The assumption that faster equals smarter was introduced into our educational system by Edward Thorndike. He believed that the pace at which students learned material was correlated with their ability to retain it, which in turn was correlated with academic and professional success. Or, in his words, “it is the quick learners who are the good retainers.”21 He explained this purported correlation by arguing that differences in learning were a result of differences in a brain’s ability to form connections.
