Excellent "Leave It To Beaver" episode! Thanks for sharing.
In half an hour, it sums up many aspects of the dilemma of being gifted, from the child's, friends', parents', and school's perspectives.
On the other hand, it is not an overly optimistic or positive message about society's acceptance and support of high intelligence.
Evidently "Part Time Genius" was Season 1, Episode 14 of "Leave It To Beaver", and originally aired in January 1958; It is both sad and disappointing to see how little has changed in nearly 50 years, with regard to the gifted.
In this episode we see:
- Parental braggadocio (Willis 'Corny' Cornelius)
- Parent feeling his ego has been trounced, after listening to another parent expound upon his own child's academic/intellectual achievements (Ward)
- Parent being self-congratulatory, recounting former glory days, taking children's academic grades and possible high intelligence as a positive self-reflection (Ward)
- Kids understanding that an intelligence test is not something to study for (Wally)
- Parents wanting to prep children for intelligence test (Ward)
- School declaring they are not prepared to teach an exceptional child (Principal Rayburn)
- Child experiencing the pain of negative social stigma from being regarded as smartest in the class (Beaver, Charlie)
- Parents being relieved to learn their child is
not the one who received the highest mark in the school, deciding to accept each child as an individual with strengths and weaknesses (Ward)
This reminds me of today's quote: "
Comparison is the thief of joy."
(BTW, I did notice the word "gifted"... just once... spoken by the school headmaster at about 17:28, about halfway through the 30-minute episode.)
