Nice article, Inky -- thanks for sharing.
He spent a couple paragraphs describing what many here have lamented -- that too much comes too easily for the gifties.
But beyond that, two of his comments jumped out at me also: "... parents are notoriously poor judges..." and "If your children truly are gifted, don't tell them." (WTH? Is he high?)
So my kid is 7ft tall in the 6th grade and dominates his classmates in basketball. But I'd better not tell him he's extra tall... it might be damaging. Hmmm.
I found myself really irritated with his presenting "gifted" and "hard-working" as somehow mutually exclusive. He needed a third choice: "gifted and hard-working."
I won't even comment on his three paragraphs explaining that "Potential Is a Pipe Dream." After all, "potential" is another nasty word we should strike from our vocabulary regarding our children.
And then he closes with the dreaded, "giftedness is actually overrated as a contributor to success." Sigh.
I see this an awful lot -- invariably used by people who make the same leap as this fella, setting up a "giftedness v. hard-working" dichotomy.
I agree -- hard-working will often/regularly/routinely(?) out-perform giftedness. BUT... you catch hold of a gifted kid when he is young, teach him all that hard-working stuff, get him the appropriate challenges -- commensurate with what the hard-working ND classmate experiences -- and watch out.
Which would I choose for my kid -- EITHER hard-working OR gifted? Blechh -- that question is sorrowfully incomplete.
BUT -- out of a more reasonable set of options: "hard-working ONLY" OR "gifted ONLY" OR "hard-working PLUS gifted"? Why, naturally, I'll take option "C" for a bazillion dollars, thank you very much.
I seriously wonder how much experience he really has with GT-ed and/or gifties in general.
Wow. Sorry for unloading all that cynicism tonight.
