<story><title>New research suggests new ways to nurture gifted children</title><url>https://www.economist.com/news/international/21739144-new-research-suggests-new-ways-nurture-gifted-children-how-and-why-search-young</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rabboRubble</author><text>I have a young relative who was tracked into special education from early years. Finally, his educators gave him a standardized intelligence test. To their shock (and perhaps) horror, he came in in the top 1% for his age bracket. He is really, really intelligent.&lt;p&gt;After this test, his guidance counselor sat him down and asked him how smart he thought he was. Answer, a morose and defeated &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m stupid.&amp;quot; Mind you, this answer came out of an 8-9 year old.&lt;p&gt;After being told repeatedly that he was not good at school and that classes were too hard for him, he fully believed he was stupid.&lt;p&gt;Once the adults around him stopped seeing a redneck country kid, once the adults recognized his poor school track record as a reflection of &lt;i&gt;their biases and their poor performance&lt;/i&gt; he excelled.&lt;p&gt;He is now captain of his high school robotics team. The team just won a position to compete in an international robotics competition in the next couple of weeks. Assuming they can raise the $30k to travel to Kentucky, ship their robots, find lodging, etc. It&amp;#x27;s a large fund raising amount for a non-Texas, non-football red state.</text></comment>
<story><title>New research suggests new ways to nurture gifted children</title><url>https://www.economist.com/news/international/21739144-new-research-suggests-new-ways-nurture-gifted-children-how-and-why-search-young</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>scientician</author><text>As someone who has been through many forms of &amp;#x27;gifted&amp;#x27; and &amp;#x27;enriched&amp;#x27; and &amp;#x27;special&amp;#x27; education, these articles always sadden me. Does anyone truly believe that optimizing &lt;i&gt;children&lt;/i&gt; for their &lt;i&gt;economic output&lt;/i&gt; really leads to a good life for their country?&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s a radical idea: let them have childhoods!&lt;p&gt;I strongly support letting kids be free to develop and think for themselves. If a &amp;#x27;gifted&amp;#x27; child can succeed despite being imprisoned in a school for many years, imagine how much they could grow and contribute if they were free?&lt;p&gt;For anyone with children, or who cares about the future of western democracy, please look into &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Sudbury_school&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Sudbury_school&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>