A CLOSE LOOK AT THE GIFTED

A query is often asked in different learning institutions --- who are gifted children? According to Wikipedia the gifted are identified in academia  through ‘ GATE ‘ & ‘TAG ‘  popularly known as gifted and talented education  and   talented and gifted programme  respectively The classified gifted or talented children are assigned the scope for enrichment and acceleration. But in most cases the gifted are not properly taken care of resulting in the drainage of the endowment.

The pivotal question of inappropriate handling of the gifted children is uppermost in the minds of educationists and sociologists, in particular. In fact, the under achievement of the potential of gifted children is most discouraging when it is judged and overhauled from different spectrum and dimensions. The quintessence of the gifted can be gauged and understood by standardized tests. IQ tests may be instituted to determine giftedness in children. Depending on tests exceptionally gifted can be ascertained at a score between 160—179 and profoundly gifted scoring over 180. 

In this case we cannot but mention the Indian child prodigy Arkit Jaswal who scored the highest IQ in the world. The child miracle conducted a medical surgery at the age of 7 years. Indeed a gifted child is endowed with highest degree of mental ability and armed with extra ordinary talent in a specific sphere of activity or knowledge. He may also be the possessor of high performance capability, unusual alertness, and excellent memory. 

In this matter, the association of a teacher is apparently essential, but it should be remembered that the teachers’ judgment is not infallible in the selection process of the gifted. It is a recognition of the fact that the teachers are the best judge in the matter but it is often overlooked by many who always talk at random about the unerring qualities of teachers and expect the children to learn and copy a lot from them disregarding the fact that teachers are also human beings. Naturally so, sometimes, they mistake special talent for unusually high general mental ability. Often, in making an evaluation, only class room achievement is taken into account. But it is an accepted norm that class room evaluation and judgment is often enshrouded in miscalculation and lacks in the characteristics that reveal the exactness of a gifted child.

The problem is deep-rooted one and there is no absolute standard global definition of “gifted”. The giftedness is sometimes defined in terms of marvelous intellect achievement, creativity, encomium, bewitching personality and self-concept. But the gifted are not limited to any rigid definition. It is because some children deliberately possess a high propensity for learning whereas others may only hedge on having emotional conflicts that may provoke them to disguise any latent signs of giftedness. Here, the crux of the problem looms large. Despite the limitations, teachers’ judgment can be used as a supplementary tool in identification of gifted students.

Some believe that giftedness is best defined as an intellectual ability limited to an IQ of 130 or over.  . Educational research has made inroads and revealed that a gifted student is likely to possess above average language development, ability to generalize and see relationship, show inquisitiveness over a wide range of topics. It has also been spot lighted that in the field of educational judgment   parents involvement in the starred question is another component that can succor to surmount the limitations of teachers’ judgment. Educated parents should be abreast of the characteristics of giftedness so that they may help in finding out the gifted but under no circumstances they would over estimate the children’s abilities and endeavor to estimate a child.

It is an accepted phenomenon that parents are disguised teachers and they should not part with their ardent participation in making a dent into a much discussed question of child giftedness. The great geniuses of the world were not academic toppers like Albert Einstein, Leonardo-de-Vinci, Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare to name a few. In all, giftedness is dynamic and is represented through all racial ethnic income levels. Whatever may be, early manifestation of giftedness is revealed in school.

The much discussed question of a gifted child remains incomplete as there is no bee-line to the exact definition of it. Much research is, therefore, being carried out on the subject matter; for gifted children are incalculable assets of a country. But the question on who are gifted is still unapproachable and it requires a concerted hard work of all to high light the occult understanding of the stray ingredients that hold fast to get into the particular enquiry of gifted children and in this matter teachers may only serve as sheet-anchor.