Hey, just some background: My screen name is Mouchette (it's a pretentious reference to some obscure piece of internet art lmao) and I'm 15 years old; blah blah blah.
I absolutely hate the "gifted" label. If you go to any of the depression subs (r/2me_irl4meirl, r/trollcoping, or just plain old r/depression) you'll inevitably run into the "burnt out gifted kid" trope being expressed through memes and rants of all kinds. It's a whole-ass phenomenon.
I think the main problem is the "Fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset" thing. Hierarchical societies usually end up giving you a "fixed mindset" by osmosis, but gifted kids are especially vulnerable due to social pressures from peers, teachers, and parents.
For me, my mom actively /cultivated/ a fixed mindset by completely focusing on extrinsic motivation only. Everything was about education, education, education: but only in relation to school. There was (is?) a whole host of other issues that I don't want to talk about on a random forum.
I think I'm too old to keep blaming my mom for all my behavior so I'm finally taking a stand against her. It sucks. I've lived in the same place my whole life so everybody only knows me for the weird stuff I did as a kid and basically just treats me like a novelty item.
The more my mom obsesses over GPA, the less will I have to do anything school-related. Probably reverse psychology. I used to rebel against her by just shooting myself in the foot and being... absolutely horrible, but I don't want that anymore. I've realized that I have the actual free will to do things. Life isn't just compromising with suffering.
I mean, I've just reframed it so I can survive for the next two years.
Me want learn ---> me learn things (in school) ---> high GPA (makes mom happy)
I'm also trying to covertly set myself up to follow my childhood dream of being an astrophysicist, no matter how unlikely that's gonna be.
It's also really nasty about how my parents constantly moan about my "wasted potential". Just because I'm not #1 in the class doesn't mean my life isn't worth something, OK? It's just numbers.
tl;dr: the "gifted" label can be useful in early ed to provide access to accelerated education but is completely meaningless otherwise. Intentional care must be taken to not cause the kid psychological issues. It's like constantly calling a child star "beautiful"... it's a compliment, but it'll lead to undue mental emphasis on the trait (and others' perception of the trait). Have you seen Britney Spears? She's a mess.
