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Probably the simplest would be to not designate a child as gifted. It marks them as different, which can act almost like a social stigma. Just let them grow up
by vfc1 7y ago
Probably the simplest would be to not designate a child as gifted. It marks them as different, which can act almost like a social stigma.
Just let them grow up at their own rhythm, and see what happens. If they are good at school, they can always take online video courses on things that they enjoy.
For example, have them take as many courses as they want on https://brilliant.org https://brilliant.org or Coursera on any topic they like. Let the child themselves determine their own destiny, don't impose things like academic success or a corporate career on them.
Maybe they are natural born entrepreneurs and they want to build a company, who knows? All these expectations thrown at an you child can be nothing but detremintal and anxiogenic, just let them grow up like any other child.
- barry-cotter 7y agoNormal school is pretty easy for children in the top 5%. For children who are much smarter than that following a curriculum designed for average children is not just a waste of time it’s incredibly boring and frustrating. Being bored all day with things you knew already or picked up three days into a six week unit is not a good way to get children to enjoy school. If they’re good at school school is unpleasant because it’s not set up for them. Orders of magnitudes more money is spent on special education than on gifted education because no one cares about children who’ll already do fine academically except maybe, if they’re lucky, their parents.
- chrisweekly 7y agoGood comment - and thanks for the Brilliant.org tip, was new to me and looks awesome.
- mcguire 7y agoBecause being smart and $1.50 will get you $1.50 worth of coffee.
- bitexploder 7y agoOne challenge is kids will figure out they are smart all on their own. As a parent you have to almost actively repress the notion in a kid’s head that they are “smart”.
- sanxiyn 7y agoWhy? Being smart is good. Why wouldn't you let your kids know?
- onemoresoop 7y agoBecause it does more harm than good in the long term
- sanxiyn 7y agoI'd say having false belief (believing oneself not to be smart, when in fact, one is smart) is more harm than good in the long run.
- bitexploder 7y agoI answered this elsewhere, but... I think it is ideal to just exist without putting smartness on a scale. Smart is not an inherently good or bad thing IMO. It just is. What you do with "smart" matters, so we focus on doing and effort in my house, not on inherent capabilities. Also, maybe you as a person just don't want to do "smart" people jobs when you grow up? Probably you will, but if you are holding yourself to some standard it could set you up for years of unhappiness if you feel you are "wasting" your talents.
- sanxiyn 7y agoBeing smart is inherently good. It is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
- onemoresoop 7y agoYou can't argue Hitler, Stalin, etc weren't smart in their own ways. So being smart is not inherently good, it depends on what it applies to. There could be smart pimp who makes a lot of money, does that make him good? Maybe being good is inherently good?
- mcguire 7y agoOne very striking thing I've heard from a friend who went to a gifted school was that it let them have a "normal" childhood. Rather than being "the smart kids", they were just normal in their environment.