Being Gifted

Being gifted by definition usually means something along the lines of "having exceptional talent or natural ability" but what it doesn't include is the downsides; not that there aren't upsides, either. There are countless misconceptions and misunderstood areas about the subject.

Cons of being gifted:
Asynchronous development is the uneven maturity of a child -- social, intellectual, emotional, and physical traits develop asynchronously, obviously, but what does that mean? It means that at the age of 13 a child can be exceptionally short or tall while they might be in an advanced class. It means any combination of the maturities settling at different times. It's not exactly a bad thing, but it can require attention and empathy at some points, and unfortunately not everyone has that to offer.

By being placed in an advanced class, there's a lot of pressure to be the best you possibly can; which, being in a different class than most of your peers, can draw out high expectations from others. This can be a lot to deal with, especially with other worries like grades and after-school activities.

One is also listed or labeled: know-it-all, try-hard, dork, nerd, or a number of other things, and I'd say that's pretty stressful. Being teased isn't a good experience to say the least. 

Ups of being gifted:
There are good things of being gifted, and I won't pretend I'm denying that. It's pretty cool to be above the average in a certain subject or two; I consider myself fairly musically inclined and pretty good at writing. Obviously I can loosen up a bit when I write, but I'm still trying to get that down! Back on subject, those who are gifted, like myself, are most likely to go someplace with their jobs and lives, motivating others and innovating the world. 

Myths about gifted children:
The biggest myth is most likely that we're good at everything and we get good grades. For example, I'm not great at math or history, and I usually get poor grades in science class and just barely pull through by the end of the marking period. My strongest areas are music (playing the trumpet) and writing (more like grammar and spelling). Some students may end up with low grades because of mainly two scenarios: the first, the work is too boring for them and they fly through it and don't feel the need to do their homework, and the second, they're placed in overly-advanced classes and can't keep up with the work they need to do. I'll admit, in some classes my work is painstakingly easy. Which probably explains why my dividers are covered in drawings.

We're not geniuses, we don't know everything, and not all of us are nerds. I am, but some aren't. Think: where would we be without advanced learners absorbing and inventing? We'd be primitive. While you may think we're geeks now, later in life we'll be creating something you'll spend all your money on, like an iPad or computer. That sounds cliche, but it's true.

Another false assumption is that gifted kids don't need any help, that we can do fine on our own. We have to be taught, too, we don't just magically know everything we need.

Truths about gifted children:
We're different from the average student. We require special classes and can develop asynchronously, as previously stated. And we're definitely, truly not good at everything. But we are creative and bright kids. Also, our test scores may or may not show our true intellectual potentials. We get nervous and can do badly on a big assessment, but that doesn't mean we're any less gifted. Furthermore, tests often don't give a lot of room to impress, especially ScanTron style.


Hopefully with some new knowledge to be enlightened with there'll be a decrease in the misconceptions about gifted children.