Friday, January 13, 2006
Emotionally Lost
There are many great articles about the social and emotional lives of gifted people, but I simply must link you to this one. It is mainly a highly instructive case study of a gifted and sensitive boy that uses his personal writings to show how his emotions inform and stimulate his intellectual growth. It's a continuous feedback loop, with growth or stress in either area ingniting growth in the other. The text also emphasizes the impact of supportive and accepting environments at home and at school.
This article reminds me how important it is to give gifted kids the tools and information about their emotional and social development that speak to their intense experiences. I suspect that much of gifted education today only concentrates on fostering intellectual growth, thus holding students back by not giving equal time to their other overexcitability areas. In my experience, the more one area grows without developing the others, the greater the internal tension created.
Gifted kids can feel so lost and alone in their highly coloured emotional worlds, with no map to guide them through the wilderness. It is nearly impossible to be happy and successful (according to western society's standards) unless you have a good understanding of self and of others, no matter how high your intellect soars. Let's at least give them a compass and wise counsel along the way.
Technorati tags: gifted overexcitabilities education
This article reminds me how important it is to give gifted kids the tools and information about their emotional and social development that speak to their intense experiences. I suspect that much of gifted education today only concentrates on fostering intellectual growth, thus holding students back by not giving equal time to their other overexcitability areas. In my experience, the more one area grows without developing the others, the greater the internal tension created.
Gifted kids can feel so lost and alone in their highly coloured emotional worlds, with no map to guide them through the wilderness. It is nearly impossible to be happy and successful (according to western society's standards) unless you have a good understanding of self and of others, no matter how high your intellect soars. Let's at least give them a compass and wise counsel along the way.
Technorati tags: gifted overexcitabilities education
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It is nearly impossible to be happy and successful (according to western society's standards) unless you have a good understanding of self and of others, no matter how high your intellect soars.
Do you really believe this applies to all western societies? If so, do you think that this principle applies as an absolute correlation between knowledge and happiness, or does the correlation fall apart at some point? How would you graph it -- as a straight line or as a curve?
Do you really believe this applies to all western societies? If so, do you think that this principle applies as an absolute correlation between knowledge and happiness, or does the correlation fall apart at some point? How would you graph it -- as a straight line or as a curve?
I'm just talking about the gifted population here. Clearly there are many people with little self or social nouse who are getting along in the world just fine!
I meant that I see many gifted people who develop their intellect without developing other skills. Society often does not know how to use the products of a great intellect, witness all the people whose work is only appreciated once they are dead. So to be happy and successful (rich, with good relationships, fame, etc. in your lifetime) one needs an understanding of how to use that intellect in the current social environment.
But I get the feeling you are not asking me that question. When you say knowledge, do you mean self-knowledge and social knowledge or intellectual knowledge?
I meant that I see many gifted people who develop their intellect without developing other skills. Society often does not know how to use the products of a great intellect, witness all the people whose work is only appreciated once they are dead. So to be happy and successful (rich, with good relationships, fame, etc. in your lifetime) one needs an understanding of how to use that intellect in the current social environment.
But I get the feeling you are not asking me that question. When you say knowledge, do you mean self-knowledge and social knowledge or intellectual knowledge?
I was thinking about Nietzsche -- the archetypal genius and recluse. And his idea was that the more we know about our social worlds, the less we will like them.
Sounds bang on to me. But in my opinion, disliking the social world doesn't mean one has to reject it completely. Finding a way to coexist with it, optimize interaction with it, and even change it, is much more fun. I might as well, if I am bothering to be alive in the first place!
Good luck to you. Our strategies with regard to this, are not always simply a matter of choice, but come down to pragmatism instead.
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