That he was a bad student – or at least that he got bad grades – is true. That he failed in mathematics is a lie. “The myth that Einstein was a mediocre student is definitely not true,” says physicist Michael Shara of the US Museum of Natural History. The fact is, the man who revolutionized physics simply wasn’t interested in his school of time. Self-taught since childhood, Einstein was always ahead of the school curriculum in mathematics and physics. Therefore, he despised the lessons. Another thing that displeased him was the militaristic and authoritarian pedagogy at the Luitpold Gym, in Munich, Germany, where he attended the equivalent of our elementary school. “You’re not going to achieve anything in life”, he even heard from a teacher in the 7th grade.
The famous “stick” that Einstein took happened when he applied for a place at the Polytechnic School of Zurich. He was 16 years old, two years younger than the average age to enter the institution. Although the mathematics and physics exams impressed the examining board, his humanities exams were a failure. As a result, he failed the entrance exam. Accepted two years later, Einstein barely passed his final exams. That was in 1900. Five years later, between March and May 1905, he came up with three theories that revolutionized physics, such as special relativity. The label of «vagal» gave way to that of genius.