten years old [1] by Miraca Gross mentions Tao's connection to Julian Stanley, the founder of the Center for Talented Youth (

The write-up about Tao when he was ten years old [1] by Miraca Gross mentions Tao's connection to Julian Stanley, the founder of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University. I had opportunity to correspond with Stanley before he died, and the evolution of his views about the education of mathematically precocious young people is quite interesting. A 2006 retrospective by Stanley and co-author Michelle Muratori[2] examines the education of Tao and of Lenhard Ng, another very precocious mathematics learner. A key paragraph from the earlier article quotes Tao's father: "There is no need for him to rush ahead now. If he were to enter full-time [university] now, just for the sake of being the youngest child to graduate, or indeed for the sake of doing anything 'first,' that would simply be a stunt. Much more important is the opportunity to consolidate his education, to build a broader base." I wish every parent of a precocious child had that kind of healthy perspective on the child's overall development. Tao's father's attitude reminds me of the advice on mathematical education given by Fields medalist William Thurston.[3] "Another problem is that precocious students get the idea that the reward is in being 'ahead' of others in the same age group, rather than in the quality of learning and thinking. With a lifetime to learn, this is a shortsighted attitude. By the time they are 25 or 30, they are judged not by precociousness but on the quality of work. It is often a big letdown to precocious students when others who are talented but not so precocious catch up, and they become one among many. The problem is compounded by parents in affluent school districts who often push their children to advance as quickly as possible through the curriculum, before they are really ready." AFTER EDIT: Tao's write-up of his experience taking the Princeton University general examination for his Ph.D. program in mathematics is quite interesting, and certainly makes him look very normal indeed.[4] [1] http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10116.aspx http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10116.aspx [2] http://gcq.sagepub.com/content/50/4/307.abstract http://gcq.sagepub.com/content/50/4/307.abstract [3] http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0503/0503081v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0503/0503081v1.pdf [4] http://web.math.princeton.edu/generals/tao_terence http://web.math.princeton.edu/generals/tao_terence