people misunderstand what âgifted kidâ actually means but itâs ok itâs fine itâs cool itâs good
itâs not about actually being gifted, itâs about an initial higher scoring on standardized testing that means little to nothing or being good at learning in the way elementary and middle school wants you to, so you get marked as âadvancedâ. in reality, maybe you had faster development in certain areas, but the issue with being a gifted kid isnât that âeveryone told me I was so cool and special for reading and then I actually wasnât :(â itâs âI wasnât properly taught to handle things not coming easily to me, but the adults around me were counting on me not being a âdifficultâ child in school.â
people who use it as some weird bragging method or interpret it that way are ignoring the way a lot of school systems force certain roles on students to simplify the learning process. If your kid doesnât need to take notes to understand a science concept bc they get it naturally, well thatâs good, but now youâre not teaching them how to take notes and theyâre not learning that important soft skill. but because âgiftedâ kids are easy and donât show that theyâre falling behind in learning in other categories that are harder to quantify, they eventually fall behind after that catches up to them. Itâs about the failures of a one size fits all school system trying to compensate in the worst way possible.
And also the thing where âgiftedâ kids are super likely to also be neuroatypical, which they donât get screened for because they appear to be doing well in school. Or âYou canât be ADHD/autistic/etc, because youâre doing so well in school!â. Or being shamed for developing mental health issues/generally not being able to keep up with school work later, because you USED TO BE able to do it just fine.
Or the assumption that just because you can read well or you like math class, youâre somehow more EMOTIONALLY mature than your little kid brain is actually capable of being.
Or gifted kids whose parents and teachers put immense pressure on them to Do Great Things and Save The World and youâre like. âIâm 10 and I have no idea how to do that, but everyone is saying thatâs my job?â.
This is the best âgifted kidâ post out there. I never took notes until college because I didnât have to, snd when it got challenging I had to literally teach myself note taking at age 18. It also fucks with your perception of asking for help - youâre advanced, youâre competent, you should be able to understand every topic easily. Asking for help/going to office hours/asking for a tutor feels like failing when you were praised in your early years for not needing to do that.
