Prerequisite Knowledge is Intellectual Capital

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It’s so easy to think you’re untalented, maybe even dumb, when really you’re just unpracticed on some prerequisite skills.

Reminds me of the time I tutored a Real Analysis student who hadn’t gotten much practice with proof-writing beforehand.

She thought she was gonna fail the class. She thought she might just not be cut out for it.

But we just shored up some of those missing proof foundations and then she came out with a well-deserved A.

And then she took Fourier Analysis the following year and crushed it. Didn’t even need my help.

There is also a flipside: it’s very easy to think you’re a genius, when really you’re just better-practiced on prerequisite skills than everyone around you.

That’s actually a great situation to be in, provided that you recognize why things are going so well for you – but if you conclude that “geniuses like me don’t need much practice,” then, well, your advantage is short-lived.

The moral of this story is that prerequisite knowledge is intellectual capital and can take you from academic rags to riches – or from riches to rags, if you squander it.

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