Contrary to many people believe, highly intelligent children are not necessarily certain to achieve academic success. In fact, so-called gifted students may fail to do well because they are unusually smart. Ensuring that a gifted child reaches his or her potential requires an understanding of what can go wrong and how to satisfy the unusual learning requirements of extremely bright young people.
One common problem gifted kids face is that they, and those around them, place too much importance on being smart. Such an emphasis can encourage a belief that bright people do not have to work hard to do well. Although smart kids may not need to work hard in the lower grades, when the work is easy, they may struggle and perform poorly when the work gets harder because they do not make the effort to learn. If the academic achievement of highly intelligent children remains below average for an extended period, many teachers will fail to recognize their potential. As a result, such students may not get the encouragement they need, further depressing their desire to learn. They may fall far behind in their schoolwork and even develop behavior problems.
IQ is just one element among many in the recipe for success—Children develop well or struggle in school for a host of reasons apart from IQ. These include motivation and persistence, social competence, and the support of family, educators and friends.
Because highly gifted children solve the most varied thought problems faster and more thoroughly than those with more average talents do, they need additional intellectual stimulation while they wait for the rest of the kids to learn the basics. Two central approaches are used to satisfy the educational needs of such children: acceleration and enrichment. Acceleration means studying material that is part of the standard subjects for older students. Enrichment involves learning information that falls outside the usual subjects.
A child might skip one or more grades as a way of accelerating in school. But being with older children for the entire school day—and perhaps for grade-based extracurricular activities such as sports—can make a child feel inferior in every filed outside of academics. One very bright fourth-grader who had skipped two grades remained far ahead of his classmates intellectually, but as his classmates reached adolescence, his social and other shortcomings became painfully apparent. While acceleration is not an option, or not a good one, enrichment can be. After all, school is not a race but an adventure in learning. As such, the goal is not finishing first but absorbing as much knowledge as possible in the time assigned. Thus, providing opportunities for a child to study topics outside the regular subjects can be at least as valuable as pushing him or her through the required material faster.
小題1:What is the basic reason for the low academic achievement of highly intelligent children?
A.Teachers’ failure to recognize their potential.
B.Too much emphasis on being intelligent.
C.Studying topics outside the regular subjects.
D.Lack of encouragement from teachers.
小題2:According to the passage, which of the following belongs to enrichment activities for talented children?A.Skipping one of more grades and studying together with older children.
B.Learning the same material in the standard subjects for older students.
C.Learning information that is not included in the regular subjects.
D.Learning how to read with fluency even in their pre-school days.
小題3:Which of the following statements do you think is true about the writer?
A.He is in favor of enrichment rather than acceleration.
B.He is in favor of acceleration rather than enrichment.
C.He speaks highly of both enrichment and acceleration.
D.He thinks neither enrichment nor acceleration is a good choice.
小題4: In this article, the writer wants to ______.
A.point out the weaknesses of acceleration for gifted children
B.compare acceleration with enrichment for gifted children
C.stress the importance of enrichment for gifted children
D.discuss how to bring out gifted children’s potential
