Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Common Core "close reading"

puffin, I have to note, here, that while DD certainly had perfectionistic tendencies already, this sort of nonsense (which is the most appropriate term short of profanity, frankly) drove it to unprecedented heights.

Being asked these "inferential" questions, mixed with questions that required direct/literal reading as well-- and in all-or-nothing formats, where only a specific word or answer selection would be "correct" and everything else "wrong" (no matter her explanation) was what drove her to loathe Language Arts as a subject. Not kidding.

She liked it somewhat better after two years of AP English coursework with a teacher that clearly shared her disdain for this sort of thing. But no, she never "got used to" these questions, in large part because they ultimately require that the student get inside of the mind of whoever was WRITING the query to begin with. Now, in a person-to-person interaction, in which one knows the individual asking the question, that's not so hard. But gifted children encounter these questions, and coupled with their own lived experience, they see so many correct answers that there IS no "best" choice. There isn't. It's situational, and they don't have the information (context) that they need in order to know which is the appropriate one for the context.

I hypothesize that many gifted children probably struggle with this more than NT ones because of that increased ability to see alternative solutions, viewpoints, and perspectives. They aren't thinking about the questions the way NT children do. It's not that the gifted child is wrong-- but they can sure be made to FEEL as though their patterns of thinking need "correction" when subjected to this baloney for years on end.

It makes ME want to light things on fire, too.


The ultimate irony is that just a year or two later than workbooks and materials have them doing this sort of thing, which DD used to term "getting inside the mind of average reading," they are expected to begin appreciating and writing about the deeper symbolism and meaning of great works of literature-- at least if they're college-bound. That is flatly a skill that has been BEATEN out of them by this approach. DD had always been encouraged to think "beyond the text" and to consider this sort of thing-- and even she found it challenging to revert to her own normal way of approaching literature after she'd been treated this way.

Consider the answer to the following questions:


Think about how a high school student would be required to consider their reading in order to answer those two questions. Then ask yourself what a "right" answer looks like to the second. Because make no mistake-- there is one. The rest are WRONG.


It's harmful.