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Yeah. My kids are actually gifted and I get so sick of other parents trying to claim theirs are too. There may be some othertruly gifted children out there, but none nearly as gifted as mine.
The majority of new college grads in the US today are either unemployed or working jobs that don't require a degree (aka "sucky jobs"). In 2011 about 85% of them moved back home with the parents where they sit on an average debt of 30,000 dollars or so.
Please provide some documentation. Sorry to snip your "novel".
In the real world, no one gives a hoot whether someone was "gifted" or not. It is meaningless. Other skills are far more important to "success" than adcademic prowess in most fields.
I sense some anti-gifted prejudice in this thread. How about a kids with more IQ points and good work ethic? It is not their fault after all, they were born like that.
Anti-gifted prejudice? I TEACH gifted students, why would I be biased against them in anyway?
What I can tell you is that after nearly ten years of teaching some of the best and the brightest students in the country is that a gifted label is less important than a good work ethic. Only about 1/3 to 1/2, sometimes less, of our students are truly gifted. The rest are above average. Frequently the above average students with a good work ethic are much more successful in college and beyond than the truly gifted without much of one. It is only anecdotal but a anecdotal story with a much larger number of gifted students than the average person knows.
If we don't give these kids extra challenges their gifts might be wasted. Look at our society. Human intelligence falls somewhere in three categories: average, smart, and below average.
[quote] Who isn't challenging them? My entire school is a program for gifted kids in STEM fields. Hell, the reason it took me so long to respond was because I just gave up my Friday and Saturday to help those gifted students compete in a "challenging" science competition.
Quote:
While it's annoying if some parents brag in your face about it, the phenomenon does exist, and the talents of these kids need to be harnessed.
I doubt you work with these kids as often as I do but regardless, it is hugely important to emphasize that even more important than IQ is work ethic. The real divider of those who excel isn't IQ its effort, go look at the 1000 hour rule.
In the real world, no one gives a hoot whether someone was "gifted" or not. It is meaningless. Other skills are far more important to "success" than adcademic prowess in most fields.
It's interesting when you look at adults. You're left wondering where all the gifted kids went.
Very often gifted just means ahead and, in time, others just catch up. At 6, dd's ability on the piano put her in the gifted category. Today, at 15, she's accomplished but she has a lot of company now. She just started earlier than the others. In fact some of her peers who started later have passed her by. Yet, no one would have argued that she wasn't gifted at 6.
When she was in 3rd grade, she read on a 9th grade level. Now in the 10th grade, she reads on about a college entry level. The gap is closing. Often that's what happens.
It's interesting when you look at adults. You're left wondering where all the gifted kids went.
Very often gifted just means ahead and, in time, others just catch up. At 6, dd's ability on the piano put her in the gifted category. Today, at 15, she's accomplished but she has a lot of company now. She just started earlier than the others. In fact some of her peers who started later have passed her by. Yet, no one would have argued that she wasn't gifted at 6.
When she was in 3rd grade, she read on a 9th grade level. Now in the 10th grade, she reads on about a college entry level. The gap is closing. Often that's what happens.
Our kids too. One son was doing 9th grade math in 5th grade. Now he struggles in 11 grade math (and also struggled in 10th grade math).
Our kids too. One son was doing 9th grade math in 5th grade. Now he struggles in 11 grade math (and also struggled in 10th grade math).
Some go the opposite route too. I struggled in high schooll but excelled in college. I had a longer developmental curve (it took me until about 21 to get where everyone else was at 18 but then I kept going and passed them by). Often people read too much into ahead and behind. They're relative to your age and experience. So a child can be classified as gifted in the 3rd grade but not in the 10th grade. That's why many schools don't start G&T programs until about 4th grade and many of those kids are more average by the time they hit high school. I deal with parents of these kids. It's a nightmare.
Half of my geometry students are accelerated 9th graders and, I swear, their parents view their non existent GPA as a 4.0 they've had forever. They freak out over a B+ and are certain if THEIR CHILD just had the other teacher they'd be getting an A. Interestingly, I've had some students who were transferred to the other teacher at the semester tell me they understood more with me teaching it (this would be just a preference for teaching style because the other teacher actually is better than me because he's more experienced than me and he is a he and he is more dynamic than I am). Accepting that their child won't be one of our half dozen valedictorians is a tough pill for many of these parents to swallow. Realty is, ahead today does not guarantee ahead tomorrow. You can be ahead today and blend into the woodwork tomorrow. That's why things like double promotions need to be very well thought out. I, honestly, wish we had not double promoted dd. The test scores were there and she was drawn to an older peer group at the time but now that all her friends are dating, have jobs and can drive, she's feeling really left out. She has no peer group to identify with and that is tough in high school.
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