SUPERNORMAL CHILDREN, EDUCATION OF.
T. L. Terman calls children "superior" if they have intelligence quotients of more than iio--i.e., if they mature, mentally, more than o% faster than the average. He designates as "gifted" those with intelligence quotients of more than 135. The educa tion of "superior" children does not present a major problem. They do not diverge so widely from the average as to require any basically different educational approach.
"Gifted" children are almost a distinctive type, and require, for their adequate development, a distinctive kind of education. Not only are they from two to four or more years further ad vanced in mental capacity than other children of their age, but their superiority tends to be general. Contrary to popular notions, gifted children are, on the average, large for their age and well developed; and they excel in many personality traits. It is in this group that there reside the greatest potentialities for distin guished achievement in life. For this reason it is important to adapt their schooling to their needs.
The commonest, and least satisfactory, way of trying to adjust the school to the needs of gifted children, is to have them skip grades. This does almost nothing toward developing their special abilities, though better than retaining them in lower classes.
The next commonest practice consists of "ability grouping." Children are classified as X, Y, or Z according to their general ability as shown by intelligence tests, teachers' judgment, etc. The brightest, or X, group is, ideally, given an "enriched curric ulum," going into each subject more intensively and extensively. The large majority of the children in the X group, however, are merely "superior" rather than "gifted," and the ability grouping is, accordingly, adjusted to their needs. It is not an adequate solution to the problem of the really gifted child.
A third method of caring for gifted children is through classes organized especially for them. Germany was the pioneer in this field, but in the United States by 193o there were 135 such classes. They depart widely, in the best instances, from usual school practice. Routine drills and reviews give way to independ
ent investigations and reports, the children using libraries, labora tories, shops, museums, and excursions. There is considerable freedom. Creative expression and originality are stressed.
The most common objection to such classes for gifted children is that they may tend to make children conceited. Proponents of special classes, however, claim that direct experience does not bear out this criticism, and argue that children competing with their peers are less prone to conceit than are those who are con stantly associated with children of inferior ability.
A more practical objection lies in the fact that since less than one percent of school children are gifted, only the larger cities have a sufficient number, at the different grade levels, to make such classes feasible. In those cities, however, where special classes for gifted children have been organized, the consensus is that the gifted children get a real chance to develop their abilities; and as experience accumulates, such classes should be able to provide almost ideal conditions for them.
In smaller communities, the problem is more difficult. Hope lies in some of the newer general methods of education. So-called progressive schools, particularly, stress for all children just the types of education found most suitable for gifted ones—freedom, responsibility, and much more emphasis on original investigation.
Where individual progress is added to these "progressive" methods, as for example, in Winnetka, Ill., a partial solution appears. Gifted children are allowed to progress somewhat more rapidly; their individual programs are enriched with special as signments, electives, and responsibilities, and they are given con siderable freedom, participation in group activities, and stimulus toward original investigation and creative work.
This kind of procedure in smaller communities, and, in large cities special classes for gifted children, are, up to the present, the best solution that has been found to the as yet inadequately solved problem of the education of gifted children. (C. WAS.)