Natural Talent: Then vs. Now

Natural talent played a key role in the development of rhetoric throughout the classical period. That said, its significance in education has greatly decreased over the years. I believe this is because the human race has greatly evolved technically and socially since the classical period. The social evolution has impacted the significance of natural talent because, in many parts of the world, nearly everyone has the opportunity to receive an education. This was not the case during the classical period. Similarly, technical evolution has impacted the significant of natural talent by providing us with numerous methods of educating people. We now have the ability to facilitate learning across almost all levels of intelligent. We also have significantly more educators now than there were during the classical period. By increasing the number of educators, we expanded our ability to educate each other.

Unlike education, the significance of natural talent is still relatively high. I believe this is because the athletic environment is more competitive than that of education. Those with natural athletic talent, whether is be skills or physical size, outperform those without it at a young age. As a result, the competitive nature of athletic teachers often leads them to focus on improving the individuals that they see the most potential in over those that are not as “athletically gifted.”