It is like someone shouted “FIRE” in a theater, but nobody moved. Is the theater empty? No, it’s full of people, but still nobody moved or even cared. We are losing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of potential geniuses every year in the United States because we are just not finding them before it’s too late, which in most cases is about the time they are suppose to start 9th grade.
It’s not like this is some unknown phenomenon. Thomas Jefferson put it succinctly in 1782 while Governor of Virginia when he wrote “By…(selecting) the youth of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated”. It’s not that academia in America is not aware of the situation. Since Leta Hollingworth began studying gifted children over a hundred years ago, many hundreds, perhaps thousands, in academia have devoted their lives to the study of gifted and talented students since then.
Some of the giants in gifted and talented (GT) today include Dr. Joseph Renzulli, Director of the National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Howard Gardner at Harvard, Dr. Robert Sternberg at Tufts (now Provost at Oklahoma State University), Dr. Françoys Gagné at University of Quebec, Dr. Sandra Kaplan at USC, Dr. Richard Olenchak at the University of Houston, Dr. James Delisle at Kent State, Dr. Joyce Juntune at Texas A&M, most of whom I have communicated with and have received encouragement for my advocacy of GT.
Outside of education few understand that the gifted student learns differently from the above average or the Advanced Placement student. They learn much more quickly, they can retain it far longer, and they can synthesize and analyze the newly learned material and begin hypothesizing almost immediately. Most of us regular learners can do the same thing, except it takes us much longer. In other words, it takes hard work for us to learn and to be successful. No wonder the gifted kid gets bored very quickly when asked to do repetitive drills in school and homework.
The GT teacher has to recognize just how gifted a student is and to constantly keep finding a level that will be challenging and interesting to the student. It takes extra teacher training to do that. The more severely academically-challenged students are, the more they are at risk, and the more special attention they require. The gifted are no different. The more gifted they are, the more they are at risk, and the more special attention they require.
One important point on giftedness, just because kids are gifted does not mean they are or will automatically become talented. They have to be trained before they are talented. This is true whether they are to become a scientist, a baseball player, an auto mechanic, an actor, or a CEO. If not trained, all of these people are lost to society. If we don’t find these at risk gifted kids, usually by the time they are in 8th grade, they may be lost to us. It has been reported that some will turn up as drug dealers, internet pirates and scam artists. They are too smart to do nothing.
“However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because of the surrounding circumstances, these talents will be still-born”
Simone de Beauvoir quotes (French Writer and feminist, 1908-1986)
Continued on Friday
Originally published by Dick Kantenberger in Education News, May 25, 2008
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Also view: Education's "Wag the Dog" Geniuses Lost (Part 2)
Education's "Wag the Dog": Geniuses Lost (Part 3)
Education's "Wag the Dog": Geniuses Lost (Part 4)
Dick Kantenberger
Gifted Education Writer
Examiner.com
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