From There to Here: Omnivorous Reader
Catana
in Learning, Education, Science, Personal Issues
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10 Comments
Was there any time in my childhood or adolescence when someone could have pointed to a particular talent or strong interest and said “There it is, your life path?” I suppose it could have happened, but whatever they thought they had discovered would have been wrong.
I was a typical early reader, indiscriminately devouring whatever reading matter came my way. And while it’s impossible to prove that any one book or subject was influential in a major way, there were patterns of interest that developed fairly early. In retrospect, it’s easy to see that those patterns eventually resolved themselves into an ever-narrowing set of interests which led me to where I am today. But it’s also easy to see that the final determination of what I would focus on was pure accident.
The error, for those who would like to be able to predict and guide the intellectually gifted thinker, is the belief that a strong focus in childhood is dependably indicative of a future career path. And the error is compounded by evaluating intellectual interests only in relation to their relevance to known career paths. My own winding path shows both the impossibility of prediction, and the difficulty of making a final choice from among many possibilities. Of course, we’re talking here about high cognitives with no apparent talents, but it also tends to be true even of wunderkind who show very strong preferences and talents for particular subjects.
Moving from a northern city to south Florida when I was about seven was influential in several ways. I found myself in a naturalist’s paradise, and immediately became intensely interested in botany. That was mostly hands-on collecting and examination of the plants around me since I didn’t have access to any books on botany, but it did lead me in the direction of science. Shortly after the move, a death in the family caused me to be left with some relatives for a few weeks, and one of the ways I occupied myself was by reading all the books their grown children had left with their parents. That included books and textbook chapters about life in various countries, including ancient cultures like that of Egypt. I believe that was the start of my interest in subjects like archeology and anthropology. More science, though in a very haphazard approach.
Other influences were my father’s Navy survival manual and our trips to local beaches and to the Fairchild Gardens, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world. Since much of the manual centered on survival in tropical climates, it strengthened my interest in the flora and fauna of Florida. That was furthered by the opportunity to collect and study sea shells. Fairchild Gardens bolstered my already growing interest in the variations within species, and probably paved the way for my fascination with Mendel’s discovery of genetics when I learned about it. As I grew older, my interest in science expanded and I devoured biographies of scientists, and books like Paul de Kruif’s Microbe Hunters, and Rats, Lice, and History.
What was also going on, without my being aware of it, was a growing awareness of patterns, and immersion in the scientific method. There was no clear focus of interest or even a visible talent, but hidden, even from me, was the slow development of a way of thinking about the world.
Reader Comments (10)
http://barbararuth.typepad.com/drasticcareerchange/2008/03/doesnt-everyone.html
While I may "predict" my son becoming a marine biologist, I also know he may change to some other passion as an 11 year old. Or whatever age. And that's ok.
But for now, I'm on this ride with him and I'm fully living it with him. Not necessarily guiding him, but supporting him in his real passion for now. I see it more as walking along side than guidance. Every child needs someone to fully believe in them. To give them the freedom to explore who they are and cultivating that innate passion, wherever it goes.
On the flip side, my parents were very blaise raising me. Perhaps if they had shown more excitement and/or belief in a path I explored at the time I might have done something different in my life? I don't know and I'm not sure it really matters anymore.
I'm exposing them to things I wish I could have learned as a child. Like cooking and math, embroidery and science. My family didn't really try hard to direct any of us children, much less show excitement for much of what I did. But that's okay. The funny thing is, I probably wouldn't be half as intelligent about human nature and psychology if I didn't have a dysfunctional family to learn from. If my family of origin weren't dysfunctional and not standing in my way all the time, I wouldn't have any reason to dig underneath the surface of things to figure out why things were the way they were. Amazingly enough,I'm equally good at psychology as I am with science. That kind of makes sense when you realize both are about being observant, hypothesizing, and discovering the reasons why things happen the way they do.
I don't plan on encouraging my girls into any particular endeavor, though if my girls would tell me they'd want to go into forensic science, I just may have to try to dissuade them (based on my 5 year experience, the stress wasn't worth it).
I knew in high school that I was good at science (getting a 31 out of 36 on the ACT science subtest), and in college, I eventually decided I really liked biotechnology. And it served me well (I had a career in microbiology, forensics, and medical genetics).
Right now, for my children I want to give them a well-rounded exposure to things. I know math was always my weakest subject, and I just want to bolster their knowledge of math as much as I can now.
My objective is to raise observant girls and lifelong learners. I trust they will make informed decisions when the time comes. My only fear is that they will want to do it all and have trouble narrowing their focus. But that's okay too. We live in a time where you don't have to spend 30 years just in one career.
Maybe they will end up in science like me, or in engineering like their father. I don't know. My 4.5 year old doesn't plan right now to never, ever leave me (that's how attached she is to me).
It's way too early to predict where they will end up. But it will be fun to watch. I don't think I could have predicted during my early years where I'd end up, but I always knew it would be doing something somewhat challenging. At first, I started college on something "easy" and took a few business classes. It didn't take long to realize I wasn't challenged enough and went back to my favorite subject - biology. Eventually I realized I really didn't care too much for botany (sorry Catana), that I opted for biotechnology, mostly so I could avoid taking the ecology class the general biology degree called for.
I had a 12 year career, and then I realized I couldn't combine the whole work/family thing after my second child was born. So I opted to come home full time. My aspirations have taken a back seat for a while, but even so, I'm still learning - this time more about human development, how people learn, brain function, personality, psychology and giftedness. My subjects are my children. I keep really busy with all that. :)
At any rate, for my children,my job is to provide materials and a little objectivity, and help to point out connections in their world, and being proud of all their efforts. I don't have any particular dreams for my children - except that they know that they are valued and they have good self esteem, regardless of what they achieve. Above all I want them to be lifelong learners and to realize that learning does not begin and end with a school career.
I have faith that they will find the right path for themselves.
When I moved up to the senior school, there were all sorts of instruments on offer, but my parents said it would be silly to start again with something new and insisted that I carry on with the recorder. This was where the school messed up - nobody bothered to tell me (or my parents) that all music lessons were supposed to be one-on-one and I turned up at the wind band sessions, sitting at the back of the group "busking" the tunes by ear and pretending that I could read music. I was thoroughly put off by the fact I wasn't learning anything and dropped out. I continued to play at home and reached a very high standard on both recorder and snare drum. At some point I acquired an old acoustic guitar and a tiny keyboard and started writing songs, but it still never occurred to my parents to get involved. My Dad complained I "didn't practise" but I don't know how I could have achieved the standard I did on recorder and snare drum without at least some work. It's difficult to practise without having some goal in mind, a concert repertoire perhaps. I couldn't do the "hour a day" he insisted on without fresh material. Hence he got the idea that lessons for me would be a waste of time and money and that I wouldn't do what I was told. So I didn't dare ask.
At one point the school administered a musical aptitude test to the whole class. It consisted of things like listening to a chord and saying how many notes there were in it etc. I scored higher than the teacher, but no one took the matter further and asked me if I played an instrument or had lessons, or would like to. I had thought it was just a fun exercise and forgot about it.
I left school, continued to play in marching bands and honed my songwriting and composition skills. It was only now that I started to think seriously that music was something that I would like to pursue, but I had no idea what I should do first and didn't know anyone who could give me any guidance. When I mentioned this to my parents, my Dad said it was my own fault that I hadn't taken advantage of the musical opportunities at school. (I hardly think studying recorder all the way up to Grade 8 would've opened up many career opportunities!) I hated school anyway, wanted to leave ASAP and involved myself in as few extra-curricular activities as possible. Under the circumstances, I feel that expecting me to have the maturity and foresight of an adult was rather a tall order, and that as parents they should have been a bit more involved.
It wasn't until I met my current boyfriend (a pro musician) that my questions about how to sell my music actually got answered. I am now taking piano lessons, have got a proper professional keyboard and we have got most of the kit together for our home recording studio. Although things are now coming together for me musically, I can't help feeling just a little sour that my folks, or the school, or even the band that I first joined, couldn't have seen my potential and encouraged me to learn the piano (or guitar, or some other "proper" instrument) when I was young.
I'm sorry this post has rambled. I think what I'm trying to say is a kid doesn't have the maturity to know what's what, even if they are gifted and talented. It's up to the adults in their life to provide the direction and guidance that the child doesn't have the life experience to appreciate until they're older.
Exactly. It's a point I'll be making when I wind up the series.
He has just started high school and is finding science "boring"!!! But you LOVE science......no I don't! lol
The challenge with gifted kids is the balance between needing to learn about "how" to do things and actually "doing" them. He wants to get to mixing the chemistry experiments but doesn't want to learn what all the parts of a bunsen burner are, a glass dish, a beaker etc...
Oh the challenge of a child with high intellectual ability in the REAL world!! Our only role as his parents are to make sure he gets the opportunity to explore and develop whatever takes his interest in the years to come.
Michelle
Gifted Parent Educator
www.RaisingGiftedKids.com