Genius in the Making by Suki Webber For many people, the name "Einstein" is a synonym for"genius." They might be surprised to learn that when Albert Einstein was. a boy, his parents and teachers worried that his intelligence was below average. As a baby, Albert was late in learning to talk, and even after he started school, he remained silent for long periods of time. When Albert did express himself, his friends and teachers speculated that his slow speech patterns reflected limited thinking abilities. Nothing could have been further from the truth, of course. Albert was actually a naturally precocious and inquisitive child, but he had little patience with the strict discipline of the German school system that hampered his ability to pursue his interests in creative ways. As a student, he was frustrated. Perhaps Einstein would never have realized his true potential if it hadn't been for three people who recognized his promise. The first person to help Albert was his uncle Jakob, who lived with the Einsteins in Munich, Germany. When Albert encountered difficulties with algebra, Jakob recognized that the problem wasn't Albert's lack of intelligence, but rather the school's instructional methods, which focused on formulas and rules. Jakob took a different approach and compared finding the answer to a math problem to hunting an animal. He explained to Albert that in both instances, success. depends on knowing the right steps for hunting down the quarry. This creative way of approaching learning opened up the world of mathematics for Albert. Soon he was studying algebra and geometry for the fun of it. A second person who helped Albert was a family friend named Max Talmey, who was studying medicine in Munich. Max, like the Einsteins, was Jewish. At that time in Munich, it was a custom for Jewish families to invite a Jewish college student to dinner once a week. Albert's parents had first invited Max to dinner when Albert was ten years old. Even though Max was several years older than Albert, the two became close fr