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12 June 2009
NO 1447
Nurturing talent
It is often assumed that children or youth with special talents "have it made." Certainly, in his pioneering ' longitudinal work, Terman demonstrated that many high-ability young people do become successful, productive adults (Terman, 1925; Terman & Oden, 1947, 1959). It is not surprising, then, that educators have often voiced the feeling that it is a waste of time and effort to devote special attention or programming to those who have tremendous natural advantages and who, supposedly, can make it on their own. However, this type of laissez-faire attitude might better be described as "lazy-unfair" (McCluskey & Walker, 1986, p. 4). Talents do not appear magically and grow of their own accord; they must be recognized, nurtured, and developed. A young plant will wither and die if left unattended, and a human limb will atrophy and become useless if kept immobile. A talented golfer must continually hone and fine-tune his or her skills; a premier ballerina will not remain premier for very long if she stops practicing and extending her expertise. And misdirected talent can be dangerous; how many unsolved crimes are committed by extremely bright people (who make it on their own all right, but not precisely in a desirable fashion)? Thus, we propose that children and youth who manifest early indications of talent (in performance or potential) should be challenged and stimulated to help them grow into creatively productive adults.
Talented individuals have problems too
Researchers in gifted education have long been concerned about the
plight of talented children whose needs are not met. Terman himself
found that a certain proportion of high-ability individuals were far
from making their mark in the world; some even developed emotional
problems and ended up as outcasts or criminals (Terman & Oden, 1947).
Carlson (1947) believed that a large number of bright children grow up
to become emotionally immature, ineffectual, and useless members of
society. Strang (1951) suggested that many bright youth fail to develop
to their potential because, in an effort to be more like their less able
age-mates, they hesitate to use their true abilities. Furthermore,
because some very precocious children have a difficult time forming
relationships with other youngsters, loneliness has been identified as a
potential issue (Kaiser & Berndt, 1985). In other words, talented
children and youth do not always have an easy time of it (cf. Burroughs,
1977; Rowlands, 1974). Outstanding ability or talent has been called a
"doubtful gift" (McCluskey & Walker, 1986, p. 13).
KEN W. McCLUSKY AND DONALD J. TREFFINGER
McClusky, K.W. and Treffinger, D.J. (1998). Nurturing
talented but troubled children and youth. Reclaiming Children and
Youth, 6, 4. p. 215.
REFERENCES
Burroughs, M.C. (1977). Restraints on excellence: Our waste of gifted children. Hingham, MA. Teaching Resources. 1977.
Carlson, E.F. (1947). Problems in educating the highly endowed. Journal of Exceptional Children, 13. pp. 201-204.
Kaiser, C.F. & Berndt, D.J. (1985). Predictors of loneliness in the gifted adolescent. Gifted Child Quarterly, 29. pp. 74-77.
McCluskey, K.W. & Walker, K.D. (1986). The doubtful gift: Strategies for educating gifted children in the regular classroom. Kingston, ON. Ronald P. Frye and Co.
Rowlands, P. (1974). Gifted children and their problems. London. J.M. Dent and Sons.
Strang, R. (1951). Mental hygiene of gifted children. In P. Witty (Ed.). The Gifted Child. Boston. D.C. Heath.
Terman, L.M. (1925). Genetic studies of genius: Vol. I. Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children. Stanford, CA. Stanford University Press.
Terman, L.M. & Oden, M.H. (1947). Genetic studies of genius. Vol IV. The gifted child grows up. Stanford, CA. Stanford University Press.
Terman, L.M. & Oden, M.H. (1959). Genetic
studies of genius. Vol. V. The gifted group at midlife. Stanford,
CA. Stanford University Press.
