Gifted Mind
Entries from June 1, 2006 - July 1, 2006
The Limits of Linear
Catana
in Gifted adults, Creativity, Brain/mind
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Most of our predictions are based on very linear thinking. That's why they most likely will be wrong. Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
One of the things that puzzles many gifted people about the non-gifted is their general inability to think in new ways, even at the personal, everyday level. Whether it's solving a problem that should be perfectly obvious, anticipating the future, or thinking about larger issues, the average person seems to lack the tools for thinking through a problem in any but the most stereotypical ways
Linear thinking limits responses to change, taking one step at a time, never looking to the side, where non-obvious relationships may exist, only straight ahead. Linear is the view that progress is a series of logical steps from what's already known and understood. Unfortunately, the rule of nature seems to be that, while nature itself is not linear, most humans are linear thinkers.
A Niche of One's Own
What do you want to be when you grow up? In spite of the glamour and mystery it holds for children who are still trying to decided whether they’d rather be an astronaut or a movie star, for the gifted, it’s usually the wrong question. Implicitly, it's about choosing something that society has already defined and given its seal of approval. Included in that meaning is what you need to know to fill that slot, and how much you need to know. And the assumption that you can and should make important life decisions before you have either the knowledge or experience to base them on.
We’re taught to err on the side of safety. “Stick to what you do best.” But what you do best right now may not be something you really want to be doing for the rest of your life. And if you stick to it, you may never have the chance to find out if there is a “best” that will be meaningful to you. Finding out requires that you step over a line. On one side is the known, along with a degree of security—at least as much as one can count on in an uncertain age. On the other side of the line are the unknowns, unmapped, undefined, waiting to be explored.
Boxes, Little Boxes
"You're so good at xxxx. You should set your sights on yyyy career". Counselors and teachers tend to see a student's talents in terms of the boxes defined by society. Counselors are most comfortable when they can channel a student into a slot, based on career test scores. But the talent in which a gifted student scores high may actually be the least of his abilities, and it may be one he's not interested in pursuing as a career.
A student with a talent for collecting, organizing, and analyzing facts is far more likely to be steered in the direction of law, than encouraged to pursue a career as an investigative reporter. And if he's interested in the law he'll be encouraged to become a corporate attorney or a criminal lawyer. The possibility of being a public defender or working for the environment is unlikely to even come up.
The Me Behind the Mask
Miraca Gross
"The process of identity development in intellectually gifted children and adolescents is complicated by their innate and acquired differences from age-peers. To be valued within a peer culture which values conformity, gifted young people may mask their giftedness and develop alternative identities which are perceived as more socially acceptable. The weaving of this protective mask requires the gifted child to conceal her love of learning, her interests which differ from those of age-peers, and her advanced moral development." Miraca Gross
"I have come to the conclusion that the degree of my difference from most people exceeds the average of most people's difference from one another; or, to put it more briefly, that my reactions to many things don't conform to popular patterns." C.E.M. Joad
High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Thinker
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in Gifted adults, Intelligence/intellect
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"Educators with expertise in gifted education are frustrated trying to help other educators and parents understand that while high achievers are valuable participants whose high-level modeling is welcomed in classes, they learn differently from gifted learners. In situations in which they are respected and encouraged, gifted students' thinking is more complex with abstract inferences and more diverse perceptions than is typical of high achievers. Articulating those differences to educators and parents can be difficult." Bertie Kingore
How can you use your mind to its full potential if you don't know what kind of mind you have? For gifted adults who have struggled with the feeling that there's something of value in them that needs to be freed and used, this is an important question. It goes far beyond the distinction between visual-spatial and auditory-sequential learning and thinking, and the lists of gifted characteristics that include such non-cognitive items as physical sensitivities, high energy level, and sense of humor.
Why "Intellectual" Giftedness?
"Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average." Wikipedia
"Children identified as gifted typically have mental abilities in the upper two and one-half to three percent of the population." Guiding the Gifted Child
Gifted child--"any of various children who are naturally endowed with a high degree of mental ability. Since little is known about special abilities, the term is usually confined in psychological and educational writings to a child whose innate general ability rises above a certain specified borderline." britannica.com
There are many kinds of giftedness, but as the above quotes indicate, popular use of the word and the technical use are not the same. Pick out any half dozen or so studies of gifted children and you will find that the focus is on mental abilities. Some studies have included musical, artistic, dramatic, and other talents, but generally in a context of how those abilities are affected by intelligence.
Introduction
After years of studying giftedness, thinking about it, writing about it, and trying to understand it, I've really come to hate the word. There's no real agreement about what it is, or even whether it really exists, though that last argument seems to be the final resort of those who don't rate as gifted. There's no question but that the concept itself is being increasingly watered down as it's expanded to include more and more people. And, considering that it's a perennial political football, and plenty of gifted people would just as soon not have that tag hung on them, it would be nice if we could just dump it and start with something fresh.
But like it or not, we're stuck with it, and the best we can do is try to make sense of it. This blog will offer resources for intellectually gifted adults who need more information about what giftedness is and what their giftedness means for them.