The Concept of "Giftedness"

The concept of "giftedness," like "I.Q.," is ill-defined, because it does not have any concrete, specific referent. Giftedness, like intelligence, can't be seen directly; it must be inferred from behaviour. However, educators are unspecific about what specific behaviours should constitute giftedness. As long as a clear scientific, or theoretical, definition of giftedness eludes educational theorists, a working definition, based on pragmatic principles, will have to suffice.

Schools continue to offer gifted programs because educators have insisted that gifted children exist. If gifted children exist, the nature of their giftedness, according to the most pragmatic definition possible, should guide the manner in which their general abilities are allowed to develop.

Toward a pragmatic approach to giftedness, Robin Barrow states, "We should proceed as if giftedness were the product of learning and the environment, even if in some respects it is determined by innate factors" (54). Such is an interactionist approach to the nature versus nurture question--neither the environment nor nature is exclusively responsible for giftedness.

A theoretical compromise aimed at dividing the difference between heredity and environment is practical, since we do not know the extent to which either factor operates. We can assume that both are at play by inference--in the same manner that we assume the giftedness exists in the first place. We cannot empirically verify it--at least not in

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Category: Psychology - T