From Misconception to Evidence-based Understanding

Attitudes Toward the Gifted

The very notion of gifted education presents a seeming conflict of equity. Labeling one group of children as gifted sets up the premise that all the others are not. In my role as an education consultant, here’s how I often see this system of “haves” and “have nots” play out in the public schools.

To balance out the conflict, many inside the system tend to minimize the disparity between various skill levels, marginalizing the extraordinary nature of our gifted students’ abilities. As a result, many myths about giftedness go unchallenged, myths such as: