What Happens When We Deny That Gifted Kids Exist?

This post combines Days 11 and 12 of the giftEDnz Blog Challenge as they were quite similar prompts which work well together and respond to the work of Jo Boaler.

No, It's Not Time to Ditch the Gifted Label - Gail Post, PhD

The first one - "No, It's Not Time to Ditch the Gifted Label" was written by Gail Post, PhD, and takes an in-depth look at a recent video and commentary by Jo Boaler.  Don't get me wrong, I love much of the work of Jo Boaler and agree with her on many points.  However, I think in this instance what she is saying runs the risk of being misinterpreted and used as a reason to 'ditch the gifted label'.  Apart from all the research that is evidence that giftedness exists and that problems arise when it is not acknowledged, we just have to listen to all the voices of the children who are gifted and who have not had their learning, social or emotional needs met to date in the education system.  For all the carefully-chosen students in Boaler's video, there are so many more who see this from a totally different perspective.  This is not to negate the feelings and beliefs of the students in her video, it is just to caution that, like anything we see and hear, we need to be objective and keep in mind that there is always more than one side to a story - just as we remind our students to do.

"Unfortunately, this heart-rending video overlooks research about gifted children and gifted education. It perpetuates stereotypes about gifted people, the gifted label, and the myth that everyone shares an equal amount of ability and potential. And although some gifted children may receive conflicting and distressing messages about their giftedness from parents, teachers, and peers, this should not indict the label itself." Gail Post, PhD

The NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children, US) also responded to Boaler's stance in a summary from their STEM Network Working Group:

"Refraining from offering suitable curricular challenges to students who are ready for them, whether called gifted, talented, exceptionally promising, advanced, or something else because other students are not ready for or do not have an interest in them is not ethically justifiable." NAGC 2018

This statement, which is also discussed by Post, raises a crucially important point.  It is a matter of equity that the needs of this group of students are met but is it also a matter of ethics as outlined in this statement?  I think it is.  It wouldn't be ethical to deny a student with Aspergers or dyslexia an education that meets their needs and yet we keep denying that giftedness and the specific and unique needs of giftedness exists and insisting that all students are having their needs met in our system.  My concerns around this are that we are only identifying a small portion of the population and the identification process is too narrow which means that we are missing so many gifted students who are multi-exceptional, twice-exceptional (2e), underachievers or who may not have English as their first language or are not identified as gifted through a cultural lens.  Our lens is very focused in one direction and dimension.


The second post has this title: "Gifted Children Do Exist. Here's What Happens When We Deny It."  This is a powerfully written piece by Ginny Kochis teacher and parent that explores what happens when we deny that gifted children exist.

Gifted Children Do Exist. Here's What Happens When We Deny It.

This post is a personal account but also links to research and the areas that affect gifted students if we deny that they exist.  It also links to Boaler's work and discusses the areas where there are flaws.  Some say that Carol Dweck also agrees with this stance through her Growth Mindset work but this is not strictly true.  While she does have issues with the term 'gifted' she does not say that giftedness does not exist but that we need to praise the process rather than the label as focusing too much on the label can mean that students don't develop a growth mindset that can take their learning even further. The clip below from Dweck (2015) explains her thinking.  I think it's important for us as educators to question what we see and hear, particularly when it comes from popular academics, and go back to the source so we know what is the correct information - just as we expect our students to do.




Giftedness is not a badge of honour or a term of superiority - it is often quite the opposite for many gifted students - gifted students are wired differently if we want to look at it this way.  They are not better, they are just different but they do have unique social, emotional and learning needs.  They are part of a neurodiverse group of students which includes our students with additional learning needs, our Aspergers students, our dyslexic students to name just two.

Would we deny an equitable education for any other group of students?