Imagine a "Gifted Child"

Before reading this page, take the time to imagine a gifted child. Who do you see? What is this child like? How does this child behave? Record your thoughts before proceeding.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see a piano prodigy, seated on phone books so her tiny hands can reach the keys? Do you see a basketball star, projected onscreen as he is drafted into the NBA at age 18?

These gifted children are easy to see, their talents easily recognizable. Problem is, gifted kids aren’t always this easy to identify.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see a valedictorian, laden with awards and scholarships? Do you see a science fair winner, lauded for his innovation?

These intellectually gifted children are also easy to see, their gifts measured by their achievements in the classroom. Problem is, not all intellectually gifted kids excel in the classroom.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see a mechanic, surrounded by the pieces of a dismantled engine—the student who couldn’t pass physics? Do you see a writer, pen furiously filling in the fourth notebook of his first novel—the student who never took AP English? Do you see a mathematics whiz, instantly calculating complicated problems in her head--the student who never learned all of the English terms for math symbols?

Most people don’t see these children as gifted. In fact, teachers often label them as behavior problems or social misfits--completely unaware of the special needs these students require.

Intellectually gifted individuals see things others don't see, understand equations others can't comprehend, imagine solutions to problems the world deems unsolvable. Words flow from their minds and through their mouths that belie their age. Puzzle pieces magically unite in their hands. Stories leap from their minds and fill endless pages. Miles of equations crumble into four simple, indecipherable symbols. Often, these individuals are categorized as quirky, their "outside-the-box" thinking refusing any other label. And even more often, gifted children refuse to perform in school, classifying the rote learning taught in schools today as too repetitive and tedious to warrant their best efforts. If the correct motivation is unavailable to them, they will find ways around assignments, even sometimes generating so little effort that they fail in academic situations.

What most educators and most people in general don’t realize is this: Being born gifted, in many ways, goes hand in hand with problems that can only be correctly labeled as disabilities. Because the programs at school routinely do not meet the needs of gifted kids, problems develop. These problems include chronic underachievement, social backwardness, low self-esteem, extreme sensitivity or extreme activity, to name a few. 

This practically invisible group of gifted kids gradually loses their love for learning because every day they are presented with nothing new to learn. They lose their motivation to do their best since their best is never pulled out of them in the classroom—their best isn’t even on the scale used by the teacher.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see Einstein, Beethoven, Van Gogh?

Society has a complicated relationship with gifted people, especially gifted kids. In reality, being a truly gifted kid is hard. You feel like no one understands you or no one thinks like you or no one is kind to you—because you’re different. People think gifted kids should be so smart that “they should be able to figure anything out” or that “they should be able to keep themselves occupied in the classroom while a child who really needs the teacher gets help.” In some cases, these assumptions might be true, but for the majority of gifted kids, these statements are false--and harmful.

Gifted kids deal with daily issues that others do not. Did you know Einstein couldn’t even find the door to his house when he walked home because he was too preoccupied thinking “important things”? Or that Edison was told he was too stupid to learn anything, even though he was levels and ages ahead of his time? Experiences like this can devastate your self-esteem and self-concept. Our gifted kids have experiences like these. Today. If you asked them, you'd hear similar stories. I know, because I asked them, and they told me. You can find some of their responses in the section titled, "The Good, the Bad, and the Underserved: Experiences of MPS Gifted Kids."

Just as the learning disabled need to be taught special skills to function in the real world, so also do these gifted kids need special skills. They need to be taught how to function in a world that operates daily at a much slower pace than they do. They need to be reminded that not everyone thinks the way they do or sees what they see. They need to see that difficulty or struggle in school doesn't make them a failure. They need to be shown that perfectionism is often debilitating and unattainable, even by the best. Lack of specialized education for the gifted can result in them not knowing how to live in society, but this isn’t the worst side effect. The worst (but completely preventable) side effect is wasting their gifts by refusing to teach them how to use their abilities.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see the high achieving and the highly motivated, or do you see all of them--the visible and the hidden? Why is it that Mesa Public Schools has such a difficult time helping all of our gifted kids? Programs are in place, but these programs, to a large extent, focus on the needs of the high achieving, highly motivated students.

Some parents mistakenly believe that admittance to a gifted program is a status symbol. Some parents mistakenly believe that lack of admittance to a gifted program minimizes a child and their abilities. Nothing could be further from the truth. As much as society or education would like you to believe otherwise, you can’t make yourself gifted by increasing your scores on a test. You can’t make yourself gifted by admittance to a class. You can’t make yourself gifted any more than you can make yourself grow three more inches or change your skin color. It can’t be legislated by the government or orchestrated by a teacher or manipulated by a parent. It just isn’t possible. That’s the bottom line.

Imagine a gifted child. Do you see someone you love? Resolve with me to fight for our kids and the light of learning that they carry.