home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!lib!biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu
- From: laurie@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu (Laurie Gelb)
- Newsgroups: sci.edu
- Subject: Re: Smart kids (Was Re: Magnet schools)
- Message-ID: <8411@lib.tmc.edu>
- Date: 12 Jan 1993 14:54:57 GMT
- References: <1993Jan8.201921.8493@julian.uwo.ca> <1993Jan8.222319.19498@sequent.com> <Jan09.011315.62346@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> <C0Mvsy.ox@quake.sylmar.ca.us>
- Sender: usenet@lib.tmc.edu
- Organization: UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
- Lines: 60
- Nntp-Posting-Host: eitri.mda.uth.tmc.edu
-
- In article <C0Mvsy.ox@quake.sylmar.ca.us> brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K.
- Yoder) questions why a kid with a high IQ needs athletics just for "balance:"
-
- >A "balance" between what and what?
- >
- >Knowledge and ignorance?
- >Civilized adult behavior and irresponsible juvenile behavior?
- >Intellectualism and anti-intellectualism?
- >Reason and irrationality?
- >Achievement and failure?
- >Academic development and academic degeneration?
- >
- >What are you afraid of? Such a student actually progressing beyond the
- >point where his peers can catch up?
- >
- >>Athletics
- >>(that's what was mentioned here) can provide that along with other
- >>experiences that can teach him as much as any classroom ever could.
- >
- >Such as? Brutality uber alles? The superior value of social consensus over
- >reason? Please explain these valuable lessons and why they are so
- >terribly important. I hear platitudes like that all the time, but I
- >seldom hear any kind of explanation attached.
- >
- >>If the kid likes something other than academics, let him at it.
- >
- >I agree with that, but the point here is that schools need to encourage
- >academic development, which is something that compared to the encouragement
- >offered for athletic prowess is practically nothing.
- >
- Agreed, if a kid would rather read science books than play basketball, s/he
- should be encouraged to pursue those interests. But a kid
- who makes good grades, understands things others don't, etc. is often labeled
- a "nerd" or "geek" not because s/he lacks a personality, but because the others
- are jealous. Helping a kid to understand that attitude is crucial for survival
- in, yes, the real world. That's the world where enlightenment is often feared,
- where facts are often subordinate to emotions. If a kid with a high IQ is
- going eventually to contribute to the improvement of that world (assuming you
- care about human survival somewhat and would prefer to see intellect used
- rather than hoarded like a toy), s/he has to understand it enough to find a
- place in it. That implies the motivation to understand it. Parents either
- provide that motivation or destroy it ("you're better than the rest of those
- kids; don't worry about them").
-
- Minds need to be nurtured, not isolated. Knowledge is useless in a vaccuum.
-
- This is why my gifted child is no longer in private school. Some lessons
- extend beyond what can be taught in a classroom.
-
- Note that I do not advocate lowering one's intellectual standards in order
- to accommodate the rest of the world, nor would I ever advocate my son's
- doing so. That's why we *must* teach a gifted child how to have different
- expectations for him/herself and for others.
-
-
- Laurie Gelb
- laurie@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu
-
- Uncle Sam wants YOU...
- to pay your taxes, obey his laws, and keep your mouth shut.
-