Giftedness

Giftedness it the attainment of excellence without undergoing the hard work entailed by it. According to Ohio's AEP and Nashua's REACH programs, I was identified as a "gifted" student. Reading some old records of teachers' observations of me in the classroom, I found that I was also arrogant and sometimes critical of others' ideas. As I grew up, I underwent the same social change that all adolescents feel: the need to conform.

It is surprising that very highly gifted children do not rebel more frequently against the inappropriate educational provision which is generally made for them. Studies have repeatedly found that the great majority of highly gifted students are required to work, in class, at levels several years below their tested achievement. Underachievement may be imposed on the exceptionally gifted child through the constraints of an inappropriate and undemanding educational program or, as often happens, the child may deliberately underachieve in an attempt to seek peer-group acceptance.

– Miraca U.M. Gross

My grades did not plummet. I performed well on tests and quizzes. I did not try being someone that I wasn't. However, the major change was that I became more patient with "less gifted" classmates. Although I was now able to work better with them, I still couldn't quite relate to them. When I was with my friends, we would make jokes about the short-sighted air-heads in our class. But whenever I actually had to work with them, I would repress such feelings of arrogance.

It wasn't until my freshmen year, specifically the start of spring track, that I began to have a better perspective about this concept of "giftedness".

As some of you may already know, I run hurdles and sprints during winter and spring track. During my first season of track as an eighth grader, I ran hurdles once in a while, but I rarely practiced them. In high school I started to take track and hurdling more seriously. I officially started hurdles during winter track freshmen year. In the spring, I got spikes to learn block-starting to hurdles and 3-stepping.

I practiced hurdles almost everyday. Despite my sprint speed and relative fitness, it took me a while to three-step once in competition. You have to start fast, maintain proper form over the hurdle, land smoothly and run at at least 90% of your starting speed into the next hurdle. During spring track, my form improved a lot, but I was never able to three-step consistently. In competition, I actually run around one hurdle and pushed another one down because I'd never gotten the rhythm down.

There was another freshmen on the track team, by the name of Eric. He was also a sprinter. I always just a little bit faster than him at the 100m. When he ran a 13.7, I ran a 13.5. When he ran a 12.7, I ran a 12.6 (now he's a bit faster than me). Despite my faster sprint speed, he was much better at hurdling. You could say that he was "gifted" at them.

On the first day of practice, he hurdled varsity level hurdles at a level that would definitely catch your eye. Within the first two weeks, he could three-step with relative ease. During some races, his rhythm would be interrupted and he would five-step the last couple of hurdles. But by the end of the season, he was running as fast as one of the seniors and qualified for Class L's with a time only 0.8 seconds off of the school record. Eric and I would practice the hurdles virtually everyday. I respected this because he had natural talent and he was willing to work for his times.

During sophomore year, I decided to do cross-country to stay in shape and prepare for winter and spring track. At the start of winter track, Eric did some three-stepping without blocks in a gym, attracting a bunch of freshmen to hurdling. As the season progressed, he placed in virtually all New Hampshire track meets and broke the school record wearing running flats. What decreased though, was the time he spent actually practicing.

Every day at track, we would do blocks, high jump, long jump and hurdles before our workout. There were some freshmen hurdling at first, but they quickly became discouraged and quit to try out other specials. Eventually, it was just me doing the hurdles. Eric would occasionally skip practices or just play basketball.

You can imagine the frustration I felt. Although I worked much more than him, he was able to glide perfectly over the hurdles and beat competitors a few years older than him. During freshmen year, I admired him for his talent and work-ethic, but this year, I started to see how arrogant he was. Although he never made fun of other people when they tried the hurdles, his actions and his practice routine demonstrated his complacency.

Soon, I began to see parallels between Eric's hurdling and my math. In a relatively short time, he was able to master an event that some seniors can't perform well. In math class, I can relax because I've already learned the content or can teach myself it in less than 10 minutes. I work harder than Eric but he runs faster than me. My classmates take notes and do more practice problems but I get better grades.

This still-ongoing experience has helped me to understand how people feel when dealing with those more "gifted". Everyone has their own natural talent. Taking challenges and adapting to new situations can reveal them, just as joining track revealed Eric's talent at hurdling. For those that are particularly good at something, it is important not to become complacent. For those that had interest and desire, but learn more slowly, it is important to be patient and persistent. Through my experience on the track team, I have seen both sides of this "relationship".