To be completely honest, I have conflicting feelings towards gifted programs. I was first placed into one after moving to State College during 4th grade, and was consequently pushed 2 years ahead in math classes in 5th grade. I undoubtedly benefitted from this: it secured me spots in the gifted programs at the middle school and high school, gaining access to special academic counseling and allowing me to take harder classes that granted me acceptance into prestigious programs and scholarships. On the other hand, it’s caused me a great deal of mental and emotional strife, falling into existential depression and dealing with constant perfectionism and self-consciousness. Many fall into the same pattern as well: they excel in elementary and middle school, only to burn out and lack any motivation or study skills to prepare them for college or adult life.
Everyone wants to be gifted because gifted kids have it easy. We laud child prodigies because of their effortless talent, their ability to excel while barely trying. However, giftedness is often a double-edged sword. I remember back in elementary school, I would always describe myself as “smart” because that’s how my friends, family, and teachers told me they perceived me as. I held that to be synonymous with school being easy; I should be getting A’s on tests without having to study. But then high school happened. I started slipping behind my close friends in math — one of my insecurities used to be never having qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam. It didn’t matter that it was an extremely rigorous test that most adults would have trouble completing, I told myself that I was a failure. I was no longer smart, I was no longer gifted. Being in a gifted program had developed perfectionism, something that continually haunts me to this day.
Terence Tao become youngest International Mathematics Olympiad gold medalist at the age of 12
A Greek study found that gifted students regularly underperformed academically against their peers later in life. To me, this isn’t much of a surprise. As the situations we face grow harder and harder, no amount of pure intellect will be sufficient to overcome these obstacles. And without the prior experience of having to perservere through challenges, it becomes easier to quit and stick to what you’re good at. It severely limits your ability to grow and have a successful career.
Dr. Alok Kanojia, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, goes so far as to say gifted kids are actually special needs kids. Not in the colloquial meaning of having learning disabilities, but having a special set of learning needs that typically isn’t properly addressed in the public education system. Much of the time, gifted kids aren’t challenged enough in their classes and are simply assigned more work to do, resulting in frustration and lack of motivation. They need to be taught to have grit and to be able to fail to reduce the immense pressures of high expectations. Just because they get good grades doesn’t mean they’ll be fine on their own and that we can ignore them.
This post really hit home with me because I joined the Gifted Program in my school in 1st grade and have struggled with perfectionism since late in elementary school. While I may have benefited from being placed in accelerated classes, the gifted program affected me most by separating me from my classmates. During discussions after a hard test, my complaints were almost always brushed off with “but you’re gifted” or “you’ll be fine, you’re smart”. In a world in which many students already struggle with competition pressures, I can’t see the benefit of separating academically advanced students so that they can face even worse pressures from family, teachers, and friends. I think the gifted program is becoming obsolete and needs to be redesigned with the needs of gifted students in mind. Great post!
This post really hit home. I had a similar experience with these types of programs and I do feel as though they create a lot of internal conflict. I also feel that this has a negative effect on other students. Categorizing children based on their intelligence and determining how much support they will receive seems counterintuitive. It was interesting to hear what Dr. Kanojia found and I hope we see more education systems shifting to a new model of teaching instead of gifted programs.
Wow, this articles certainly hits home for me. While I have never been in the gifted program ever in my life, I also did take math two levels ahead of my peers and was always thrown the comments along the lines of “you don’t need to put that much effort to succeed.” Since COVID, I have been dealing with the depressive effects of these pressures because I’ve become very obsessed with perfectionism and achieving the most elite accolades possible. Like the Greek study mentioned, I did struggle more than ever before in my college classes initially because the rigor is much harder, and it was a struggle to adapt my study skills to the rigor. After repeated fails, I did get better with my perfectionism, but it’s still a bug that bothers me and requires immense personal improvement with me.
I think the majority of people in Schreyer can relate to this post – I know I do. I grew up thinking that being “smart” was by far the most important thing about me because of the label that was assigned to me. However, as I have grown and learned more about myself, I discovered that my performance in school is the least interesting thing about me. Labeling kids and separating them from a very early age often has a very strong impact on their sense of identity, which can hurt them in the long run.