Regarding Joan Freeman and her book Gifted Lives (September 2010):
http://www.digimaxhost.co.uk/~joan/
http://digimaxhost.co.uk/~joan/interview.php
http://digimaxhost.co.uk/~joan/books.php
News articles regarding Gifted Lives:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/09/gifted-children-joan-freeman-psychologisthttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315414/Gifted-children-just-likely-fail-life.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8028543/Gifted-children-no-more-likely-to-succeed.htmlhttp://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/lifestyles/family/s_703803.htmlPsychology Today two-part article regarding Gifted Lives:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...ted-children-what-happens-when-they-growhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...ppens-when-gifted-children-grow-part-two* * *
National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (U.K.):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Academy_for_Gifted_and_Talented_Youth* * *
I have not read the book Gifted Lives by Joan Freeman. The various links above suggest that the book is worth reading.
The news articles linked make me weary. It seems the battle is always against those who are looking for reasons to not do what is possible. Of course, there will always be the sad stories, and it is forever likely that there will always be more sad stories than happy stories. But the measure of things is somewhat skewered to a wrong-headed bias. For who is to decide what defines success in life or what is the genuine stuff of happiness? In the final analysis, success and happiness can only be judged by the person who is living it. One must ask: Was Isaac Newton successful and happy? How about Beethoven? By most measures, Newton and Beethoven had strange and lonely lives, but I would argue that "most measures" do not apply to people like Newton and Beethoven.
Life is for the living, but the accomplishments of a lifetime are for the ages. Genius realized is a burden and often a curse for the genius, but genius realized is always a gift for the rest of humanity.
Isaac Newton observed, "Truth is the offspring of silence and unbroken meditation." Jesus said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The genius finds happiness in the freedom that comes from truth � a question answered � a problem solved � a masterpiece accomplished. Such happiness is often a quiet and solitary satisfaction that is shared with no one, because no one else can quite appreciate it as fully as does the genius.
Society tends to disappoint, and so the genius tends to isolate and withdraw, and that is how happiness can easily be mistaken for sadness when it is observed from the outside.
NOVA Transcript: Newton's Dark Secrets:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3217_newton.htmlIsaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer by Michael White
http://books.google.com/books?id=l2...0and%20unbroken%20meditation&f=false Isaac Newton by Albert Einstein
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/einstein.htmlBeethoven: A Brief Biography
http://www.awesomestories.com/biographies/beethoven/prefaceIn every case, a school should open a door for a student to become who the student actually is, not who the student should be by someone else's expectation. That is asking a lot, but no school should ever be satisfied if it accomplishes anything less than that. We must � all of us � insist that the truly gifted children be not overlooked, that their needs be met, and that they be challenged to their fullest potential in all of their academic pursuits.
Steven A. Sylwester
