Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The Rich-Poor Divide Starts With Kindergarten

1) The kind of overexcitabilities that make some gifted kids cry because the tags in the backs of their shirts are uncomfortable would make medical school rather horrifying--for all concerned--if they were not intensely interested in medicine.

2) Profoundly gifted kids, especially if they have not been accelerated, especially if their parents are not academically motivated, often are not used to striving for things. They may come to that knack rather later in life, when they finally find a subject that does not bore them. By that time, they probably don't have the GPA to get into medical school.

3) Poor or minority profoundly gifted kids may grow up with the belief that grades are not any kind of reflection of their ability or effort, that they are, in fact, meaningless. As a result, they often underachieve in school.

4) Overexcitabilities and a profoundly developed moral sense may mean that profoundly gifted kids who grew up in an underprivileged environment may choose professions with just as big an impact on people's lives, but without the healthy compensation of medicine or law.

5) I'm a profoundly gifted kid who grew up poor in Appalachia, whose parents had not graduated from college when I left home (my mom graduated at the age of 53). I went to graduate school for six years before becoming a teacher in a Title I public middle-school. Your mileage may vary.