The reason I am unmoved by many of the guides and descriptions is that it seems like the very elaborate world of diamond grading -- the four "Cs.'
Diamond grading exists so that the diamond market will function. That is the only reason. I think you are right to imply that IQ tests commoditize education.
The other big issue is that it's not clear to me that early, rapid learning necessarily implies what people seem to be arguing that it implies.
A number of psychologists do have long-term studies that are ongoing on how "gifted" kids progress. There are a number of broader qualitative measures on this.
Simply going faster doesn't necessarily imply going farther. If this were the case, then we would now all likely be working for Asian companies, where students progress very rapidly along regimented, academic curricula. My own experience is that products of these educational systems think differently, yes, but there are costs as well.
There is a difference between learning things already known versus exploring new territory. The map is not the territory. Once the map runs out, you get lost.
Development is not a simple, linear race but a number of interacting processes that proceed at their own rates in different people. Trying to force a "gifted" identity onto this, it seems to me, is not true to the process and could actually limit, instead of expand, the possibilities for the individual children.
I think learning is an OODA loop, too.
What you will find by reading the literature others have shown to you is that the tests serve as a fact-creation tool. While the test may miss some kids, they do allow other students to be freed from languishing in classes where they know the subject cold and have for many years. They are freed to move to other classes and learn new material and to work with kids whose minds are as mature as theirs.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/iowa_accel_scale.htmIn this respect, they really do expand the possibilities for these kids.
And some educators are using the tests to try to ID issues. For instance, several school districts now routinely test kids with discipline issues. Many are found to be GT and are acting out due to frustration. Other districts use the tests to ID kids whose parents do not advocate for them.
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Some personal history:
I jumped from 7th grade to 10th grade and I really enjoyed school for the first time in years. I used to sit in the back and read during class. I walled myself off from the teachers and students because I had no reason to interact during class. What enabled this jump was a test administered a week after I started 7th grade. I was liberated because that test allowed the school to place me properly.
Do the tests tell the whole story? No. Most of my former AP classmates from HS now have PHDs or MDs. Three classmates are near the top of their profession in the cities in which they live. But they had nowhere near my test scores nor could they match me in class nor did they have my wide range of interests. But they are hugely successful!!!
But, they were all ability grouped from the 9th grade on in a very competitive program. THAT was the critical factor. What is funny, is that I was not tested in this school district and was placed in the bottom group by the counselor who just looked at me. I went back to him the first week and told him I wanted to be in the honors group. Imagine if I had not self-advocated? Wouldn't a test be apropos to at least PLACE someone?
Go back and read my first post on this forum for more stories about schools and misplacement.
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....cs/18674/My_Recollections.html#Post18674If you check the first few posts of most of the posters on here, you will see similar trajectories.
Reading others' stories and reading all the posts on this forum and reading the many books suggested on here has brought me a lot of peace by allowing me to understand my life much better.
