Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Responding to anti-GT remarks

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Do the best sports coaches and music teachers work with the least talented children? Of course not, because their efforts would be largely wasted on those kids. Such "elitism" makes sense in education as well. Education is a multiplier, benefiting the high-IQ more than the low-IQ. Many citizens and an even larger fraction of policymakers wrongly think of education as an equalizer rather than a multiplier.

There is a dichotomy when it comes to kids with respect to academics and sports.

Everyone knows and accepts that there are elite and traveling teams in every metro area for most sports.

But the same concept in academics is not accepted.

A friend's son is on an elite track for football and there was some drama with his former football teammates' parents when he was selected and they were not. But everyone KNEW he was superior. Now he is supported by those same families.

So, I think there is something to be gained from this analogy. How to use it and phrase it right is beyond me right now.

I think it's almost more of a liner economic though process.

Kid + X Amount of Education = Y Level of Economic Success and Productivity

Kid + X+1 Amount of Education = Y+1 Level of Economic Success and Productivity

The nature of the Kid is irrelevant to the thinking.

Education also helps those at the bottom of the IQ ladder as well. You have to get the low IQ kids to a certain level of social / work competency or they can't function even in a simple job environment or live and function on their own. But that's a very different kind of "education".

That's one of those contests you don't want to win unless you like the opportunity to subject yourself to brain damage and other permanent degenerative damage to your innards.

Capitalism and education benefit the lower IQ population far more than the higher IQ elite. It gives them access to a much higher standard of living than otherwise they could not do for themselves. We all live in dreams made real by a very small part of the population that is sustained by the rest once created.

I do agree about the equalizer and multiplier concept, but the better educated most often carry a far higher burden emotionally and financially.

LOL. My neck still bothers me from playing HS football. Football is definitely a dangerous sport, but so is life.

There is a reason why the leadership of many organizations is dominated by team sport athletes, though.

I'll agree with that. I was basically actively anti-team athletics during high school and college. I truly hated them at the time.

And thus, I developed exactly zero leadership skills.

So, I suppose team sports do teach you something.

I agree that leadership traits may be enhanced by team sports, however there are many other ways for children/young adults to learn leadership traits than on a field that can transfer over to being in the leadership of organizations in their future careers. Some of those " elite athletes " now in positions of leadership probably didn't get there all on their own merit, but more on who they were...but effective leaders do not always come from those who may appear to be great leaders in the sports arena.

The fact is society is already excepting of great athletes, and all about encouraging them, training them, providing them with the best...society is NOT ready to do the same with those who are assumed to be high ability intellectually, because they figure the status quo is enough and they will just rise to the top and go on to be productive citizens at the top no matter the schooling they are offered. This is a huge problem here and in many other countries who are seeing their educational ranking slip farther and farther down the list while others rise...

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