The Teplyakov children shared their proprietary teaching method: the sad consequences of “making” child prodigies

“I was lonely, I blamed my father”

The Teplyakov family continues an experiment on accelerated education for children. Their third daughter Leya, who is 8 years old, is another candidate for the early Unified State Exam and has already written an admission to the state exam. And 7-year-old Terra, as a talented programmer, can skip school a year earlier than her older sisters and brother. And the Teplyakovs themselves are expecting their ninth child.

The head of the family, Evgeny Teplyakov, handed over to MK a scientific article written, according to the presentation, by Alice, Heimdall, Leia and Terra Teplyakov. It is noted that Alice and Heimdall are university students (which are not named), Leia and Terra study at school No. 626.

Accelerated training “according to Teplyakov” is carried out using standard work programs and educational materials, manuals adopted in schools of the Russian Federation. The main innovation is that “learning is not tied to the class as the chronological age of the child, but is built in the logic of passing the material and searching for mutual dependencies between subjects.” And therefore, “mastering the full course of the school curriculum is completed at primary school or even preschool age.”

The subjects that a child is able to master within the scope of the school curriculum by the age of 7-8 are also listed: specialized mathematics, computer science, biology, geography, social studies, physics, Russian language. Others are also possible.

Summarizing the work sent to MK, Alice, Leia, Terra and Heimdall give the pros and cons of the methodology. On the positive side, they include “protection against overwork”, the ability to adapt to individual characteristics, and quickly make changes to the lesson. Among the “disadvantages” are the lack of timely consultation with specialists, “recession (as in the text – author) of dialogue and communication skills,” and lack of teamwork. Risks of late “identification of gaps” after the program has already “moved forward”.

MK also decided to speed up and turn to AI for help. Who told in a few seconds that accelerated learning methods are a dime a dozen. From the Homeschooling method, which is exactly similar to the Teplyakovs’ approach, to the Japanese Shichido or the famous Montessori method. But the most advanced systems today still take into account the capabilities of the Network and computer.

“It also seems to me that the Teplyakovs’ education system is not revolutionary,” says education expert Anastasia Gordeeva. – Yes, they have results: a girl went to study at a university at the age of 9, then a boy entered, now another girl is on the way. Although, apart from the story with Moscow State University, there is no documentary evidence. But let’s say it’s true. However, even then the story is not unique.

One can recall, for example, William Jay Seeds from New York. His parents were also smart people: his father was a psychology professor, his mother a doctor. The boy’s IQ was 260 – considered the highest in history. At the age of 8, Seeds knew several languages ​​and invented his own. At 9 I was ready to enter Harvard, and at 11 I lectured there. But his fate was sad; William was lonely as an adult and did not live to see 50 years of age. He blamed his father for everything, who raised him as a child according to his own method.

Even the reproducibility of this early learning outcome is not new. Our great teacher, founder of the school of neuropsychology, Lev Vygotsky, proved back in the 1930s that there is a so-called “beautiful norm” in the population. These are gifted from birth; in each class there are 10-15% of such children. They can be trained at an accelerated rate and achieve similar results. In one discipline, in several… But the same Vygotsky and his students substantiated why rushing at such a cruising speed is not recommended. This is also due to the peculiarities of brain maturation in humans: the second functional block matures by the age of 12, and there is also a third. And with the dissonance that arises when absorbing large amounts of information with immaturity of the psychophysical sphere. For intensive schooling, a period of 7-9 years was recommended. Such experiments were carried out, they were successful.