In fact, from a psychological point of view, there are no omnipotent geniuses and prodigies, and even the cleverest people need to learn, and they also have weaknesses and weaknesses. Do talented people have high IQs? Not necessarily, because people's understanding of intelligence is very insufficient. IQ tests are mainly aimed at mathematics, logic, short-term digital memory and spatial imagination. However, in addition to these, there are also some human beings, such as people who are particularly talented in art or have outstanding leadership or emotional intelligence far beyond their age. These are also gifted. In North America, gifted students are called geniuses. My understanding is that they are endowed with one or more abilities beyond the average person, which can be called a gift from heaven.
Why do gifted people need special education if they are pregnant with strengths? We often say that God is fair, and gifted children are particularly likely to have shortcomings or problems in other aspects. The most common are sensory disorders, hand-eye coordination, dyslexia and so on, and the most serious are autism and ADHD. Moreover, many gifted children with high IQ are naturally sensitive and have great mood swings. In addition, their probability of suffering from sensitive diseases is higher than that of the general population. Many people are very sensitive to noise. My son once had a conflict with a noisy classmate on the school bus because of his extreme irritability. Fortunately, we went to a school that recognized biodiversity and advocated differentiated education. Parents also agree with the school's philosophy and have a general understanding. So after communicating with other parents, they all said that this situation was normal and gave me a lot of advice. Later, I let my son take the school bus and wear anti-noise headphones to listen to music.
In addition, most people with excellent salaries are particularly strong in logical thinking, and at the same time they are often rigid and stubborn. The development of emotional IQ is far lower than that of intellectual IQ, which leads to unbalanced development, resulting in more incomprehension and disapproval of the surrounding environment and more contradictions with the surrounding environment. They have little in common with their peers and even fewer friends. All these make it difficult for children and even well-paid adults to integrate into the community. It is difficult for people around you, such as parents and teachers, to understand this, because these children have been very understanding since childhood. Most of them love reading very much and have a strong ability to learn and understand. At the same time, they often make some extremely childish mistakes over and over again. At this time, people around you often think that the child is naughty, unreasonable, deliberately difficult and untraceable. In fact, this is only because their mental development is far behind the development of intelligence, and sometimes they fall behind the average. For example, when my son was eleven years old, his intelligence level was above 20, and his mind can also be roughly called emotional IQ, which reached the average level of a ten-year-old child. The gap over nine years old makes him very incomprehensible and unacceptable, and he himself will be anxious and troubled.
For these reasons, the one-size-fits-all education in ordinary schools can neither meet the academic needs of gifted children, nor give them psychological support, understanding and help. These professional help, even the teachers of their loved children, is difficult to do, because without professional knowledge, ordinary people simply can't understand their thoughts and behaviors, and they can't effectively guide them without mastering psychological laws.
Regarding the differentiated education of gifted children, the best place in the world should be North America. Canada has provided regional gifted classes or gifted schools since elementary school. But in my opinion, this model is not suitable for places where China people gather, because China people's dreams and admiration for genius will inevitably produce a large number of "gifted" children. America will have more choices. Primary schools have stratified education, and American schools also have it in Hong Kong. A subject is divided into three grades. But for gifted students, a higher level is impossible to meet the demand. Fortunately, the educational resources in the United States are very diverse, with large choices and high teaching flexibility. In addition to the possibility of skipping classes at school, American education has more freedom in course selection. Johns Hopkins University also offers online education courses and summer courses for gifted students. In addition, the United States is also a global leader in gifted psychology. Throughout the United States, there is a cultural atmosphere that advocates individuality. There are many private schools with individuality in high schools, which also provide more choices for gifted children.
But overall, there is a serious shortage of educational resources for gifted children in the world, and China is almost zero. People's misunderstanding of the so-called "genius" tends to allocate resources to people with learning difficulties, ADHD or other problems in differentiated education. The blind pursuit of "genius" and "prodigy" in China's traditional culture makes us completely unaware that they are actually different from most people, and they are a minority. They have completely different thinking patterns and behavior habits from most people, which may be different under the unified standards of society. Even in school, more than 70% people with high IQ do not perform well in school, and such a high proportion far exceeds the average person's understanding of high IQ ability. This is mainly due to immature mind and poor social adaptability and obedience. After all, the school is a place with hard indicators and standards. Therefore, if a child loves reading very much, is not obedient, is not obedient at school, and is often complained by teachers, then he may be a gifted child with high IQ.
It is very, very difficult to find a suitable education, especially in China, where there is a serious shortage of educational resources for gifted children all over the world. It seems that the only way to get a good salary in China is to attend gifted classes and juvenile classes, but this road is very narrow. Although there are a few people with high IQ, they account for 3% of IQ above 130, and11000 with IQ above 140. This ratio is not small in a populous country like China. Therefore, there are still very few people who can attend gifted juvenile classes. There is still a big problem in this road, that is, they have solved academic problems but not social problems. Because they entered professional academic research very early, such as physical mathematics, these children have less social activities. Originally, many science and engineering students' emotional IQ was lower than the average level of their peers. If they enter the academic life of the ivory tower early and enter the society after graduation, this problem will be seriously highlighted. It will be many times more difficult for an adult to consult and correct than for a child or teenager.
We are lucky to find a suitable school in Hong Kong. The environment is relatively relaxed, we have professional guidance, and our son likes the school very much. But first of all, this is a very mini school with a teacher-student ratio of one to eight. There are only 16-24 students in the first grade of primary school and junior high school. Because both gifted students and students with learning difficulties are recruited at the same time, these students need extra personalized education, so only gifted students can be given two degrees at most in one grade. As far as I know, there is only one such school in Hong Kong. My son is exempt from math class in junior high school, and the time of math class is used to attend the steam course designed by the school for gifted students. Because each gifted child has different needs and interests, it is generally one-on-one. If other knowledge points are mixed into the learning project chosen by the child, two teachers are needed. Liberal arts geniuses are another team. This model is very professional, but it is also very expensive.
More parents choose home school in primary school, which avoids many troubles and conflicts caused by lack of social interaction, and is more independent and individual in academic arrangement. Even if it is illegal for children under 0/6 of Hong Kong/KLOC not to go to school, as far as I know, there are a group of such parents who choose to study at home. They form organizations and hold activities regularly to make up for the problems caused by insufficient team activities. Most parents will send their children to school when their minds begin to mature. Home-school may avoid many contradictions, but the disadvantage is that parents need to pay a lot of time and energy, and not every family has such conditions. More families with gifted children are under pressure and anxiety that others can't understand. This is also what I often encourage my son. He should strive to be a capable person. When he grows up, he should feed back the gifted education, so that more children like him can get the education they deserve and have more room for growth.