Magnus Carlsen's education

Hi,

I heard Magnus Carlsen is an high school dropout with no formal eductaion, is that true?

Geez, he is the world's number 1 chess players and probably set to be the greatest player of all time.

So was Fischer.  Big deal.

That's right AndyCliffon but Fischer is from another era.

That is still suprising that highest rated player of all time and now worldchampion in 2013 is a high school drop out.

What does being from a different era have to do with it?  And what's surprising about him being a high school dropout?  I'm an NM and I dropped out of high school.

When you're born a genius with freakish spatial memory you don't need high school.  

Yeah, you just need a line of fall fashions!

He is literate, and knows algebra.

Yeah, it's surprising the world #1 had more time to work on chess than most other kids.  I totally expected the best chess player in the world to have relevant knowledge such as at what longitude the tropic of Capricorn exists, the middle initial of the first Prime Minister of Norway, lines from Hamlet, and other assorted trivia required to be memorized then quickly forgotten while in highschool.

Tropic of Capricorn is latitude, not longitude.

PS I paid attention at school

So much for that "stay in school and get an education" drivel.  Education means less than it ever has.  PhD's are working as Wal-Mart greeters or burger flippers.

It depends on what you study. PhDs in fields like Computer Science work at places like Google and Facebook, not at Wal-Mart or McDonalds. You have a point though about the utility of a PhD in Literary Criticism or some other areas of the humanities if you don't go into academia.

In many professions, having a degree or an advanced degree is very important. Whether it's justified or not, applying for many jobs without a degree won't get you past the first HR person that looks at your resume. You won't even get an opportunity to show them in the interview that you're an autodidact and better prepared than most so-called 'educated' people.

Of course, if you're a genius, then education sometimes does mean next to nothing, but most people aren't Bobby Fischer or Magnus Carlsen, and chess is something of a special case, since the experts aren't in academia. Outside of chess and other special cases, education usually is very important. Take the case of a genius like Terence Tao. It seems extremely unlikely that he would have achieved anything close to what he has if he had not had the opportunities to learn from the best and brightest that were afforded by his education. In mathematics, unlike chess, the best of the best are often in academia, and that is the shortest path to expertise.

Whatever...

I thought we agreed that Magnus was a no-talent inbred genius with high grades and no education who, despite moving like a computer, defeated the World Champion even though the world champion played better chess.

Ph.D.s in the humanities usually boycott Walmart, but you'll find them flipping soy burgers at some local vegan business.

Well, I do not know I guess that being the highest rated player ever in chess and the world champion make him quite a very intellectual person. So, I kind of thought that a person of that intellectual level and capacity might have been highly educated. So I was surprised to learn that he not have much of a formal education (just like Fischer who I thought a the exeption of the exception.)

But you say you're a NM and I am inclined to believe it might be true (seeing your online rating) but why don't you have the title here (the red NM beside your nickname) BTW I am a dop-out as well so I am in a position to understand what it means, though I am not not a good chess player!

This has been my experience.

IMO the world is a better place because Magnus pursued his talent.  It would be said if he didn't focus on chess and stayed in school to become an accountant or something. 

Why is the title "Magnus Carlsen's education", but the post only mentions him one time?

What post are you talking about? Post #1 or post #21? :P

Sorry. I got confused.

When I came to the thread, it showed post 21 first, and I thought taht was the original post.

Fischer spoke Russian. He was able to repeat a voice phone message in Icelandic to his GM friend. People with high IQ can learn almost anything quickly. Do you speak Norwegian? Magnus speaks good English!