Give a gift to the gifted ones
By Nonika Singh

Light things are the gifted, winged and sacred: let us help them to grow and fly. — Plato

ZOOM down to a classroom in a regular school in India. A teacher doles out an assignment to 30-odd students. All get down to work. Except one little girl who is thoroughly disenchanted with the subject. Peeping outside the classroom, something else sets her imagination afire. So flows a paragraph. The only hitch is that her choice of subject doesn’t quite match with the assignment. The teacher is caught in a dilemma. Should she fail her or reward her for her creativity? The moot point here is not whether this particular child passed/failed the test (actually after much deliberation she was awarded marks) but whether creativity and imagination those sterling human traits have any meaning in our regimented school routine? Does our structured academic milieu allow the gifted to breathe? More pertinently should it?

A society is ever dependent upon the insight and foresight of its ablest citizens. However much we might harp on the "all men are created equal" dictum the stark reality is markedly different. Only the other day my mother remarked matter-of-factly that more than any other human being on this planet earth we owe a debt of gratitude to men and women of vision. That rare tribe whose constant endeavor and effort has borne fruit in the shape of inventions, discoveries, symphonies and what not making our lives comfortable and pleasurable. Though we continue to revel in the gifts showered upon us by these extra ordinary humans, in a strangely convoluted way we take our right to receive for granted. It would never, nor has it ever occurred to us — the ordinary mortals — to repay. For we assume that these gifted men and women are an island unto themselves, born to bestow and can/have survived without our help.

But Arnold Toynbee said, ‘To give a fair chance to the potential creativity is a matter of life and death for any society. This is all important because the outstanding creative abilities of a fairly small percentage of population is mankind’s ultimate capital asset, the only one with which man has been endowed.’ In the western context Zorbaugh and Boardman’s argument, ‘We are scandalously dissipating and wasting the resources represented by our gifted children. We are annually spending millions on the feeble mind with no hope of return. Yet we are willing to invest little if anything in our gifted children despite the fact that we might certainly expect an immeasurably rich return from such an investment’ is faultless.

But closer home in a developing nation forever ailing by paucity of funds, where education itself is a scarce commodity, any talk of making room for the gifted is bound to raise the hackles of ‘morally and politically’ correct conscience of the nation. For most of us fed on excessive dose of socialism the whole exercise of reaching out to a miniscule number of children smacks of elitism.

Harleen Kohli associated with CEVA (Council for Education and Voluntary Action) questions furiously, "Who is going to evaluate and by what standards? As it is our education system is stratified. There is palpable discrimination between the products of government and public schools. In an era pervaded by ‘get it and spend it’ philosophy gifted too are bound to be defined by the same parameters." She goes on to argue that education in India is fraught with political nuances and permeates with several dark corners which are bound to be exploited by the upper crust of society. Indeed her diatribe is not without reason. Even glorious ancient India we so proudly love to romanticise was rooted in social inequities examples of which were glaringly obvious in education. For why else would Dronacharya snatch the innate giftedness of Ekalavya to ensure the numero uno status of his favourite disciple Arjun?

Moreover unlike the mentally retarded, the intellectually gifted are not so easy to define. According to Marland gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance. The gifted do not comprise a homogeneous group as they arrive in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Besides there is a subtle delineation between genius, and talented. Of course psychologists do profess that children with an IQ above 140 could be categorised as gifted. But then IQ tests have received a lot of flak. Says Karen Haydock, an education consultant, "Whichever way you might design an IQ test, the prejudices are bound to creep in."

Sure enough in the West, research has proven that IQ tests were loaded against the Blacks. In caste and class ridden India there is a strong likelihood of intelligence tests favouring the English speaking upwardly mobile strata. Besides, in the modern day world, IQ has been rendered redundant as emotional intelligence is considered the real barometer of one’s true mettle.

Should we then let them be? For if they are so gifted surely they will find their own way? Shakespeare would have anyway penned the immortal plays. No power on this earth could have stopped Mozart from spilling out his musical genius. Abraham J. Tannenbaum a professor at Columbia University New York writes that the relationship between genius and history is interactive and interdependent. Great ideas by highly creative individuals often carry enough power to change the course of history. But at the same time the spirit of times exerts an enormous influence on great minds on the domains of excellence in which these ideas are generated. Put succinctly, do those who are gifted require assistance? "One hundred per cent", says David George a crusader for the rights of gifted, author of several books including Challenge of the able child.

Armed with statistical evidence he reveals that a U.S. study found 19 per cent of life prisoners possessed an IQ above average i.e. these gaolers comprised top 2 per cent of the population. A thin line demarcating genius and madness? This is what happens when society fails to recognise their talent. In India academic brilliance is often confused with giftedness. But nothing could be further away from truth. Einstein who dreamt theory of relativity in just three days was adjudged mentally slow. Winston Churchill failed examinations. Charles Darwin the man who gave us The origin of species was a drop-out. Giftedness and underachievement at school are inextricably linked. Underachievement is the discrepancy between potential and performance. Often these children are identified as underachievers in school for such children may often be misfits, misunderstood by peers and teachers, regarded as impudent little rebels for they do not conform easily.

Though a study by Lewis Terman found that children with an IQ of above 140 are generally well adjusted, another research by Leta Hollingworth concluded that those with an IQ of above 180 are not. Psychodynamically complex, extremely bright children are trapped in a world with few real peer and are out of synch intellectually with children of their own age and out of synch physically and socially with children of older age group. Dr George reflects that since such children are easily bored in the class, spotting them out is a difficult task for they do not surface on their own. Neither "teacher pleasers" nor "bright stars" ‘a discerning teacher has to seek them out. Hyperactive and restless’ their need to be constantly challenged is paramount. There is no identity-kit but the give away signs are aversion to repetitive work, exemplary reading ability and use of advanced language and vocabulary memory, imagination, originality, problem solving and most significantly curiosity.

Neelam Rattan, a psychologist who teaches at Government College for Girls rues that our education system specialises in mass production. Created to celebrate mediocrity rather than excellence, mob culture as against individuality, it stilts the very spirit of enquiry. She debates that India, where there is acute paucity of original research and scholarship more than in any other nation, needs to sieve out its exceptional talent.

Close to the new millennium we must review our "egalitarian" principles. As Gertrude Hildreth an educator of gifted children professes, "It is unrealistic to insist that equal opportunity must take the form of identical experience. Equal education for all children in a democracy must be interpreted as equivalent opportunity in terms of each child’s needs and capacity. It’s the same rationale that underlies the need for education for the handicapped.Whereas in the West and other countries separate school for gifted exist, in India its an impractical suggestion. Even George, calls for their assimilation in regular schools but advises teachers to follow a different set of rules for them. By fast tracking, compressing the curriculum — repetitive learning is an anathema — these children of the greater God can be taken care of. Of course they shouldn’t be placed on a lofty pedestal nor should their egos be fed. It must be remembered that gifted children are above all children only with different needs and capacities which poses a special educational problem for those who impart training to them.

Daman Duggal vice-principal of Vivek High School which had conducted a workshop on the subject and is now following certain strategies to help the gifted says, "We don’t have to transplant the western experience on our soil. The methodologies can always be modulated. However we must imbibe their attitude towards these exceptional children and consequently sensitise teachers." Karen who otherwise is strictly against labelling too agrees that the issue of gifted needs to be grappled with. Only she asserts that the problem of the gifted children can be best addressed by revamping the education system. The question-answer system of evaluation, for instance, would asphyxiate creativity in any child leave alone in those who are gifted. Since doing away with the labyrinthine education system seems a tall nay impossible order, she makes invaluable suggestions like shifting the emphasis from rote memory to fathoming the concepts and their practical application. Associated with Hoshangabad science project, one of the few innovative experiments in education, she is now helping out schools to design worksheets in consonance with the ideas she propagates.

Ultimately all teaching hinges upon a good teacher who as is fallaciously believed isn’t an endangered species only handicapped by the rigid curriculum. Harleen who uses theatre as a medium to educate recalls how at the end of each workshop the teachers have agreed with her only expressed their inability to follow suit for they do not enjoy the same freedom. Yet a teacher can create spaces for individual students as long as they realise that children have a lot more potential than is evident. If only all of us i.e. both parents and teachers could whisper in our children’s ears what Wordsworth said aeons ago — "Come forth and bring me a heart that watches and receives." Perhaps then our conscience will no longer be assailed by pangs of guilt that we are not doing enough for our progeny gifted or otherwise.