The Brilliant Mind of Leta Hollingworth - the Nature of the Gifted Child

Leta Hollingworth had a fascinating life working with gifted children. She directed her timely research
-- To dispel myths about the nature of the Gifted and
-- To examine the best methods for identifying and educating them.

After studying many individual children with high IQs Hollingworth inferred the nature of the Gifted as a whole. One wonders how much more advanced research might have been today had it adopted her ideas and theories years ago. The field is "only now rediscovering things about adolescents and giftedness which she uncovered fifty years ago" (Santmire, 1990).

The Nature of the Gifted Child

Myth one: gifted students are lazy and disinterested

Much of what was known about the nature of the Gifted during the early part of the 1900s was at best, opinion; at worst, mere myth. Prior to Leta Hollingworth's research, few objective studies had been done. It seemed that society and the schools ignored them. This disinterest, Leta claimed, was due to the fact that "Society studies that which is socially annoying ... the school, those who give it trouble" (Hollingworth, 1931).

When Gifted children became a problem to their teachers, it was assumed they were lazy, disinterested, or inclined to poor behavior. Hollingworth attributed this mythical laziness to utter boredom to the daily practice of over-learned skills and repetitive tasks. During her era, each grade in school had a set curriculum. Basic academic subjects were taught at a given level with little deviation.

Like many schools today, children advanced lockstep through the eight elementary and the four high school grades as each level was mastered. To occupy the Gifted, they were often accelerated a year or two-sometimes half years-as had been done in the one room country schoolhouses. Unfortunates who learned too slowly were retained in a grade for several years, until they passed the tests for that level (Silverman, 1990).

Even after skipping a grade or two, Hollingworth showed that the Gifted continued to master the advanced material too quickly. It is not the nature of the Gifted to be bored and lazy, she claimed. It is the nature of the school to appear dull and unsatisfying for precociously insightful, quick-learning young minds. Leta claimed they receive "daily practice in habits of idleness and daydreaming" (Hollingworth, 1942, p. 258). In other words, the school was dull and at fault, not the Gifted student.

Hollingworth would be shocked to find that this is still the hue and cry today. Some districts set up special programs so gifted students can receive high-level stimulation on a once a day, or one day a week basis. Yet parents still complain of problems when their gifted offspring return to regular classes. These parents continue to reinforce Leta Hollingworth's original insights regarding idleness and boredom by venting their frustrations: "How can my daughter/son be gifted one day per week?" "My child has mastered the entire year's curricula and this is only October" (Siciliano, 1989).

Next: Myth two: gifted students are social misfits