Gifted or Galling?

 

It’s amazing to see that there is relatively a lot more awareness for differently abled children than those who are gifted. I am not saying it is right or wrong but it certainly puts a question mark to our whole struggle of equality. If you are one of those who swear by the philosophy of  giving ‘ Equal Rights’ to all the children/ people under this sun, I am sure you would understand the place I am coming from.

I am in the field of education and sometimes we come across children who are disruptive, seem disinterested and ask the teacher questions which make them look like a novice. These children are generally labeled as rude, arrogant, lazy or sometimes even harboring behavior problems. The problem is we know so little or nothing about a ‘ Gifted Child‘ , let alone identify and appreciate them.

The main problem with this whole concept is the idea of ‘ Giftedness’. In this world of ‘multiple intelligences‘, you can’t limit yourself to IQ. You have to come out to the whole arena of various intelligences and then perceive a child’s capability and his potential.

Is the child who seems to be getting bored during your lecture about life actually way ahead of you spiritually more connected to himself. May be he already has established the whole meaning of his existence. You find him lazy and unmotivated and he finds you boring because the information you are putting in front of him has already been figured out by him and he expects validation not introduction from you as his teacher to keep him interested

The term ” Gifted” was first used by Francis Galton. He used the term for adults, who showed exceptional talent in any specific field. Understanding this is very crucial. We have somewhere lost this whole essence and now we only refer to those who are intellectually superior as ‘ Gifted”.

What about the child, who made a whole new music instrument from his toy car?

Time for us to reflect, be honest to ourselves and change the way we look at our child, who irritates us because we somehow aren’t able to keep up with him/her.

Related articles

• The International Week of the Gifted 2012 (krmlr.wordpress.com)
• Dr. Berthier Maintains that Intellectual Giftedness is ‘Pre-Cradle to Post-Grave’ Experience (prweb.com)
• Are We Cultivating the Best and the Brightest? (ruthcatchen.wordpress.com)