Abstract:
It has been popular for advocates of gifted and talented children to assert that all children are entitled to achieve their potential, and accordingly that gifted children are entitled to special treatment to enable them to do better than other students. Governments have been persuaded that if gifted students do not achieve better results than other students, they have somehow missed out on an entitlement.
In this paper, I demonstrate that this is a myth. Gifted students are made to feel deprived for no good reason. Governments are spending money that ought to be spent elsewhere. A whole industry of misguided moral outrage has been created. The social consequences are that wealthy parents gain yet another means of advantaging their children.
In this paper, I demonstrate that this is a myth. Gifted students are made to feel deprived for no good reason. Governments are spending money that ought to be spent elsewhere. A whole industry of misguided moral outrage has been created. The social consequences are that wealthy parents gain yet another means of advantaging their children.