George Smith walks towards the university campus in Virginia
every morning, amongst dozens of other students. He is
conspicuous in the crowd because of his height. Although
George is full of self confidence and is as serious as all
the other students, he is only ten years old, and that fact
is obvious. He finished his primary school education within
two years, and completed his further education at the same
speed, leaving behind his peers and their childish games and
pursuits, which no longer interested him. From there he
graduated to university, to become the youngest student on
record in Virginia.
Even as a toddler, instead of playing "Daddies and Mommies"
or digging in the sand, George used to converse like an adult
on various subjects, including science and technology, in
which he showed amazing erudition. But although George seems
content enough, he may have to pay for his lost childhood,
which was used exclusively to develop his mental ability.
Experts nowadays warn about the irreversible damage caused to
children by this one-sided slant.
Naturally, all parents want clever children and are prepared
to invest much time and money in them. But they do not always
realize that they may be pressurizing the child and that his
mental development progresses at the expense of his social
and emotional skills, which are just as important.
In Japan, there is enormous competition amongst parents for
their small children to break records in education. Each year
Japanese parents pay astronomical sums of money to enroll
thousands of toddlers at high schools, so that they can
outpace their peers in mathematics, and other subjects, to
ensure them a place at the most prestigious universities.
Babies of a year old are taught how to swim, how to use an
abacus [math skills] and how to interpret words and pictures.
Parents pay $10,000 for two years' tuition without batting an
eyelash to the expensive kindergartens which their offspring
attend. Then children of five and six are sent to learn how
to solve equations and to learn foreign languages. The
trouble in Japan is that they are breeding human robots with
a very high intellectual capacity but with neglected
emotional maturity.
How does all this affect the tender child, who remains a
child in spite of all efforts to turn him into a serious
professor? Children do not always understand why everyone is
dancing attendance on them, and in the short term, may not
even feel the pressure which is brought to bear on them. But
in the long run, the child may pay the price of an immature
adult who did not play enough in his childhood, or an adult
who breaks when faced with emotional problems.
Michael Kirney, a ten-year-old from Honolulu, has an I.Q. of
over 200, and his academic prowess has astounded the world.
He began to speak at the age of four months, and was already
reading at eight months. At six, he had gained his graduation
diploma. At ten, having completed college, he began a
journalistic career with one of the major broadcasting
companies in the United States. At fourteen, he gained his
Masters degree in chemistry. In short, he bypassed the
important developmental milestones of a child, as he turned
into an adult inside the body of a child. When he was asked
by reporters about his attitude towards his impressive
history, Michael replied, "I am very happy. Everybody sends
me money, and I love that." This proves that he still thinks
in an immature, superficial way and has not quite come to
terms with the rapid changes which have taken place in his
mental development.
Should we encourage exceptional intellectual ability or
suppress it? Should we encourage creativity in all children,
or particularly in gifted children? Even when dealing with a
particularly gifted child, we have to remember that he is a
child, first and foremost, and not just a small-scale adult.
We have to allow gifted children to play, and to spend time
with children their own age, says psychologist Edna
Katzenelson.
She claims that parents may feel that if the child is filled
with so much knowledge, he does not need them any more. They
may not realize that the child is still in need of a guiding
hand. A child needs guidelines in social niceties. He needs
to be taught how to interact with other people without the
full stress being put on his intellectual achievements.
Katzenelson cautions against indoctrinating the child with
the notion that only intellectual achievement is important.
In the end, a child remains a child and should be allowed to
develop as one.
In many families, the gifted child receives preferrential
treatment. Conversation centers around him and around his
future. He is always introduced to strangers before the other
children. This may have quite a negative effects on his
siblings, including jealousy and anger at the extra
privileges he receives and feelings of aggression towards
him.
Families with a gifted child should not hold him up as an
example to the family; For example, "Look how he always
manages to know all the right answers." They should not
discuss him or his achievements in front of his siblings at
all. They should not make the siblings feel second best; in
the end this gifted child will suffer from the extra
attention and the feelings of animosity it provokes in his
siblings. Healthy emotions are just as important as
intellectual excellence.
NEXT WEEK: A. Ross analyzes the above article, translated
from Bayit Ne'eman, with different conclusions.
