Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy gifted program picture in the yearbook

I see the points that some are making here, but I still disagree.

Personally, I think our society has conditioned people to focus too much on achievement and not enough on innate talent. You have to recognize talent before you can develop it.

For some reason, we feel very uncomfortable around people who are very smart. One result is that our schools don't nurture cognitive talent (and often squelch it). We don't feel this way around people who are athletically highly gifted. We go to extremes to develop athletic giftedness. They use the term "talent scout" in sports, not "achievement scout." The point is to develop the talent and turn it into achievement.

And so what if gifted kids were born that way? Why does this mean you can't celebrate who you are? Schools have many types of clubs that celebrate how people were born: there are clubs for girls or African Americans or LGBT students. They were all born that way. In fact, the LGBT students are much more able to come out of the closet than they were even ten years ago. This has been an overall positive thing for them. Why should gifted kids have to keep hiding who they are?