By Allison Chow,
Staff Writer
As a former gifted student, I have experienced celebration from my peers and teachers through elementary and middle school for being an accelerated student. However, the label of gifted has had a negative effect on me ever since experiencing failure, creating a sense of drowning and pressure for myself to do better.
I was considered the smart kid for as long as I can remember. In sixth grade I was my teacher’s assistant in helping students with their classwork, even skipping out on fun activities to tutor students. In eighth grade I finished Algebra 1 tests in a matter of minutes, wondering how my fellow peers took the entire period to finish.
My first big failure was when I got a 68% on the first geometry test. I spent two periods crying my eyes out, wracking my mind to figure out why I couldn’t understand what a point and line meant.
After some much needed reflecting on my own skills, I realized I was cruising along in school in the past because I had understood all those concepts at the time. I never truly learned how to study and retain information so in turn, I never knew what I didn’t understand.
The lack of study strategies also brought up the issue of how I reacted to my first failure. To be completely honest, my first thought was “how much of a disappointment am I to not understand geometry immediately.” I felt as if this one defeat would define me for the rest of my high school career.
In a paper written by Stanford Professor of Psychology Carol S. Dweck, she states that “this belief also makes them see challenges, mistakes and even the need to exert effort as threats to their ego rather than as opportunities to improve.”
I saw mistakes as threats to my gifted kid title, which then caused a lack of confidence in myself.
I appreciated the recognition for the talent, but being labeled at such a young age definitely raised my ego and enforced the belief that I didn’t need to learn how to study. With such a high standard being set, it was only a matter of time before my ego fell, and the time came during high school.
Labels are meant to add security to an identity, but being labeled as gifted had serious repercussions to my mental health as I grew older.
For schools to really acknowledge their gifted students, they should get rid of the label altogether. Schools need to alter the social connotations around accelerated classes so students don’t feel burdened to have to know everything being taught. Advanced classes need to change so students can challenge themselves based on their own pace.
There was an unsaid pressure to do well because teachers and my peers automatically assumed I knew how to do the work assigned. This resulted in not feeling comfortable asking for help and being treated as an outcast from the rest of my classmates academically.
According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, Ed.D, from the University of Virginia, gifted students “need classrooms that are respectful to them, provide both structure and choice, and help them achieve more than they thought they could.”
Teachers assume gifted kids already know how to do all the school work, but instead they should treat every student the same regardless of grade or knowledge and extend a helping hand to everyone in class. That way, every student will have a chance to grow, no matter how accelerated they are.
What was once a motivational phrase has turned into one that puts pressure on them and diminishes their drive to learn. Schools must change how they treat students who they consider ahead of the curve.