Linda LW, writer and homeschooling parent of one child, asserts in her essay [1] that how the schooling system is unfriendly or ill-prepared for the gifted students. The author claims that since the gifted students have higher intelligence than the average student, the teachers and the education system set higher expectations from them. This higher expectation and improperly equipped schooling system becomes a threat to their performance despite them being gifted.
In the second section of the article, Linda tried to point out that how we set unrealistic expectations from these students. She claims that gifted students often have “asynchronous abilities”. They may be the best in some of the subjects however, may not be very good with others. In such cases we tag them as ‘’lazy or not trying’’. She also emphasizes that teachers should set realistic expectations from these student so that they aren’t stressed too much.
Furthermore, the writer tried to explain how the existing schooling system tries to accommodate the gifted students. In most of the cases they are paired with another weak student. And according to the writer, this is can lead to frustration as they are forced to share responsibilities. The writer also mentions about the traditional schooling system which isn’t capable enough to accommodate gifted students. On the other hand, according to the author, there are schools which try to provide “Special Ed” to gifted students.
In the final section of the article, the writer suggests the most appropriate ways to handle gifted students. According to the writer, one of the most important approach is to give them due credit for them being gifted and not make them feel “stupidest kid on the planet”. Another important approach is to let them think bigger thoughts because they are capable of doing that.
Overall, the author tried to use simple yet appropriate rather approximate words and phrases to express her arguments in the article.
References
[1] Linda, LW. (2013), Ways We Fail Our Gifted Students. Retrieved from http://www.edarticle.com/articles/42819/ways-we-fail-our-gifted-students.php
