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Q: How to deal with gifted children?
As I've mentioned before I'm not a teacher so my background with teaching (and children) is somewhat limited. But the development of gifted children is something I'm interested in. Could be general case or China-specific.
10 years 36 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
I should add that I'm also interested in gifted adults. In what ways do you feel you perceive the world differently?
Define gifted?
I'm not being a pedantic prat just curious as to what aspect of special ability you are referring. As in musical, IQ, specific skills?
I think the truly gifted see things others don't but that could be to the detriment of some other cognitive intelligence
happywanderer:
Any and all. I'd rather the discussion isn't limited to IQ only.
happywanderer:
Yeah know what you mean about the detrimental thang - that's usually referred to as doubly gifted though isn't it? When someone has e.g. amazing talent of some kind and a learning disability. I'd imagine that complicates things a lot.
the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, being gifted is seen as a threat to the ccp
happywanderer:
Couldn't agree more. In fact I posted this question this after reading this article. Ok that's not CCP related but still about people being made to fit in.
I think IrvineWelsh is on target, being gifted means you can see things others can't see, or think in ways that are incomprehensible to "normal" people. Nurturing this in the youth or in adults is a real challenge, for societies across the planet, since it is impossible to encapsulate "giftedness" in legislation or standard curriculum. The best that can be done is to foster it, don't discourage it and instead water it and encourage it along.
happywanderer:
Like the part about the difficulty of encapsulating a definition or framework in the standard curriculum.
In 1975, one year before Mao's death, he quoted this to Deng in a convo:
木秀于林,风必摧之；
堆出于岸,流必湍之；
行高于人,众必非之。
A tree that outgrows its peers is destroyed by the wind;
A mound that outstands the riverbanks is washed away by the water;
A person that has a high profile is censured by the mass.
The quote is originally from a book written in the era of the Three Kingdoms. (AD 220-265）.
According to legend, there was an extremely gifted kid in ancient China. He was 5 years old by the time he was known for an incredible ability of composing poetry and photographic memory if i remember right. After years of carefully cultivation by his parents...there he became a normal person who worked in the field all day long and never left the village.In China it seems that when a kid is found gifted, his parents would force him into intense study until the gift is worn out.There's no room for personal development whatsoever.They turn steel into scrap iron, that probably is a gift.
happywanderer:
Death by growing vegetables... that's a sad way to go.
In all seriousness... China either stamps out anyone who is gifted, or they leave the country and never return.
In one case in the year 208 during the Three Kingdoms era, a 12 year old child-genius by the name of Cao Chong was poisoned to death by his own brother, Cao Pi, out of jealousy.
@ Traveler I think the word special would be closer to the mark 
If there was a way to exploit gifted people the Government would jump at the chance
, However there is nobody in Government gifted enough to know this
Actually, I taught a class at Hangzhou Greentown school, owned by the second largest real estate company in China. It was for the 50 most gifted 13 year olds in Hangzhou Province (They'd be 15 or so now).
It is called "The Ruling Class" and the idea is that they will be the future leaders of international business and other countries. Of course, they will be moulded to serve the company. It'll be interesting to see how it works out for them...
happywanderer:
Whoah how'd that go? Do you have a background in that area or was this something that just landed on ya because you're in China?
