Giftedness
I believe that the term gifted needs to be redefined in educational institutions. Here's why. Take two very different students, both with an IQ of 136. One is outgoing, challenges herself, questions the teacher, steps out and makes herself known. The other is quiet, shy, and an avid daydreamer who is quite content going with the flow in the classroom and doesn't want to draw attention to herself because she is shy. Yet, they each are equally brilliant. The minimum IQ to qualify for giftedness in schools is 115. Yet, only the outgoing one is considered gifted. Why?
The current federal educational definition of gifted is currently "Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." Schools are not required to use this definition and while this doesn't necessarily exclude the quiet, reserved, and shy ones, those are the students who are going to get overlooked and not considered gifted because they don't stand out. Many districts have adopted policies that only allow students to qualify for giftedness if they meet a certain number of qualities, most of which exclude the quiet and reserved students.
I was the quiet one, I was the shy one, I was the one who was daydreaming all the time. I was the one that was a mediocre student because I really didn't care about the day to day teachings. I was much more interested in other things. I was the one whose teachers said I was sweet and loved having me in class until I took my first standardized test and apparently blew it out of the water. Because then, my report cards changed to she isn't applying herself. She could do so much better, she isn't working to her potential. But, put me down with an advanced book and I would absorb it like water. Give me a challenging solo project and I was captivated for hours while everyone else gave up in a few minutes. I was never considered to be gifted. Yet, I have an IQ of 134.
As a teacher, I now recognize those quiet geniuses. I see the outgoing students who are questioning and challenging and being tested for giftedness and obviously qualifying. Then, I see the student who took it upon himself to learn and write all the Roman numerals from 1 to 1000 as a 2nd grader. I see the same student reading grade levels beyond his classmates. But he's quiet and reflective. He's not shy, but he's not outgoing either. He's perfectly content reading a science book off in the corner while his outgoing counterpart is questioning the teacher. Shouldn't he qualify as gifted too? I think so, he's gifted in his own way... he's incredibly brilliant and has a lot to offer. Normally, his brilliance would go unnoticed. If he were at a traditional school, he would highly benefit from a program that would help him develop his capabilities, something beyond the classroom, but he wouldn't qualify by using most district's criteria. Fortunately, he is not at a traditional school and is encouraged to challenge himself daily in all areas. He is not currently being considered for testing for giftedness, and he should be because once he leaves our school after 8th grade, and goes on to another, he's going to need that to keep him from getting bored in high school. But, he's only a 3rd grader, and there is still time
Wouldn't it be sad if those brilliant, quiet deep thinkers of ancient times were dismissed because they wouldn't be considered gifted by today's standards? We would have lost so much based on today's terms of giftedness if we applied those same standards to them. The writers, the philosophers, the playwrights, the quiet thinkers, would all be dismissed as not gifted by the way most districts define giftedness. So, isn't it time we changed the way giftedness is defined so it doesn't potentially exclude the quiet ones? I certainly think so.
The current federal educational definition of gifted is currently "Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." Schools are not required to use this definition and while this doesn't necessarily exclude the quiet, reserved, and shy ones, those are the students who are going to get overlooked and not considered gifted because they don't stand out. Many districts have adopted policies that only allow students to qualify for giftedness if they meet a certain number of qualities, most of which exclude the quiet and reserved students.
I was the quiet one, I was the shy one, I was the one who was daydreaming all the time. I was the one that was a mediocre student because I really didn't care about the day to day teachings. I was much more interested in other things. I was the one whose teachers said I was sweet and loved having me in class until I took my first standardized test and apparently blew it out of the water. Because then, my report cards changed to she isn't applying herself. She could do so much better, she isn't working to her potential. But, put me down with an advanced book and I would absorb it like water. Give me a challenging solo project and I was captivated for hours while everyone else gave up in a few minutes. I was never considered to be gifted. Yet, I have an IQ of 134.
As a teacher, I now recognize those quiet geniuses. I see the outgoing students who are questioning and challenging and being tested for giftedness and obviously qualifying. Then, I see the student who took it upon himself to learn and write all the Roman numerals from 1 to 1000 as a 2nd grader. I see the same student reading grade levels beyond his classmates. But he's quiet and reflective. He's not shy, but he's not outgoing either. He's perfectly content reading a science book off in the corner while his outgoing counterpart is questioning the teacher. Shouldn't he qualify as gifted too? I think so, he's gifted in his own way... he's incredibly brilliant and has a lot to offer. Normally, his brilliance would go unnoticed. If he were at a traditional school, he would highly benefit from a program that would help him develop his capabilities, something beyond the classroom, but he wouldn't qualify by using most district's criteria. Fortunately, he is not at a traditional school and is encouraged to challenge himself daily in all areas. He is not currently being considered for testing for giftedness, and he should be because once he leaves our school after 8th grade, and goes on to another, he's going to need that to keep him from getting bored in high school. But, he's only a 3rd grader, and there is still time
Wouldn't it be sad if those brilliant, quiet deep thinkers of ancient times were dismissed because they wouldn't be considered gifted by today's standards? We would have lost so much based on today's terms of giftedness if we applied those same standards to them. The writers, the philosophers, the playwrights, the quiet thinkers, would all be dismissed as not gifted by the way most districts define giftedness. So, isn't it time we changed the way giftedness is defined so it doesn't potentially exclude the quiet ones? I certainly think so.
My Gifted class in High School had an even balance of quiet dreamers and the loudmouths. I was one of the quiet ones and I still see extroverts as somewhat less-intelligent just because of their behavior. LOL.
ReplyDeleteOur IQ cut-off was 120, but we also had to have teacher recommendations. There may have been other criteria to get into the class as well.
I was placed in it the first year they had the program (my junior year), while the standards were rigorously applied. In later years they began relaxing the standards because of parental complaints. "My Little Jimmy needs to be in this class-- how dare you exclude him!" It became a meaningless parental ego boost. I had graduated by then, though. I'm glad I was in it before that happened.