Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments High school and busy work

I took numerous AP courses in high school (Bio, Chem, Physics, Literacy...) and I absolutely did not have this much work in terms of sheer quantity. I do realize that was over 20 yrs ago, but still I fear that we, as a nation, are moving toward valuing high output of stuff over high level work. If we are aiming to weed out deep thinking, creative kids who can't write fast enough or draw fast enough to recreate copious amounts of work that has already been done in favor of kids who are not highly able but can work fast doing things that don't require the ability to write well, make connections, etc., I don't think that bodes well for us as a society.

In my dd's instance, the learning goes down as the quantity goes up. She has great work ethic, but slow speed. Her anxiety rises as she is pushed to barrel through things like copying textbooks such that she stops absorbing the information. Her masterpieces come not from all nighters and high pressure to produce fast, but when given space and time to allow her brain to work the way it does -- connecting things and coming to wonderfully in depth insights.

I say what I did above in regard to this comment. I think that you are right here, but I don't think that teaching teens to do massive quantities of work necessarily helps in this arena. Dd is detail oriented, she works hard, and she is good at solving complex problems. Her slower way of approaching things works well in a field where you have to be methodical and not make rash decisions. It may take her longer to get there, but when she does, she is almost always right in her analysis and sees things that others don't.