Essay Sample: Labeled a Gifted Child

Many students across many different generations have been given the title “gifted”, meaning they excel in one of the nine different areas of intelligence. No matter the type of intelligence they excel in, these children show an above-average skill level usually from a very young age. With the right amount of push to develop these skills, a child can continue on throughout their life to eventually achieve greatness-whether building rockets for Nasa or inventing a new medical technique. Although, with too much push, a child can become easily burnt out and fail out of school. Finding the right solution to make sure every “gifted” child can succeed plagues psychologists even to this day. For some, pulling them out of school entirely allows them to develop the one skill they have mastered until they become renowned composers, such as Mozart, but some children can only succeed with excessive amounts of schooling, such as Bill Gates. No one knows exactly the best method to develop every “gifted” student’s talents; therefore, one should evaluate both the positive and negative effects of the “gifted” label and then create a plan to help their individual child succeed. 

Labeling a child as “gifted” can provide harder curriculums and more academic engagement for these special students, and avoid the boredom they would have generally felt in regularly paced classes. The label itself gives children the opportunity to participate in harder and more challenging classes than the rest of their peers could. By separating these children from the rest of their peers, it allows them to take classes taught at a much faster pace and more difficult overall. In classes most average students might take, each child has significantly less one on one time with their teacher, they might often have to work slower than preferred, and find the curriculum unchallenging. For “gifted” students this causes them to become easily bored and provides them the ability to disengage in class. They do not have to pay attention to the material to perform well, so why would they sit and listen to teachers drone on and on about topics they already understand? This issue becomes less and less apparent when these students become enrolled in classes which actually challenge them. When they have to actively engage their minds to understand the harder concepts, it leaves them little room to feel bored as they normally would in easier classes. “By increasing the difficulty of the work, and focusing more on particular interests, students stay engaged in their education.” (Loveless, n.d.). “Gifted” students typically need more challenging classes in order to actively engage in the curriculum and to avoid sitting bored in school for eight hours a day, but these classes are only provided after the label has been assigned in the first place. 

On the flip side of this, the label which puts students in these rigorous classes could actually cause an immense amount of stress later on in their academic career, potentially leading to burnout. After being labeled as “gifted”, a student’s entire life changes. They become immediately enrolled in programs in elementary schools to develop these skills, take high school classes while still in middle school, and then wind up enrolled in college and advanced placement classes as high school students. As the difficulty of the classes increases, so does the amount of homework. As the amount of homework increases, so does the stress. Not only do they acquire larger quantities of homework, but harder material to compliment the more challenging classes as well. These “gifted” students really do not have an option of feeling extreme stress or not. As soon as they are given the label, they immediately begin these classes or programs leading to excessive amounts of work in their future. On top of all of this, many then become pressured into participating in extracurriculars to act as role models for other students, both academically and involvement-wise. “Even if it were humanly possible, doing everything well would be physically and emotionally stressful.” (Kaplan, 1990). After years of enduring excessive amounts of stress, many students have the potential to become burnt out. They either exhibit this by falling behind academically or dropping out altogether once they get to college. The “gifted” label itself comes with extravagant amounts of work just simply through the harder classes many of these students become enrolled in, and becoming burnt out is just one of the negative effects carrying this label may have. 

Despite the potential of becoming overwhelmed and burnt out, the label “gifted” does cause many to have more positive self-esteem and gives them something they can feel prideful about. “Gifted” students are often celebrated. They receive special recognition for their academic achievements, praise from their teachers and administrators, and many other students often ask for their guidance when it comes to their own work. Many trust “gifted” students because of their work ethic alone, and often the maturity required for placement in these special classes in the first place. All of these rewards and praise do help to boost a student’s self-esteem. They have something to feel proud about, something only a few can do. They receive more opportunities in the future and continue to receive recognition for their work ethic originally instilled in them from the workload of their advanced classes. Because they continuously work hard and above the level anyone would expect out of an average student, they are rewarded. Any person would feel accomplished if they were recognized for the hard work they do, which is exactly how many of these students feel. When teachers, parents, and peers compliment them for their hard work, they feel proud of their accomplishments, and else anyone would too. It truly makes them feel good about themselves, and like they have gone above and beyond. The effect of praise after receiving the “gifted” label boosts a student’s self-esteem astronomically and motivates many to continue working as hard as they do. 

Although, another major negative effect the “gifted” label bestows on children is severe anxiety, depression, and perfectionism caused by the unrealistic standards set for those with the label. The continuous praise and recognition these students receive also come with very high expectations. Gifted students are expected to act as role models for their peers, never fall behind in school, and simply handle everything thrown at them. Many struggle with not only the expectations others set for them, but the expectations they set for themselves as well. With the inflated self-esteem many obtain because of the praise they receive, they feel they need to maintain their reputation and receive praise to continue to feel good about themselves. When they start to fall behind, fear of failure and disappointing those who think so highly of them begin to form, and eventually, their self-esteem dissipates with the said fear. The expectations themselves also make many of these “gifted” students endure extreme stress because they feel they can never have a break or slack off without disappointing someone important to them. Whether it is teachers, parents, or their peers. After years of endured stress about deadlines and assignments, anxiety forms from the stress of it all. Also, if they feel pressured to meet all these expectations for years and see no way out, the lack of hope often can lead to depression. “Some say that gifted children are more prone to depression and suicide because of their heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in.” (National Association for Gifted Children, n.d.) With all of the expectations centered around these “gifted” kids they strive for perfection, and if they feel they cannot achieve perfection or fall behind, depression and anxiety result. 

Both negative and positive effects can come from labeling a child as “gifted”. They could find themselves immediately placed into programs which actually challenge them and keep them engaged, but they could also find these classes too challenging and draining, leading them to become burnt out. All of the praise these “gifted” students receive does help to encourage positive self-esteem and a feeling of self-accomplishment, but too high of expectations can easily make a child develop stress-related anxiety and depression. No clear way to help every single “gifted” child exists mainly because each and every one of them is very different in their own ways. What one child needs to develop their talents may actually prohibit another from theirs, and vise versa. Some need more pressure from their parents and teachers, but some only need to develop their skills on their own. If a person has a “gifted” child, they should encourage them to develop the intelligence they excel in, but definitely watch and take notice if a child starts to undergo extreme stress and begins crumbling from the inside out. If this does happen, reevaluating what is best for the child would be essential.