...she told me that there was a general concern at Hunter because they have noticed the phenomenom themselves as the orginal elementary students are not the top in the class when the new blood enters in 7th grade. They lack a drive. So much for the challenge theory....;)
Ren
There are different ways to look at this problem and what it comes from. On the one hand, it's possible that preschool test-prep mania in New York contributes to it. If a non-gifted child ends up in a class for gifted students, the learning environment wouldn't necessarily be appropriate, and learning would suffer. For me (could be just me) school should be about a creating an appropriate learning environment for each student.
On the other hand, I think it's important to remember that
high achieving isn't necessarily
gifted. And just because you're gifted doesn't mean you're going to be a super-high achiever. This is okay. It also goes back to my post in this thread about "genius" --- namely, just because you have a high IQ doesn't mean you have some kind of obligation to become a famous <insert occupation> and that you haven't lived up to your potential if you don't.
Some people have a drive to do something significant, and that's great. And I think that drive is a quality that's internal: it can't be put there because of parental wishes or because of a teacher's opinion about potential, or anything else. Others can nurture it or damage it, but no one can put it there (and, sometimes, no one can take it away).
It occurs to me that leading "contented lives" (as was said earlier in this thread and in other places) could, in a way, be a situation that's easier to attain if you're gifted. And that's okay too.
Just my maunderings...
Val
