Two weeks ago, Kerry and Lee Schmelzer left their Montana dream home and relocated to a rental in Reno. Pulling up stakes wasn't easy, but, they ultimately decided, it had to be done. Their 13-year-old daughter, Emma, needed a new school.
For years, the Schmelzers had struggled to challenge Emma academically at their local public schools. Although some years were better than others, they believed Emma wasn't getting what she needed. "She learned a lot of things," says her mom, Kerry. "But she learned them really, really quickly. She spent most of her time waiting around for her classmates to catch up." In spite of skipping two grades by the ninth grade, Emma remained well ahead of her peers at school, and the family agreed that they needed to make a change.
Last week, Emma began attending the Davidson Academy, a school for profoundly gifted students.
In many respects, Emma's story is not unusual. The needs of many gifted children are largely overlooked, some educational experts say. Not only does this practice prevent these students from reaching their full academic potential, but it has other surprisingly serious consequences for them as well.
"There is a pervasive myth that gifted kids will be fine on their own," says Jane Clarenbach, director of public education at the National Assn. for Gifted Children. "I think it's simply an excuse not to deliver the necessary services."
The association estimates that there are about 3 million academically gifted students in the United States. Most of these children spend at least 80% of their time in regular education classrooms, according to the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Many already know as much as half of the material being covered at school, and the majority of their teachers have no specialized training in education for the gifted, the research center says.
"Being in the classroom is punishment for these kids," Clarenbach says. "These are really bright kids who are incredibly bored in school."
Boredom, however, can be the least of their problems.
"The most common problem is that they don't learn to work," says Maureen Neihart, a clinical child psychologist and coauthor of the book "The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children." Children who earn good grades and high praise with relative ease may not learn how to try hard and to persevere when things are difficult. They can come to equate their academic success with innate intelligence and fail to understand the role that effort plays in achievement. When school work finally becomes demanding, they are often in for a rude awakening and may lack the determination and self-confidence to succeed, Neihart says.
