Underachievement and Gifted Students

Motivating gifted underachievers is always a hot topic for educators. And for very good reason: no one has solved the problem, despite years of research and dozens of theories. I was a classic underachiever, so the issue has been of intense interest. Why would a bright student, an early reader with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, graduate in the bottom ten percent of her high school class? If you had asked me that 40 years ago, I would have told you "I was bored." Today, after some twenty years devoted to studying giftedness, intelligence, and creativity, my answer would be the same.

How do educators' attitudes and assumptions influence their approach? One author simply blames the students. In her view, inappropriate curriculum, unsympathetic teachers, and lack of challenge are just excuses for laziness and lack of self-discipline. Underachievement is the student's way of manipulating and defying teachers and parents. That's not a typical attitude, but it isn't rare, either.

Many writers do acknowledge the negative effects of inappropriate curriculum, lack of intellectual challenge, and of teachers who are either not trained to deal with gifted students or are openly or covertly antagonistic toward the gifted. They also recognize that many of the "interventions" intended to encourage achievement don't work with the brightest students. Recognizing the assumptions behind current educational practices is the key to understanding underachievement.

Education is primarily about learning

The dominant educational perspective is that children are learners. The problem for gifted students is the notion that children are nothing but learners. That may fit the majority of children, most of whom have to work fairly hard to grasp the basics of reading and math, and who require practice and reviews in order to understand and retain the material.

Intellectually gifted students, especially those who started reading before they entered school, are not merely learning. They already have a store of information about which they are making comparisons, coming to conclusions, and forming theories. While the average student is working to grasp information, the gifted student is figuring out how to use it.

Very few teachers are trained to deal with students whose cognitive abilities are far outside the norm. Their limited expectations for their students can prevent them from even seeing those abilities. Finally, gifted students usually learn that their questions, their theories, and their references to outside material can provoke hostility, even from teachers who know that they are gifted. "...gifted adolescents consistently report dramatic episodes of being pushed to the point of doubt and despair by insensitive teachers, peers, and even parents." (1)

Long before they reach adolescence, many of these students have learned to keep their mouths shut and their heads down.

Children need external motivation in order to learn

Another assumption is the necessity of overcoming resistance to learning. "The challenge is to help the child become motivated by helping him discover reasons why he might want to learn and through removing blocks that are interfering with his becoming motivated." (2) If it's been determined that the child has no specific problems that need to be dealt with, such as poor hearing or vision, learning disabilities, family stressors, etc., it's easy to come to the conclusion that failure to perform to the expected standards simply requires the teacher to provide motivation. But for gifted students who pursue their own intellectual interests outside of school, the classroom routine is itself a demotivator. They recognize both rewards and punishments for what they really are, attempts to gain their obedience and conformity.

The only learning of any importance takes place in the classroom

The difference between students for whom learning is a chore or merely a means to an end, and those for whom it's an innate drive, is a crucial one. Given the strictures imposed by by the No Child Left Behind Act, with a vastly increased emphasis on teaching to the test, a child's outside knowledge is less relevant than ever. Worse, the concentration on bringing all students up the the required proficiency levels means that the needs of gifted students are given less attention than ever. The narrowing of the curriculum to the test requirements, and the increased repetition and review can drive gifted students further in the direction of resistance to classroom demands, and even dampen their innate pleasure in independent learning. In at least one state, NCLB test scores show that "students achieving 'advanced' math scores early in elementary school all too frequently regress to merely 'proficient' scores by the end." 3

It's estimated that up to 20% of high school dropouts are gifted. The NCLB is too recent to be entirely responsible, but it's one more contributor to the problem of underachievement in the gifted.

Sources

1. Joyce Van Tassel-Baska et al, Patterns of Influence on Gifted Learners, Teachers College Press, Columbia University, New York, 1989

2. James T. Webb et all, Guiding the Gifted Child, Ohio Psychology Publishing Company; Columbus, Ohio, 1984

3. Susan Goodkin, Leave No Gifted Child Behind