Totally agree that helping kids who are struggling is the RIGHT thing to do, but pretending like every child is going to be at grade level if you just spend enough also seems unrealistic. There have to be lines of achievement below which kids shouldn't be allowed to fall without kicking into some SERIOUS interventions, but that should be the same for the other side of things. (gifted children)
Thankfully the author does note that the simplest of interventions for the gifted such as skipping a grade do seem to result in solid returns on feelings of challenge, and life achievement. It would have been nice to see the author challenge the studies that show if you identify leaders you are then identifying non-leaders.
I think the point about selecting for music and sports is a good one and a bad one. On one hand, people tend to accept that not everyone is going to be a sports god or a rock star. Not many people get to do that.
But chemist seems much more mundane; should most folks be able to obtain that? Maybe. Maybe not. I guess part of the problem is that there continues to be a debate over whether it is a. natural talent or b. superior opportunities that move any first grader up through a phd program.
I read an article the other day, 'tips for college students' and the professor writing the article starts right in on how "there isn't something called 'intellect' which is stuffed in your head... " the point being, that students need to study. But really, intelligence isn't a thing?
Hm. Wish I could find the link, but you get the point. This is a person teaching at a college, supposedly, and the idea that some students learn things more quickly is not true (to him).
Last edited by chris1234; 03/17/14 03:35 PM.
