CollinsMum - "think educational environment can have a long-lasting effect on your child. That's certainly what I think."
I agree with you and have been thinking of this in terms of music/art/writers/creative-off-the-wall humour/ divergent thinking.
Music - Beatles, Bee Gees, Who, Queen, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, etc. - creative geniuses/innovators - many of whom went to art school. Many had learning disabilities or were 2E.
Writing/cartoon - Roald Dahl, Gary Larson (Far Side), Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants), Monty Python. Both Dahl and Pilkey had a tough time in school.
Many of the greatest legends in rock history had a poor school or home environment and did not start playing an instrument or sing more seriously until their teen years. Many of them were bright, curious kids who were full of energy. Many of them (not all) came from poor or working-class backgrounds. Many were raised by single parents and/or grandparents. With many of them, there's limited evidence to indicate their future talents/gifts,.
I keep wondering if the poor environment in school and/or home or their 2e aspects helped to propel them into finding their 'gifts' in the music/art/creative realm. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and others (Dav Pilkey) partially based their careers on the poor school and/or home environment. It's very anti-establishment writing in lyrics, books, or cartoons.
I've heard Vanderbilt U did a study on professionally trained musicians and how their more creative, but not much on these rock musicians/artists/creative types - the vast majority of whom were not professionally trained (actually, most relished this fact).
Based on these people's abilities, many would regard them as gifted. Bowie was regarded as a gifted child. Ditto for Lennon. Yet Brian May, lead guitarist from Queen, seems to be in quite another gifted category with getting a degree in astrophysics, writing academic papers on it, and recently becoming Chancellor.
