Time to Embrace Giftedness

Schools in the US need to accept elitism, argues one professor, if American students are to be competitive on a global scale. Of course he wouldn't phrase it that way, but Professor Pfeiffer of Florida State University argues that American school districts need to more whole-heartedly embrace gifted education programs. Like special needs students, gifted pupils require personal attention to best cultivate their already accelerated skills. The reason for this is, as stated by an expert on gifted education, the term “gifted” merely denotes promise, not certainty about future accomplishments. If gifted students are under-stimulated they may not reach their full potential. 

However, there are many that oppose gifted education on the grounds that it diverts resources from regular school services. Still others argue that minorities or students for which English is a second language are underrepresented in gifted education programs. Perhaps the largest hurdle to gifted education is the definition of “giftedness”. Traditionally, the IQ test has been the sole measure of a student’s intellectual acuity, but with time, researchers are finding many more dimensions to intelligence. Fairfax County, an affluent suburb of Washington, DC and one of the largest school districts in the country, has started supplementing the standard cognitive ability test with a nonverbal test. The latter test allows students that posses the intellectual capacity to succeed in gifted programs but lack the language skills to succeed at normal aptitude tests to get into programs that are appropriate for them. For an example of a gifted education screening progress, check out Fairfax County Public Schools’ website. 

The debate continues within the education community over how to identify gifted students and how to develop their skills. With the United States falling behind in areas like stem-cell research and energy technology it is of course necessary for educators to identify and encourage the Bill Gates’s and the Frederick Sanger’s of tomorrow. However, they should not do so at the expense of average children that may show equal promise in later years if they were only given the opportunities to succeed.