Gifted-what does it mean?

Aditi Nair

​Founder & Executive Director

What does it mean to be gifted? Does it mean that one is smarter than others, or has special strong suits that make them different from the rest? Is being gifted a learning challenge, or can learning challenges surface when one is gifted? Questions like these continue to put me in a light trance. Right when I think I have a question answered, another arises, and, well, the cycle never stops. I have been in a gifted education program for all of middle school, but I couldn’t help but ruminate over a few things. So I have decided to find answers to these questions, to learn more about myself and others around me.

Did you know that gifted education is only provided in about 32 states in America? Within those states, only 4 provide fully funded programs, while the other states provide partial funding. A lot of times, students who are gifted are taught by teachers who are not certified, which does not give them the same opportunities as gifted students in states with gifted education. Which means that their brains are not being nourished and the kids are not being pushed to their full potential.
 
With information like this, it is hard to stay focused on the definition of being gifted: people who have an above-average intelligence and/or talent, such as music, art, or math. Basically, students who are gifted are not necessarily smarter than those not gifted, rather these students could also have a talent that sets them apart from the rest. This brings me back to my own experience with taking the “CBG test,” as my peers would call it. The test consisted of a workbook that did not have numbers or paragraphs to summarize, instead, it was filled with spaces to draw, and random lines to continue drawings, and much more. I do not remember a lot of the requirements to be gifted, but that test was definitely unlike any other test I have ever taken. Usually, it is the teacher or an administrator who recommends one to be tested for gifted education, but what if the teacher is unable to recognize one’s abilities outside of the classroom? Do these students even get the chance to try the test, and if not, how is that fair? The questions keep coming, so look out for my next blog post, as I try to answer these questions.
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Until then, keep reading and exploring the many possibilities in life…..