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Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only person who dislikes using the term "gifted" for high-performing students? I think the word downplays the amount of effort these kids put into learning and taking their education seriously and the amount of good upbringing their parents contributed. "Gifted" kind of implies that some unicorn flew down from the sky and just handed these kids a gift of big brains or something. There's probably a small genetic predisposition at play here, but don't discount the effort it takes to be able to pass a college entry exam in the 7th grade. Same with calling excellent artists and athletes "talented." They may have been born with slight advantages, but "talented" downplays the hard work and practice that it took to master what they're good at.

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Gifted and high performing are not synonymous though.

Giftedness is more about being developmentally more advanced and having high ability and/or potential in some area. It makes them out of sync with their peers. There are many theories, one of which is Dabrowski’s over excitabilities, but in essence they do function differently from others.

Some gifted students are high performing students but a surprisingly number are not. Many gifted kids struggle with motivation and persistence. True gifted programs deal with the needs of gifted kids development — the so called gifted programs in schools today are more like accelerated classes which have little to do with developmental needs. Giftedness is a special need on the other side of the spectrum.

I think we all know the type: really intelligent kid but amounted to not much in life. (The most well known pop culture portrayal was Good Will Hunting although that’s all fictionalized and not gifted kid is at that level — there are different levels)

> giftedness is more about being developmentally more advanced

in some field.

async development is a significant challenge for gifted kids

That’s right. Giftedness typically entails faster development in some areas while others areas lag.

Social skills for instance is another are where the growth is uneven. A gifted kid may be advanced in their reading levels but may not yet have figured out how to behave maturely in a group or read social cues. (Sometimes it resembles ASD but the difference is that ASD might lack the ability in general whereas with gifted kids it just comes later IF they have the right support)

It is undeniable that high performing athletes, artists, etc put in a lot of work, but I don't think it is incompatible with the word "gifted".

When you enter college at 12 it is beyond a "slight genetic advantage" IMO.

And it's not just genetic. A gifted kids was given the gift of having parents who care, who put in the work and who have the means to put in the work.

I don't know, I think both things (predisposition and hard work) can be accepted as true.

Yep you have to have both. I think thats where the early to ripe, early to rot misconception comes from. If you think a kid is a genius just cause they are a little ahead for and just assums they will figure everything else out, then yeah the kid will likely not achieve much.

I totally disagree. "Gifted kid burnout" pretty much refers to the experience of being "gifted" with intelligence and never needing to work hard to be praised as a high achiever. The "gift" really does exist, and that's why it's harmful to focus on intelligence over hard work. The gift is a curse if not utilized well, leading to depression and burnout in young people.

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