Ten Myths about Gifted Kids

[collegealum314]

My view: Ten myths about gifted students and programs for gifted – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs

This is from cnn.com. It calls itself a blog but it's on the regular website--not sure it is allowed.

[emeraldkity4]

I've linked to blogs run by newssites before- but you are right- blogs aren't allowed.

[momofthreeboys]

Personally, I think there is a difference between precocious (young) kids and truly gifted kids but the distinction often isn't seen until between puberty and adulthood

[romanigypsyeyes]

Does anyone actually believe 1-4 or 6?

[LoremIpsum]

It's not a bad article, but there really isn't a lot of meat in it. Gifted kids are all different and most would benefit from special programs? Isn't that pretty much a "duh!" analysis?

Statistics might be useful. For example, the author writes:

Some are extreme extroverts, while others are introverts. There is no one type of person or personality we can pinpoint as gifted.

While that it true, the gifted tend to be disproportionately introverts and the highly gifted test as Meyers-Briggs introverts 75-80% of the time.

[J'adoube]

Funny about #7. S's new first grade gifted program teacher quit after the first year in the program. Asked whether it was that difficult to deal with the gifted children, she replied, "no, it was the parents it was difficult to deal with."

[psych_]

^
The Meyers-Briggs is NOT a well-validated personality inventory! There are much, much more psychometricly sound ones available, and so its annoying that the Meyers-Briggs is treated as the "gold standard" by so many people when it is anything but!

[wis75]

This topic recurs every so often.

It is true no personality type is associated with high intelligence. I learned the 75% of highly gifted being introverted while 75% of the general population is extroverted (and of course there is a continuum). Makes it even harder for many gifted- they don't fit general societal norms for preferred social behavior. Also hard to be a gifted extrovert- try getting your college friends to do what you like to do, sigh. And- most teachers will be extroverts and not understand the introverted students. Been there, done that. Wish so much of the literature had been available decades before it came out. Myth #10 is my favorite- I hate it when people try to say every child is gifted (perhaps some of us are just more gifted than others).

[Modadunn]

Oh.my.word. Yes, this conversation comes up every so often, and I think some of the self-promoting dribble of that article is one of our core issues as a country. So.. gifted students shouldn't help out those who struggle because it's frustrating? While I might agree that gifted kids should be challenged, it also might help their EQ to find some empathy in helping someone else. And education isn't just about the academics. We need people who can work together. And pulling all the gifted from the regular classroom only creates a sense of truth to thinking you're always the smartest guy in the world. Ugh.

I liked my son used to to peer tutor. It taught him to recognize different learning styles and appreciate what others bring to the table. However, I admit we moved him to a private school in 8th grade. While he was still good at peer tutoring, there was no gifted and talented "program" but it definitely pushed him to be as academically challenged as he needed it to be.

[collegealum314]

It's one thing to do peer tutoring out of one's own volition. It's another thing to expect/force the smart kids to spend less time learning and instead do the job of the teachers. If we do expect this from them, maybe they should get a portion of the salary and benefits of the teachers they are assisting.

And pulling all the gifted from the regular classroom only creates a sense of truth to thinking you're always the smartest guy in the world. Ugh.

Or they won't think they are the smartest guy in the world because they will be put in an environment where they aren't the smartest person in the room.

[KKmama]

My daughter's learning disabled class is ahead of her advanced class in pre-algebra. The LD kids are doing their homework and the advanced kids can't be bothered....

Must be crazy trying to teach gifted kids. When my youngest was in kindergarten she was not happy about having to "learn" the alphabet. They had to bring in items for show and tell which started with the letter of the week. She had such delightful contributions as dust bunnies, lint, pickled beets (decided that week to concentrate on adjectives rather than subjects....), toe nails.

[lake42ks]

It seems 20-30% of parents think their first-kids are in the top 0.1%, not quite as high as #10 in the article. But, I don't see anything wrong with parents being proud of their kids. What is gifted anyway? I'm pretty happy with my kids, labeled gifted or not.

[Vladenschlutte]

The Meyers-Briggs is NOT a well-validated personality inventory! There are much, much more psychometricly sound ones available, and so its annoying that the Meyers-Briggs is treated as the "gold standard" by so many people when it is anything but!

I've always suspected these personality tests are just entertainment. For that purpose, Meyers-Briggs is great. It's easy to take, easy to understand the results, and readily accessible online.

[LoremIpsum]

And pulling all the gifted from the regular classroom only creates a sense of truth to thinking you're always the smartest guy in the world. Ugh.

When your class peers are smarter, the teacher can teach at a faster pace with less repetition. Friendly rivalries between roughly-equal peers can also cause students to go well above and beyond the class requirements as they seek to show off their advanced skills.

[Philovitist]

And pulling all the gifted from the regular classroom only creates a sense of truth to thinking you're always the smartest guy in the world. Ugh.

lol and being surrounded by idiots doesn't?