Leonardo's mind probed in Florence

Leonardo da Vinci
Originally uploaded by Krista 1366.

While reading the Italian news today I happened upon this:
Uffizi show highlights 'universal' nature of his genius

Florence, February 24 - The unique workings of Leonardo da Vinci's mind are analysed in a new show in Florence .

Rejecting fanciful reconstructions of Leonardo's theories and inventions, the exhibition aims to paint an "undistorted" picture of Leonardo's contribution to science, technology, art and culture, organisers say .

This will highlight the thought processes underlying the 'universal' nature of his genius, they say .

A series of faithful but still spectacular models will be presented of the most innovative machines and most ingenious experiments conceived by the Renaissance giant during his long life (1452-1519).

The exhibition, entitled The Mind of Leonardo, The Universal Genius at Work, will also present numerous paintings and drawings.

This got me thinking about Mr. di Vinci. In addition
to this exhibit in Florence, there is another one in his honor which will open at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. It will feature his Codice Atlantico. This is the journal with all the famous sketches. The big deal with this brief exhibit - You will actually be able to see the original masterpiece! The book itself. Might be worth the trip.

All this news about di Vinci got me thinking about the previous discussion on the "The Big Question". How many of you know that it is widely accepted amongst those in the "learning disability" field that Leonardo di Vinci, one of the greatest minds of all time, was, in fact, a dyslexic and most likely had ADH/D?

Leonard Da Vinci


Born in 1452, Da Vinci was sent to Florence in his teens to apprentice as a painter under Andrea del Verrocchio. He quickly developed his own artistic style which was unique and contrary to tradition, even going so far as to devised his own special formula of paint. His style was characterized by diffuse shadows and subtle hues and marked the beginning of the High Renaissance period.

Da Vinci dedicated himself to understanding the mysteries of nature, and his insightful contributions to science and technology were legendary. As the archetypal Renaissance man, Leonardo helped set an ignorant and superstitious world on a course of reason, science, learning, and tolerance. He was an internationally renowned inventor, scientists, engineer, architect, painter, sculptor, musician, mathematician, anatomist, astronomer, geologists, biologist, and philosopher in his time.

Da Vinci was also believed to suffer from a number of learning disabilities including dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Some believe that the initiation of many more projects than he ever completed suggest that he had attention deficit disorder. Strong evidence in Da Vinci?s manuscripts and letters corroborates the diagnosis of dyslexia. It appears that Leonardo wrote his notes backwards, from right to left, in a mirror image. This is a trait shared by many left-handed dyslexic people. In addition to the handwriting, the spelling errors in his manuscripts and journals demonstrated dyslexia-like language difficulties.

Da Vinci overcame his learning disabilities by funneling his creative talents into visual depictions of his thoughts. His creative, analytic, and visionary inventiveness has not yet been matched.

Many of you already know the passion I have for learning and what these days are called "Learning Disabilities or Dyslexia". I can thank my daughter Anna for a new calling. She is dyslexic and has Attention Deficit Disorder. What ever that means. To me, she is simply brilliant. Always was, and always will be. School and learning of the alphabet almost crushed her will to learn at the age of 6. Why? Because she thinks upside down and in pictures. Not the way the teachers were teaching her. A new way had to be found for her. And this experience we have had with Anna has opened my eyes to the downside of public education. Yes, it is a great thing to educate our young. But, are we doing it in the right way? Are we missing something big along the way in our rush towards progress? Are we all so alike that we can be herded into classrooms 8 hours a day and expect to all come out with the same results? And is there such a thing as a child with an average or superior IQ, that has such trouble learning they must be labeled as LD? I think not, it all seems so illogical. And, by the way, most LD labeled children are of above normal intelligence. What gives?

I do not believe that anyone has a disability that relates to learning. We all learn in our own way and each of us have our strengths and weakness. Some are visual spatial learners, meaning they think in images. Others are auditory-sequential learners, meaning they think in words. If all minds think and grow alike, how would we, as a society, find our future innovators or future writers? People are not the same. Yet, public education treats us that way. Are we norming ourselves into mediocrity by teaching to the lowest common denominator and patting ourselves on the back because all of our children find success in school? If they don't find success, say the child fails, we test and say they have an LD. Is that the answer to why the child cannot learn?

I think somewhere along the way we have lost the plot regarding the education of our children, our future generations. Yes, we have progress. Free public education for all is a great thing - a noble concept. But, it is a social experiment. One in which I think we have lost control of. In our desire to norm us all we educate our children in a production line fashion. We worry about self esteem and not learning of the facts. We have turned education into taking and passing a test - yet do not educate our children enough in order to pass those tests. A chore and a score. Somehow along the way, school becomes a bore. Are we, by turning our students into little robots who can regurgitate facts, losing the joy in the discovery of learning? Are future great minds being numbed by boredom because they are not being stimulated? Picture a young di Vinci in public school today. How would he fit in? And further more. When things do go wrong. As in when a child does not learn to read or basic math facts. Whose fault is that? The school's? The child's? The parent's?

One thing not mentioned in that brief bio above is, that it was Leonardo's father who recognized his talent and first sent his young son to study painting. That set the young di Vinci on the path to discover and express his genius. His father, not a school or teacher. Remember that. It is the point of this post.

Are we as parents, by turning control of our children to schools 8 hours a day and expecting miracles, and in the process letting someone else decide who our child is and who they can be, doing a great disservice the child and to our future as a society. Who is in control? Us or them?

What do you think?