Brief Summary
Knowing the definition of “gifted and talented children” is important. Unfortunately, there really is no general meaning for it. The Angleton Independent School District (2013) defines “gifted and talented” as someone who has the potential to achieve an outstandingly high level of accomplishment and who can display a high performance capability, compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment. It refers to someone who excels in a specific academic field (Angleton Independent School District, 2013).
In the article Do Gifted and Talented Students Need Special Schools?, the opposing views of John Cloud (2007) and Susan Winebrenner and Dina Brulles (2008) on the issue are summarized. Cloud (2007) asserts that gifted and talented students do need special schools while Winebrenner and Brulles (2008) propose that they do not.
John Cloud (2007), an experienced staff writer for Time Magazine, explained that gifted children should have specialized education that can push them to their full potential, which according to him, public schools couldn’t do. He based his findings on the profiles of a number of extraordinarily gifted youth. On the other hand, Susan Winebrenner and Dina Brulles (2008) argued that instead of giving gifted and talented students a specialized education program, their needs would be better addressed within their neighborhood school. In turn, these schools will provide cluster-based programs that will offer options for a range of students, enabling them to reach their full potentials.
Pros and Cons
Giving special attention and specialized education for gifted young people can bring about certain benefits for both the child and the society. In Australia, there is even a policy known as the Gifted and Talented Students Policy, which will provide consistent advice to principals with regards to identifying the best approaches for supporting the gifted and talented children, regardless of their socio-economic or cultural background (ACT Government, 2014).
It is important to identify the kinds of special education or attention that a gifted and talented child needs. Most of the cases of gifted and talented children get bored when the curriculum of their school is totally not fitted to their capabilities. What makes things worse is that some of the schools don’t really provide specialized education, which means that the gifted and talented children are forced to stay in that certain school even if they are actually getting bored and fed up with the school program.
On the contrary, if we only focus on the gifted and talented ones, the average and below average children or students will experience difficulties as a consequence. Given that the gifted and talented students are “exceptional,” the average and below average ones need not suffer due to their lack of interest and focus. In fact, they also need to have a special program, which can provide them the opportunity to reach their full potential and enhance what needs to be enhanced. That doesn’t mean, though, that we shouldn’t give the gifted and talented ones the special program (or programs) they need. It’s just that the focus shouldn’t be on them alone.
Reflection on the Article
Gifted and talented young people deserve special educational programming in school, but of course, all the other students deserve to be given attention as well. Then again, the necessity of providing extra attention to the special ones will greatly help in the overall quality of education and for the child himself or herself. It will aid in the continuous development of the gifted and talented young people. After all, it is everyone’s right, no matter what race or color, as a future member of the productive society, to be provided with an education, which will most likely fit our educational needs.
References
Angleton Independent School District. (2013). Gifted and talented children. Retrieved from
http://angletonisd.net/education/components/scrapbook/default.php
ACT Government. (2014). Gifted and talented students policy. Retrieved from
http://www.det.act.gov.au/teaching_and_learning/curriculum_programs/g-and-talented-
education.
Cloud, J. (2007, August 27). Are we failing our geniuses? Time Magazine, 170(9), 41-47.
Winebrenner, S. &Brulles, D. (2008). The cluster grouping model. Free Spirit Publishing.
