Gifted Children

✍ Scribed by Frank Laycock

• Publisher: Pearson Scott Foresman
• Year: 1978
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 195
• Edition: Hardcover
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

"Gifted children are any society’s prime asset. They are born at every social and economic level, but they do not all get proper nurture. Now that we are caught up in crises that threaten other resources, I hope that these children, too, will get the attention they must have. I have therefore brought together basic information about gifted children: who they are, why we need them, how we spot them, and what we can do for them. I believe this is a timely enterprise. John Curtis Gowan, in a 1975 address honoring Terman’s major research on gifted children (Stanley, George, & Solane, 1977) pointed out that we may soon see major progress in studying our brightest children. In the past there has been little systematic analysis of what constitutes giftedness. Now specialists from many fields are becoming interested in the gifted. Psychologists are concerned about behavioral differences among people; experts in cognition are examining anew problem solving and creativity; and neurologists are looking for the basic mechanisms of thought. Educators and sociologists, linguists and lawyers, are also working together to determine how we can make a fresh commitment to individual development and fair play, free of the constraints that prejudice and unequal opportunity have imposed on the selection and education of the gifted.
This book offers general background on the subject rather than specific and detailed instructions about how to identify bright children or how to develop practical plans for teaching them. This information is available in other books, most recently those by Gallagher (1975) and Newland (1976). Here I have assembled facts that ought to be considered before we confront individual children or design curricula for them: patterns of traits, the behavior we can expect, traditional ways of providing help, and issues and proposals presently under study.
As compared to other discussions of bright children, this book refers more to practices in several countries. I have drawn heavily on work that was Originally reported in English, because most of the systematic research has come from the United States, Britain, and the Commonwealth countries. But I find it useful and provocative to look also at how other countries, notably China, have treated their most promising children. This international ambiance emphasizes the global scope of the challenge posed by gifted children.
An important segment of this book examines historic and current statements about how and why we must watch closely over the gifted. There is a peculiar urgency, now, to look squarely at the gifted. There are critics who argue for egalitarian treatment, who point to the pitfalls in standardized testing, who insist that children must be allowed to be free spirits, or who concentrate upon the prejudice directed against minority children; these critics often oppose programs designed for the brightest. Special attention, the argument goes, is undemocratic, unfair to the disadvantaged, and unevenly distributed. If, as a result of these arguments, bright children are left to themselves, or if they are everywhere merged with the mass, they and we alike will suffer. The book betrays some of my bias. I begin with biographical excerpts because I believe many arguments about gifted children would subside if everyone really looked hard at individual children who unmistakably demonstrate their keen minds and special abilities. Their divergence from most children—not to mention the impressive differences among the bright themselves—would then strike us all, as it has careful observers from Plato to Terman.
I also believe that we can best understand bright children if we use a perspective that goes beyond individual experiences, and this belief ts reflected in the book. Our limited, idiosyncratic contacts with children need the complement of systematic investigation. Well-documented research corrects the bias of personal observation. It offers us general themes we can examine to see how they fit our own children. To be most useful in a book like this, however, references to research should be parsimoniously chosen. Discussion here will center on only a few specific studies, with reference to the host of other corroborating investigations."

✦ Table of Contents

1. Chapter 1: Some Gifted Children
2. John Stuart Mill
3. E, A Prodigious Child
4. Three Gifted Boys In A Private School 1
5. Special Talents: Science And Aesthetics
   -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, Student And Physicist/Philippa Duke Schuyler, A Musical Prodigy/Lisa Skarp, A Precocious Mathematics Student
6. Common Difficulties : Simon/Charles/Developing Tolerance
7. Chapter 2. Characteristics Of The Gifted
8. Incidence Of Giftedness
9. Terman’s Studies : Aim/Selection/Information Gathered/Background/Physical Development/Schooling/Careers/Interests/Personal-Social Development/Adult Intellectual Development/Latest Follow-Ups/Criticism
10. Other IQ Studies
11. Children With Special Talents: Underlying Factors/Characteristics Of Children With Special Talents
12. Creativity
13. Summary Of Characteristics Of The Gifted
14. Chapter 3: Intelligence, Specific Abilities, And Creativity
15. Giftedness As Abnormality, Motivation, Or Superiority: Abnormality/Motivation/Qualitative Superiority/Quantitative Superiority
16. Definitions Of Intelligence: Intelligence As A Unitary Structure/Intelligence As A Composite Of Abilities
17. Applying The Definitions: General Intelligence/Specific Abilities/Creativity
18. Summary
19. Chapter 4. Society And The Gifted
20. Reasons For Attending To The Gifted: Society’s Needs/Individual Development
21. Social Problems And Impediments : Elitism/The Reservoir Of Talent/Regional, Class, And Racial Factors
22. Some Reservations
23. Summary
24. Chapter 5. Selecting The Gifted
25. The Long Traditions Of Ottoman And Chinese Examinations : The Palace School/The Chinese Imperial Civil Service
26. Recent Trends : England’s Eleven-Plus Examinations/Trends In France, Germany, And Sweden/Approaches In The United States
27. Summary And A Perspective : Levels Of Control/Bases Of Selection/Increased Scope
28. Chapter 6: Educating The Gifted
29. Patterns Of Education: Early Programs/Recent Educational Programs
30. Methods Of Teaching The Gifted: Acceleration/Grouping/Enrichment
31. Other Concerns : Underachievers/Maladjustment/Individualization/Social Values/Trends
32. Chapter 7: Current Problems And Issues Concerning The Gifted
33. Heredity And Environment : The Source Of Intelligence: A Continuing Debate/Giftedness
34. Social And Cultural Background Of The Bright: Distribution/Motivation/Wastage And Amelioration
35. Testing And Selection Problems: Definition Of Intelligence/Intelligence Tests/Validity And Parsimony
36. Conclusion
37. References
38. Index

✦ Subjects

childhood development, intelligence, prodigies, giftedness, Terman, gifted children education, Leta Hollingworth, Terman, John Stuart Mill, civil service examination