Information & Uncategorized 07 Oct 2008 06:29 am
The concept of Gifted children…
A humorous website, Stuff White People Like.com has a post about gifted children…
This is important if you ever find yourself needing to gain white person acceptance. If you see their kid playing peacefully, you say “oh, he/she seems very focused, are they in a gifted program?†at which point the parent will say “yes.†Or if the kid is lighting a dog on fire while screaming at their mother, you say “my he/she is a creative one. Is he/she gifted?†To which the parent will reply “oh, yes, he’s too creative and smart for school. We just don’t know what to do.†Either situation will put a white person in a better mood and make them like you more.
But NEVER under any circumstance imply that their child is less than a genius. The idea that something could come from them and be less than greatness is too much for them to bear.
I did a post about Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. Just to say, “hey look! book coming your way!” but somehow it turned into a discussion of what “Gifted” children should read. First of all let me say this. This is really just a place for me to blab about whatever books or book related things have thrilled me lately but I really enjoyed that people were commenting about this topic. It is a good discussion.
I feel that even if a child is gifted, they should still try to read books that are aimed for their age. Yes they need to be challenged to grow, but I think it is important to still read books that are written for where the kid is physically if not “mentally.” Books written for 6th graders are written for kids… (get this?) IN SIXTH GRADE… not just kids reading at a 6th grade level. Saying a ten year old can read all seven Harry Potters… well that is great, but how much of book seven did they really UNDERSTAND?
Same thing with the Eragon series. It is written for the young adult crowd. To me at my bookstore that is basically 9th grade and up, with 8th grade being on the cusp. A lot of the young adult books are taking place IN high school with fairly nasty girls (think Clique, Gossip Girls, A-list, etc) and I think that you should be IN that situation before you are reading it. Think “sexualization of our youths” but that is a WAY different conversation.
Back to point, when I was in 3rd grade I read Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson.
Now, I was a kid that LOVED reading, I read as much as I could as often as I could. My local librarian knew me by name and there were entire shelves that I had ready everything on. But, I still had to read JHIL twice because I just did not feel that I understood it. Well, even now, reading Paterson’s other stuff, there is a LOT going on. You could reread Bridge to Terabithia every year and get something different out of it. Just because I read this long book, did not mean I “got” it. It is more important to understand and comprehend what you are reading than it is to say “look at this list of books that I have read.”
Yes it is important for all kids to be challenged, but here is my list of grievances.
1. You should not get special treatment because you are in an accelerated program.
2. You should make sure you are still reading books that deal with people in your age group.
3. You MUST make sure you understand what you are reading. What is the point without that?
4. Make sure you are doing this because you ENJOY it. Without the enjoyment of learning and the challenges that it can bring, what is the point?
So…. any replies? I welcome your thoughts, though please, keep it pleasant 
Related items
on 07 Oct 2008 at 9:59 am 1.unwesen said …
Well, I disagree, but not completely. I’ve had great experience with reading books way above my mental age.
One example would be “The Lord of the Rings”. I read it in German when I was about 8-9 years old, then read it about once a year. After about three years of learning English at school, I switched to the English original, again reading it about once a year. I must have been around 12 at that point.
I enjoyed the book every single read. And every single read, I discovered something new about it – my mastery of English was growing, my patience with “boring” descriptive passages was growing, and my general ability to process what I was reading was growing.
Nowadays, it’s still a great book to me, but very different from when I was a child. But being able to watch yourself understand the same book in a wholly new way – that’s priceless.
Now a fantasy book like this is comparatively “safe”, in that it allows you to view any atrocity committed in the course of the plot through the veil of make-belief. It’s happening in an imaginary world, not ours – to an extent.
To stay with the fantasy theme I started, “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever” aren’t half as easy to digest as LOTR.
I think my point is that it’s fine to encourage gifted kids to go beyond what their peers are doing, as long as you stay aware that they’re kids. Their mental processes might be fantastically advanced, but that doesn’t mean that they’re emotionally adult.
Though really… I had access to just about any book in my dad’s library, and I didn’t *like* the ones that were quite plainly beyond me. So really, if you keep an eye on what your child enjoys, you’re likely in a good enough place.
on 07 Oct 2008 at 10:29 pm 2.gracefulshrimp said …
Most of what I am replying to in terms of personal dealings are mothers and grandmothers coming into our store saying, “well my 2 year old just finished HP because he is just such an advanced reader.” well that may be true, but it just seems like few kids are average readers, and there are some books that just because they CAN read the books, does not mean they should.
It should definitely be on an individual basis that you would judge books. I also agree with you that it is on an individual book basis that you judge readers.
And what started all of this was a guy asking if there were advance copies for his group of gifted kids. And then man #2 saying he should read better stuff in class with said gifted kids. Isn’t it great where conversations go?
As long as the kids are READING, understanding and liking their books, I say go for it
as you know, I promote reading, and fantasy reading is pretty rocktastic 