Same here, as well; radical acceleration (even 4+ grades) hasn't really helped EITHER problem for my DD. The underlying problem of pacing and repetition is just too much for EG/PG kids in most regular academic environments, I think. Of course, we don't have a magnet option, so that may color our perspective.

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I actually think that Outliers is a terrific book. BUT. What I find disappointing about that book is that so many people who read it seem to lose sight of the subtext that these anecdotes and loose collections of (admittedly cherry-picked) data can obscure-- that these radical success stories are, as others have noted, about BOTH time and underlying ability/talent. It truly does take about 10,000-16,000 hours of study to earn both a bachelor's degree and a PhD in a subject. We've done the math there, and this tallies with our personal experiences and with those of numerous colleagues. So there really is something to it, though I am not sure that the number is 10,000 for everything, and I will also say (from personal experience again) that no matter HOW much you want something or work hard at it-- there really ARE things which are simply beyond one's scope of natural talent.

I can't CREATE a Tiger Woods or Midori-- not starting with just any child, that is. There is genetic potential involved. I knew very hard-working graduate students that simply were not going to succeed at earning doctoral degrees in chemistry or physics, no matter how much more time they put in than the rest of their peers.

My daughter is a pretty reasonable example of this in action. Sure, she's a rock-star in terms of being almost so uniformly/evenly "gifted" academically that she truly SEEMS like a very bright college student trapped in the body of a pre-teen.

Have we 'coached' her to be that smart? While some people may think that Tiger Parenting can produce kids like that (hot-housing, I suppose one might say); I categorically do NOT believe that it is possible. That's genetics-- my daughter's legacy is not unlike that of Amy Chua's daughters. She has a family littered with scientists, mathematicians and musical prodigies and parents with PhD's in the physical sciences. Her smarts are just natural and mostly genetic. That is potential.

Then there is the environmental factors that go into whether or not that potential will be met, and to what degree...

I push my child pretty hard to apply herself and give some things her "all." Piano has been one of those things (though I've never resorted to the lengths that Dr. Chua reports, I'm happy to note)... as has a 4H project that my daughter chose to do, and at one time, swimming lessons. The message is "don't be a quitter just because this is HARD. It's supposed to be HARD. It's hard for most people-- mastery in the face of difficulty makes the victory that much sweeter."

My reasons have to do with several things and my desire to be a good parent to the child that I have. (As opposed to my ideal of what it means to be "a good mother.") My daughter, like another poster's child, would willingly apply herself to not much if left entirely to her own devices. Goldilocks would automatically avoid ALL tasks that are not "ideal" from her perspective, in terms of difficulty and stimulation... and when the going gets tough, I have given my child a very NO-NONSENSE 'follow through' lecture and insisted in no uncertain terms that she WILL follow through on a committment she made.

We as loving parents want her to learn that effort is, in many ways, directly proportional to results-- no matter HOW incredible your brain is; that's like understanding that a formula one racecar needs as much care in the driver's seat as a used Yugo. She, as I noted at first, is NOT learning this particular lesson from school. And also as another poster noted, PhD programs are filled with people who are smart-smart-smart just like her... and the successful people in them are the ones that have learned that secret-- coasting isn't how to make your dreams become reality.


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Also worth noting-- my ten year old read Outliers. I encouraged her to. LOL.

She has also read Nickel and Dimed. whistle Just saying... we felt that was an educational choice, too.

Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.