We often hear that we should never ask a question if we do
not know the answer. I think the theory is that you may hear something that you
do not want to hear. I would, however, like to ask a question that I would like
an answer to:
“Would Einstein have passed the eleven plus?”
We know that he lived from 1879 to 1955. The eleven plus started
before 1955 so it is conceivable that he may actually have seen an eleven plus
question. (It is probably, however, remarkably unlikely!)
We know that he was an astonishing and original thinker so
he may have struggled with questions like:
`Man is to humanity as animals are to …. ‘It is possible
that he may have had some deep thoughts on this question and so did not finish the
test. (Some eleven plus children appear to sometimes over analyse questions they
find interesting and so do not complete all the questions.)
Among his many interests was the speed of light. He was
awarded, for example, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 for his work on `photoelectric
effect’. This probably would not have
helped in writing the eleven plus because he may have worked too quickly through
his eleven plus paper! Especially if he was reading and answering at the speed
of light!
He knew a great deal about mass and energy. This also may
have caused problems in preparing for the eleven plus. When he worked out E=mc2
he may have poured scorn on the idea of being asked to calculate the value of the
formula `E’ if m was equal to 4 and c = 3.
The final reason why he may have had some difficulty with the
eleven plus is that he settled in America – and the Americans do not seem to
embrace the concept of the eleven plus. In place of the eleven plus many Americans
school seem to prefer `Gifted and Talented’ programs.
So would Einstein have passed the eleven plus? I still don’t
know because he explained how some counter-intuitive things happened to space
and time as `c’ approached. If someone can explain that to me – I would be very
grateful! I really would like the answer.
