The Life of a Gifted Student

by Angela Ryan

Disclaimer:

I know, I know, this seems like a very pretentious first-world problem, but just hear me out. All I ask is that you read my article with an open mind and consider the ideas that lay I out before you. I am in no way speaking for every ‘gifted’ student out in the world, I am just sharing my view from my personal experience and research I’ve conducted on my own.

The ‘gifted’ program in a school can vary from district to district, but they all generally fall under the same big idea. Its goal is to challenge students who learn faster, show greater potential or are just considered ‘bright’ or ‘intelligent’. But this program has many flaws, in so many different ways. From racial discrimination, to social hierarchies, to long-lasting mental effects, the list goes on and on - too much to cover in a single article. In this article, I will talk about the children themselves who are placed into these ‘gifted’ programs, and what that life is like. 

First off, what exactly is a gifted program? Briefly summarized in the introduction, the “Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE)” defines the concept of a ‘gifted’ student as follows: "The term 'gifted and talented,' when used with respect to students, children or youth, means students, children or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." This basically means that these kids attached to this label are in need of more challenging classes than what their school normally provides. Whether this is because they learn quicker, or just started out ahead of their class, it doesn’t matter. They are “gifted” all the same. These programs hope to nurture these students’ intelligence so that they go on to become scholars, go to ivy league schools, become doctors, lawyers, a CEO, or any other career that is held with great respect and high regard. Gifted students are identified in many different ways, each of which present their own problems. They can range from standardized testing (the most common), to teacher recommendations, and several other methods.

Already, flaws in “gifted” programs begin to emerge. I myself was a so-called “gifted” student in my old school district, and our “gifted” program began in third grade. It was based off of standardized tests that kids took in second grade, and was called the Resources for Extending Academic and Creative Horizons Program, or REACH for short. This is way too early to be deciding whether a child is gifted or not, because a child’s intelligence doesn’t stay static throughout their entire school life. Many schools try to combat this by having students take another test before each school year, but this also creates problems. Kids in gifted programs are told that they will go on to do great things, and are most likely develop an ego at a very young age. Being constantly told that you’re better than average does that to you. So, to be taken out of this program that made you feel special can really take a toll on a child, and shatter that ego. All based off of one test score. Another problem with standardized testing is that it relies on test-taking skills. A student could be an amazing test taker, but not be able to learn concepts quickly, and consequently be placed in a class that moves too quickly for them. On the opposite end, a student could be a bad test taker but still learn quickly and be denied the opportunity to be challenged in school the way that they need to be. Another flaw in these programs is that most districts just have a single gifted class, or a few that teach on the same level. Not all “gifted” students will be at the same point on the “gifted spectrum” per se, and can each be talented or intelligent in their own way. One student who is labeled as “gifted” might not be as smart as another student put into that same class, but are both expected to learn at the same pace. A child may be “gifted’”in language arts, but might even be sub-par at math, and vice versa. Not every “gifted” student is the same, yet they are all treated like they are.

Another huge problem of being a gifted student is the mental aspect of it. I’m not saying that children that don’t make it into gifted programs aren’t mentally affected, but just focusing specifically on ‘gifted’ students in this article. As mentioned before, ‘gifted’ students are told from a very young age that they are special. They are above average, and will go on to do great things. They will constantly be high achievers, and that will never change. This idea is enforced from a very young age, and it’s not healthy at all. These children will constantly try to live up to live up to these standards. This vision can shatter if or when their peers catch up to them, and they become just average. Whether this happens during elementary, middle school, or maybe even in someone’s high school and college years, it can be difficult to cope with. Another alternative is that the ‘gifted’ student tries their hardest to live up to these expectations, and they succeed. But, it’s often at the cost of their mental and/or physical health and wellbeing. The standards that have been ingrained in their minds will often cause these students to overwork themselves to an unhealthy point. The final scenario is one that rarely occurs, but can happen on occasion to a lucky few. This group of kids was placed into the ‘gifted’ program at a young age, and continued to be ‘gifted’ all through their life, up into their adult years. The reason this group is so rare is because, of course, they aren’t average. They’re above average. If the average person was gifted, then that would be the new average. 

The mental toll the ‘gifted’ program can take on a student also affects the behaviors and habits formed during your elementary and middle school years. Being told that you’re ‘gifted’ from a young age makes you want to stay ‘gifted’ the rest of your life. You want to be above average. You want to be the best. This can morph into perfectionism, which can become a greater problem later in school years.  ‘Gifted’ students often didn’t have to work very hard in classes earlier in their education, and most things came very easily to them. They are quick learners, so this makes sense. These kids go through their elementary and often their middle school years never really having to study, so they don’t develop good studying habits. They never find the strategy that is best for them, and when the time comes in their education where they really need to actively study, they can’t. They don’t know how. These kids never learned how to actually study. This combined with their perfectionism can create a big problem in a student’s later school years, and if they aren’t quick to adjust, can lead to subpar grades. Another big problem that comes with the “gifted” label is the expectancy to be good at everything immediately. I am certainly one of these people myself, and often give up on something if I don’t succeed immediately. This directly ties into my next point, that a lot of ‘gifted’ students are afraid to ask for help. ‘Gifted’ students are most likely used to being the first to get concepts that are being taught. A ‘gifted’ student can feel stupid when they don’t understand, and feel as if they, again, aren’t living up to their potential.

As I’ve mentioned, I myself was a gifted student. I want to share my personal experiences as one of the ‘gifted’ students placed in the REACH program. Each morning, I and around a dozen of my classmates from two other homerooms would leave our classrooms after our teachers took attendance, and would head to a separate classroom across the hall. Very early on during third grade, my class found out that while we were in a separate classroom learning fractions and writing short stories, the ‘normal’ students were being taken out for an extra recess. The REACH program in my school really only focused on language arts, never really digging into maths or sciences, so we would always return to our original classrooms for these subjects. When the end of fifth grade rolled around, I was a pretty quick math learner, so I had no worries about getting into ‘accelerated’ math in sixth grade. But then, I didn’t make it in. My mom asked the school if I could take the test again, and they agreed. I failed it a second time. So, I continued through my school years in the average math class, the only ‘gifted’ class I was in being Enriched Language Arts. I never really worked hard in my other classes, and barely studied. I mostly spent my time watching videos or T.V. shows on my phone from when I got home until around 9:30 at night, when I started my homework. I usually got to bed before 11:00 pm, getting a good 7 hours of sleep each night. I never learned the self discipline to actually complete my homework as soon as I got home, and that has definitely carried over to my life now, where I am attending a private high school where most of the people here are either as smart, or smarter than I am. Even now, I am writing this article the day of the deadline, so obviously I am still learning how to manage my time wisely. I have been improving, however. School days that usually stretched into early 3:00 am mornings have now morphed into 12:00 am nights. Of course this still isn’t a healthy sleep schedule, but it’s a drastic improvement. Currently, I am still trying to get over the whole ‘asking questions’ situation, and I hope I overcome that soon. Contrary to what one might think, trigonometric verifications, simplifications and derivatives aren’t nearly as fun and easy as they sound.

My goal here isn’t to tell you that being a ‘gifted’ student is bad. I’m not trying to say that the ‘gifted’ program is bad. I’m only trying to start a discussion. The program isn’t broken, there are just flaws. If awareness is raised for these flaws in a system that has been in place since the 1930s, then maybe they will finally be corrected. That is my goal.