Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Why is "gifted" negative?

Part of the stigma with the "gifted" label is the elitism that pull out programs sometimes create (I first read this in Genius Denied). In order to placate the rich white parents, district pullout programs might have kids go see a play or a field trip or other activities that don't specifically address a particular child's area of "giftedness". At one school in my town, parents have their kids privately tested again and again to qualify because the gifted program is almost a social stratum.

The charter school where 2 of my kids attend does not believe in labeling and all kids get to go to the theater, field trips, poetry workshops, etc. Everyone benefits from these enrichment opportunities. It doesn't mean that my son shouldn't go to a different math class (which he does). In a small school setting, I like including everyone in the special activities and not using the label with subject acceleration/deceleration that relates to "need".

Einstein was not the most gifted of his generation. He contributed in a narrow area at a time where there were basic questions being asked. One could take most mathematically gifted HS kids today, put the basic questions in front of them, give them the Lorenz transformation, and many can derive much of his work.

What I am driving at is that very rarely will history offer a generation a chance to come up with basic insights. Most of the time the things that can be done are more mundane, but just as important, and these require highly gifted minds to execute. Its just as hard to run Exxon or GE as it is to derive basic insights. There are challenges and interesting problems everywhere.

We need to provide kids with a range of examples to look up to, not just someone (Einstein) whose impact is mostly unobtainable due to where we are in our understanding of things. Its kind of like those parents who think little johnny will play pro ball. Except in this case, the pro ball team is only formed once every hundred years.

This is what I use when tackling issues with the school system. How can you create all these great programs, classes, etc for kids with LD, BD, MR, etc, yet there is direction when it comes to the other side? Granted, my state has programs, but there is no rhyme or reason to how kids are tested for them, etc... no standards.

And just like you will have behavioral issues when a child on one side of that spectrum is placed in an environment that doesn't suit his/her needs, you can't expect it NOT to happen on the other side of the spectrum.

I read that w/the mightiest computers that E=MCsquared was just PROVEN!! It took over 100 years to even prove it, it was assumed to be true but just recently they actually proved it.
That is crazy!!
Teachers thought Einstein would never amount to anything. Soo funny.

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And just like you will have behavioral issues when a child on one side of that spectrum is placed in an environment that doesn't suit his/her needs, you can't expect it NOT to happen on the other side of the spectrum. [/quote]


I am afraid my DS6 will be labeled ADHD if he has to sit there learning letters etc. He will bounce off the walls. Meanwhile give him something challenging and he will sit for hours.

Exactly!!!! DS5 is the exact same way!

MON, I agree with you. I really, really dislike the word "gifted."

I think just the word gifted comes with connotation of being preferred by a higher power, to being chosen somehow. I know that's not what it means in this context, but I think that even having that emotional/"higher power" attachment often outweighs the actual facts for people who don't know much about gifted kids.

I feel embarrassed using the word "gifted," even talking to dh -- it just doesn't feel right, due to what common conception of "giftedness" is. It does carry a stigma to it. I prefer to say "ahead of the curve!"

I'm not all up in arms about not using it, since "gifted" is the understood term. Just in conversation, I avoid the "g" word if at all possible and replace it with "pretty bright" or "advanced." That's not gifted denial; that's my dislike of the word and the connotations it carries.

Hi Mia,
I also feel embarrassed using the term "gifted".
I think any replacement term will evoke the same feelings on both ends. It is sad we can't feel free to talk about our kids.
You know when there was a question my son might be on the low end of the curve since he was a late talker, oh then poeple love to hear about it, love to talk about it. But when the tides changed he he surpassed everyones expectations and ended up at the other end of the spectrum well then no one wants to hear about it.

Interesting. I tell people all the time my brother is way smarter than I am, yet I was the ones in the GT classes. I'm not sure my brother would've been labeled as a 2E, nor do I think (from what I remember/been told) that he was gifted by definition or based on a learning concepts timeline, but it wasn't until high school that he was in more advanced classes for the subjects that he excelled in (history/social studies).

I get weird looks when I have I say I have a kid with special education needs. When I explain the situation, I get "well at least your kid is smart". True, but if his needs are not met, he will have other problems later on down the road, like his mother. It also doesn't mean that the problems that we do have with him now are any less as frustrating or difficult to deal with, etc...