the ill effects of intelligence
In 1986 Doctors Robert J. Sternberg, and Janet E. Davidson defined intellectual giftedness as follows. “Intellectual giftedness is generally indicated by an IQ of least 125 or 130 (found in about 2% of all children). Children who are extremely creative are also considered gifted, although their giftedness can be hard to identify by academic performance or standardized tests. Giftedness has been defined not only in terms of specific talents and academic abilities, but also by general intellectual characteristics (including curiosity, motivation, ability to see relationships, and long attention span) and personality traits such as leadership ability, independence, and intuitiveness. In general, gifted children are creative, innovative thinkers who are able to envision multiple approaches to a problem and devise innovative and unusual solutions to it.”# What this definition does not tell you is that these children in addition to having obvious advantages over normal children these kids are in many ways hampered by their “gift”. Because of their ability to learn and understand concepts faster then normal children, gifted kids often find themselves bored at school and may become resentful of slower children holding them back. Most gifted children go through a period of falling grades as well as trouble in school; skipping school and not doing homework are the most common problems. If this resentfulness persist it can lead to serious problems relating to other kids and in extreme cases fights with classmates and outright rejection of the education system as a whole. Gifted children are often accused of not paying attention to teachers in class. More often then not this is true. Because they are intuitive and eager to learn new things once a gifted child understands the concept that is being taught he or she often sees no reason to continue paying attention. The time waiting on the teacher to start something new is often spent daydreaming. These daydreams are not like the daydreams of normal children, they are often theoretical applications of the knowledge just acquired and how it relates to information already possessed. Another problem common in gifted children is extreme sensitivity. Since gifted children generally have a longer attention span and more drive they often put a great deal of energy into problem solving. This in it self can be a very positive thing, I myself once spent over 40 hours straight trying to correct an electrical problem on a piece of military equipment.