The curse of the ‘gifted’ label

KERA's Think

KERA

Society & Culture, 071003, Kera, Think, Krysboyd

4.8 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Being labeled “gifted” in school can come with perks — but research is showing those don’t always carry over into adulthood. Constance Grady, senior correspondent for Vox, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the nature/nurture arguments around giftedness, how being tapped as gifted changes mental health outcomes well into adult years, and how a gifted education model affects future potential. Her article is “Does being a gifted kid make for a burned-out adulthood?”

Transcript

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0:00.0	To say that there are obvious advantages to being intellectually gifted is undeniable, but it's not the same as saying it's good to be labeled that way, especially early in life. While programs
0:22.1	designed for such students can provide challenging classes and stimulating environments, they can
0:27.3	also transmit a lifelong identity that can do a real number on so-called former gifted kids.
0:33.5	From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. All things being equal, an amazing performance in school sets one up for better adult prosperity than barely passing. But it's no guarantee. The professional world works differently and may value different qualities. And of course, some kids who have spent their whole lives feeling their intellectual gifts made them special
0:55.5	emerge into the adult realm to realize plenty of their more average peers have caught up.
1:02.1	Constance Grady is a senior correspondent at Vox, where you can find her article,
1:06.3	Does Being a Gifted Kid Make for a Burned Out adulthood?
1:09.9	Constance, welcome to think.
1:12.4	Thanks so much for having me.
1:14.4	You write about this social media trend about 10 years ago that I suppose I missed out on,
1:18.9	which was people making note in their bios of having been a former gifted kid.
1:24.9	Generally speaking, what were people trying to convey by making that part of their
1:28.6	profile? Yeah, it was a really interesting little phenomenon. It would often show up in the
1:34.3	same way that you would see someone listing their Hogwarts house or maybe their Myers-Briggs type.
1:40.5	People were, I think, generally trying to say I was someone who was told I had a lot of potential
1:48.0	as a child, and now I feel like I have not lived up to it. So I've been burned out. I've been
1:55.5	stunted. I'm sort of trapped in place because of all of these high expectations that were put on
2:00.6	me as a kid.
2:01.4	I think that's sort of what people were trying to get across in a kind of sort of funny,
2:06.0	self-mocking way when they took on that label.
2:08.8	Do we need to define what the gifted label even means as it is applied to children?
2:14.5	Like, is there some bright line dividing children who are gifted from those
	...

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