…in the ordinary elementary school situation, children of 140 IQ waste half their time. Those of 170 IQ waste practically all their time.
— gifted education pioneer Leta Hollingworth, found in Genius Denied, by Jan and Bob Davidson
A recent report implied that with the right kind of environment and “deep learning” everyone can be gifted. The belief is that students have these capabilities just waiting to be actualized with the right curriculum. The idea is that if the right projects and innovations are used, all students will be enlighten and giftedness will, I guess, cease to be. I mean, if everyone is gifted, no one is gifted. This kind of thinking causes harm to both the gifted population and those who are not gifted.
Deep learning appears to be a spinoff of Common Core State Standards indicating that students can finally be provided deeper thinking about what matters because…well, after all, how many first graders have you known who understood Mesopotamia?
This train of thought jumped out at me recently in a description of one of the High Tech High (HTH) schools in California. I have written about High Tech High before (Bill Gates loves them) and I am not sure what they are doing with Common Core. They appear to push for curriculum unlike the current one-size-fits-all being foisted on traditional public schools.
But they criticize gifted education by describing some of the worst practices that have been used by public schools to address the needs of gifted students. Let’s face it, few public schools have ever done gifted education right.
Many elementary schools have once-a-week pull-out programs where gifted children do activities all students would love—a fact that HTH likes to highlight. Of course, this evokes envy by other children, and many teachers resent the disruption.
In high school, most gifted students are relegated to advanced placement classes (AP), or International Baccalaureate (IB), never designed for gifted students in mind. Both AP and IB are better than nothing but not good enough. While HTH may do their classes differently than AP or IB they sound somewhat similar in that there isn’t any designation of who qualifies as gifted.
The fact is HTH teachers, probably trained at HTH, yes they train their own, don’t think gifted students need anything different.
But they’re wrong and it’s the easy way out.
First, in response to the HTH criticism, just because most public schools never put the necessary resources and attention into this special group, does not mean that gifted children are not real—that they don’t deserve gifted programming uniquely matched to their intellectual and creative needs.
Certainly, all students deserve schools and classes that are stimulating and which address their cognitive and creative abilities as well. It is important to determine the strengths found in each child. Children don’t need to be gifted to achieve greatness. Every child has gifts and talents.
But not every child is gifted.
The myth that all students are gifted is wrong, and the idea that all children can blend together with just the right dose of deep learning will destroy any hope for special programming for gifted students in the future.
To blend students together implying that everyone can be gifted with deep learning is both naive and dangerous. It is not unheard of that students who are gifted, without identification, drop out of school and never have their qualities recognized.
Many gifted children currently languish in classrooms. They complete tasks that do nothing to help them achieve all they are capable of doing. Students who come from poverty are especially at risk, because their parents might not have the means or the insight to get their child tested. Gifted children might act out and appear to be anything but gifted!
A real gifted education involves much more consideration of the unique qualities and difficulties facing gifted students. For starters, here are 9 challenging issues they face from Family Education, and you can go to the link to read more about each one.
1. Self-Esteem
2. Guilt
3. Perfectionism
4. Control
5. Unrealistic Expectations
6. Impatience
7. Friendships
8. Attention and Organization
9. Burnout
So to imply that deep learning is all that gifted students need, and that all students with deep learning will become gifted is a falsehood.
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for writing this. I couldn’t agree more about the misuse of the term “gifted” as synonymous with any child who can meet common core expectations for deep learning.
I just wish we could get rid of the word “gifted” to distinguish children with high IQs from children without high IQs.
First, it makes children who have particular “gifts” — but not high IQs — feel like there’s nothing really special about them. In fact, many have exceptional talents in nonacademic areas, like art, music, or athletics, which go completely unnoticed in the current educational climate. Ignoring these others “gifts” is particularly devastating for kids with learning disabilities, whose self-esteem takes a huge hit in the academic classroom.
Second, using the word “gifted” suggests that children with high IQs don’t also have challenges, including challenges that affect learning. For a huge percentage of “gifted” kids, nothing could be further from the truth, as you explain..
I have one of each of these kinds of kids — one high IQ, one an amazing artist with dyslexia. They are both ill-served in the “one size fits all,” stripped-down, educational settings that exist today. It’s really sad.
Jenifer, I agree with you. I hate labeling. If only we had smaller class sizes and a better way of setting schools up so children could progress more naturally according to what they need. I think the key is to find strengths in all children, while grouping students in a variety of ways. Children can come together in classes like the arts and P.E. etc. We could do something. But Common Core is definitely going the “one size fits all” route. Thank you as always for your interesting posts and sharing about your children.
“The CCSS represent lofty aspirational goals for students aiming for four year, highly selective colleges.”
That’s from this interview with one of the contributors to the Common Core original design. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-development-central/201401/when-will-we-ever-learn
Yes, not every child is gifted. And CC sets outrageously unreasonable goals for most kids.
Hi Nance, Thanks for commenting! This is interesting. I certainly agree with the idea the CCSS are lofty goals and that the standards are unproven and unreasonable. But Louisa Moats has a controversial background when it comes to reading. Google her name and Susan Ohanian to see what I mean. It makes me wonder.
I will and thanks for the heads up.
My limited experience with the CC requirements is enough to make me wonder what anyone who knows children is thinking with the idea that all students will be able to perform at the outrageously high levels demanded.
My most recent story is from my Mom who volunteers in a K classroom and was telling me about the vocabulary test these K kids had to endure and most did not pass. The word that stuck out for her was “illustrator”. In K!
And then there’s the steady stream of parents leaving public school to homeschool because their children are suddenly “failing” and are under extreme pressure. I have only a small window into that exodus from public school but still see a large increase in the number of new homeschoolers. Most of whom would have been perfectly happy to stay in public school but the standardization and testing has just gotten too crushing.
I can’t help but wonder if what seems to be an increase in reading problems is related to this! How many children are going to hate reading because of this messed-up pressure?
And these same people are probably happy to push parents into homeschooling. You are right that these parents would have stayed if not for the lack of support. I know some parents who have students with disabilities that couldn’t take it anymore.
Thanks, Nance
I have been studying Psychology and focusing on over excitabilities along with misdiagnosis only to discover I was an unidentified gifted child who grew up thinking I was the problem. My parents were drug addicts and I fell victim to the system. I am now 29 and successfully unschooling my 3 gifted children. I have walked through a healing process to allow me to reach my full potential and provide my children with the support they deserve to be who they are meant to be. This article helped to reassure me why public school was not the best option for my children.
Theresa, I am sorry you have had a difficult time, but glad you are getting some relief. It is difficult to navigate schooling for children. I hope you can find the right kind of school that provides you with the support you and your children deserve. Thank you for sharing. Let us know how you make out.
Great post Nancy! Here’s what I usually like to ask in response to those who suggest all students will be gifted if provided with the right instruction, etc.
If we put musical instruments in the hands of each student and provide the “right kind of environment” and instruction, will each student become a virtuoso? What about each student becoming a great basketball player if provided the “right kind of environment” and instruction?
Excellent analogy!
This is great, Joe! And thank you too Celi. http://crushingtallpoppies.com/about-the-author/
Nancy,
Thank you again for such a great article and being so clear about the educational needs of gifted children. Education keeps moving further and further away from educating the whole child and providing more individualization instead of less. Trying to meet the differing needs of our children should be the focus of education for all children. The movement in education is focusing on a one-size-fits-all–what else do we get when the popular educational trends use adjectives like “common’ to describe the curriculum and “standardized” to describe the multitude of tests being used? And it has been shown that this one-size-fits-all trend hurts our gifted children the most.
Thank you for your tremendous work as an activist for improving education for our children!
Thank YOU, Celi! http://crushingtallpoppies.com/about-the-author/
Great points. The common core is another example of how educational policy can be used to thwart education needs of gifted children. There is still so much misunderstanding about what these children need. Thanks for your helpful article.
Thanks for your comment, Gail. I think gifted students certainly are shortchanged with Common Core.