+
A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM UPWORTHY
We are a small, independent media company on a mission to share the best of humanity with the world.
If you think the work we do matters, pre-ordering a copy of our first book would make a huge difference in helping us succeed.
GOOD PEOPLE Book
upworthy

teachers

Family

A study has been following 'gifted' kids for 45 years. Here's what we've learned.

Some of what we used to think about gifted kids turned out to be wrong.


What can we learn from letting seventh graders take the SAT?

In the 1960s, psychologist Julian Stanley realized that if you took the best-testing seventh graders from around the country and gave them standard college entry exams, those kids would score, on average, about as well as the typical college-bound high school senior.

However, the seventh graders who scored as well or better than high schoolers, Stanley found, had off-the-charts aptitude in quantitative, logical, and spatial reasoning.

In other words, they were gifted .

In the 1970s, Stanley and his team launched a full-scale study , identifying many of America's gifted kids and tracking them throughout their lives.

The study, called the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth never ended and is now nearly 45 years in the making. It has followed countless kids from middle school into their careers as some of America's top politicians, scientists, CEOs, engineers, and military leaders.

Stanley passed away in the mid-2000s, but psychologist David Lubinski helped bring the study to Vanderbilt University in the 1990s, where he now co-directs it with Camilla P. Benhow.

It's not a stretch to call this the biggest and most in-depth study on intellectual "precociousness. " The results of the study thus far are equal parts fascinating and genuinely surprising — a deeply insightful look into the minds and lives of brilliant children.

1. Some of what we used to think about gifted kids turned out to be wrong.

Ever heard the saying "early to ripe, early to rot"? It basically means doing "too much" to foster a kid's special talents and abilities at too young an age could actually cause harm in the long term.

That's not even remotely true, at least not according to Lubinski.

That might be an outdated example. But Lubinksi says there are plenty of other misconceptions still alive today, like the idea that gifted kids are so smart that they'll "find a way" to excel even if those smarts aren't nurtured and developed.

Not so fast. "They're kids," he explains. "They need guidance. We all need guidance."

2. Intelligence is not the same as passion.

Quick, what's the "smartest" career you can think of. Doctor? Scientist?

While you do have to be pretty brilliant to work in medicine or science, those are far from the only career paths gifted kids choose later in life.

"Quantitatively, gifted people vary widely in their passions, " Lubinski says. Many of the students in the study did end up pursuing medicine, but others went into fields like economics or engineering. Others still were more gifted in areas like logical or verbal reasoning, making them excellent lawyers and writers.

"There are all kinds of ways to express intellectual talent," Lubinski explains.

When it comes to doing what's best for a gifted student, it's just as important for parents and educators to know what the student is passionate about rather than pigeonholing them in traditionally "smart" fields and registering them in a bunch of STEM courses.

3. Hard work definitely still matters.

Measuring a student's aptitude, their natural abilities, is only one part of the equation when it comes to determining how successful they'll be in life. Aptitude scores can identify a particularly strong natural skill set but tell us very little about how hard that person might work to excel in that field.

Effort, Lubinski says, is a critical factor in determining how far someone's going to go in life. "If you look at exceptional performers in politics, science, music, and literature, they're working many, many hours, " he says.

(And for the record, there are a lot more important things in life than just career achievement, like family, friends, and overall happiness.)

4. Regardless of aptitude, every kid deserves to be treated as though they were gifted.

The study's focus is specifically on kids within a certain range of intellectual ability, but Lubinski is careful to note that many of its findings can and should be applied to all students.

For example, the kids in the study who were given an opportunity to take more challenging courses that aligned with their skills and interests ultimately went on to accomplish more than the students who were not afforded the same opportunity.

"You have to find out where your child's development is, how fast they learn, what are their strengths and relative weaknesses and tailor the curriculum accordingly, " Lubinski says. "It's what you would want for all kids. "

It may sound a bit like a pipe dream, but it's a great starting point for how we should be thinking about the future of education in America.

If you'd like to learn more about the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, check out this short film on the project created by Vanderbilt University:

Quick Learners; High Achievers: Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth

This article originally appeared on 09.22.17

From Your Site Articles
Education

'Something shifted' since COVID: High school teacher shares the reason why he's quitting

“Part of me feels like I’m abandoning these kids."

via RDNE Stock project/Pexels

Teens taking a selfie at school.


The kids in high school in 2024 have always lived in a world where smartphones exist. Many were raised on iPads and given smartphones by the time they started middle school. During this time, research has begun to reveal the dangerous effects smartphones have on young people; now, teachers and students are forced to cope with the harmful effects of this social experiment.

A recent Speak Up survey found that 80% of teachers think phones distract students and 70% of administrators say it is difficult for students to manage their smartphones responsibly.

Mitchell Rutherford, 35, a high school biology teacher at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona, is quitting his job of 11 years because his students’ addiction to their phones is making it nearly impossible for him to teach. Rutherford told The Wall Street Journal that something “shifted” in high school kids after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was this low-energy apathy and isolation,' he told the Wall Street Journal. At first, he thought it was his teaching, but he realized it was the phones. "This year something shifted, and it's just like they are numbing themselves, they are just checking out of society, they're just like can't get rid of it, they can't put it away,” he told KVOA.

Tucson biology teacher quits over students not being able to put down their phones

“Now, you can ask them, bug them, beg them, remind them and try to punish them and still nothing works,” Rutherford told the Wall Street Journal.

Students aren’t allowed to use phones in classes at Sahuaro, but that doesn’t stop them. So, it’s up to the teachers to enforce what feels unenforceable. He says that when he tries to take a phone away from a student they hold onto them for dear life. “That's what an alcoholic would do if you tried to take away their bottle, ” he told them.

He likens his students' relationships with their phones to a severe addiction.

"Opioids, obviously a huge problem, cocaine heroin, all of those drugs, alcohol, it's all a big problem, but like sugar even greater than that and then phones even greater than that,” he told KVOA.

He even attempted to give his students extra credit if they reduced their screen time. "Here's extra credit, let's check your screen time, let's create habits, let's do a unit on sleep and why sleep is important, and how to reduce your phone usage for a bedtime routine, and we talked about it every day and created a basket called phone jail,” he said.

But in the end, it was a losing battle for Rutherford and the phones have won.

In February, he told the school that he was leaving the teaching profession to preserve his well-being. "I have been struggling with mental health this year mostly because of what I identified as basically phone addiction with the students. "

When asked how parents and school administrators can help fix this problem, his solution is simple: get kids off their phones. “As a society, we need to prioritize educating our youth and protecting our youth and allowing their brains and social skills and happiness to develop in a natural way without their phones,” he told KVOA.

From Your Site Articles
teachers
Joy

Teacher and student perform epic 'veggie dance' battle that's leaving viewers in joyous awe

"It's giving real life Abbott Elementary."

@jiggythegod/ TikTok

They ate all their veggies in the "veggie dance" battle

There’s a fun video circulating TikTok showing a Philadelphia teacher and her second grade student perform an epic dance battle set to the “Veggie Dance” from the popular kids Youtube channel “ Grace’s Corner. ”

The best part is that the young student has no idea the kind of moves his opponent has up her sleeve.

In the clip, we see 8-year-old Ahmad confidently showing off as the audience cheers him on. From the look on his face, he’s already won. Spoiler alert: he didn't.

That's because it was 2nd grade teacher Regina Laurie’s turn, and she was ready to “teach Ahmad a lesson.”

Laurie told Philadelphia ABC station WPVI , “He kept telling me, 'Oh, Mrs. Laurie, you're old. Look at your (gray) hair.' So I said to myself, 'I'm going to challenge this boy to a dance-off. I'm going to dance rings around this boy and he doesn't even know it yet!'"

Watch her do exactly that below, in a video posted by @jiggythegod :

@jiggythegod Cool Kids Vs Cool Teachers Dance Battle! - #SchoolJoy   #Educators   #CoolKids   #dancebattlechallenge   #Dance   #philly   #nyc   #dc   #battle   #fun   #trending   #trendingtiktok   #Viral   #fyp   #students   #Teach   ♬ Veggie Dance - Gracie's Corner

Viewers were blown away by Laurie’s moves, chiming in with comments like "left not a piece of crumb she ate” and “she in fact ate em up.”

Others simply applauded the lighthearted moment. One viewer even wrote, “it’s giving real life Abbott Elementary.”

This “Veggie Dance” battle is part of the school’s weekly lunchtime break called “Fun Friday,” where both kids and teachers can take a break from academia and simply feel some joy.

And clearly, as we can see from this dance battle, there's more than one way to get schooled.

From Your Site Articles
teachers
Joy

A teacher ran to a classroom to break up a fight, but what she found was the complete opposite

Her students were all in on the sweet surprise.

@lilythern/TikTok

Teacher runs toward what she thought was a fight in her classroom.

It's been said countless times, but teachers really are the best and bravest of us all. Anyone who has spent time surrounded by kids, trying to help them learn while managing the countless crises that can occur when hundreds of immature humans are put together in one place, knows that teaching encompasses so much more than just academic instruction. Teachers serve as mentors, counselors, nurses, mediators and sometimes even security guards.

That's why a middle school teacher who thought there was a fight happening in her classroom ran full speed toward it—in a dress and heels, no less.

A TikTok video shared by @lilythern shows a teacher sprinting down a school hallway with an overlay of text that reads, "This middle school teacher thought she was running to break up a fight." As she runs into the classroom, she sees a couple of dozen students gathered in a tight circle and shouting. The teacher immediately starts pushing her way through the outside of the circle, yelling, "Hey! Break it up! Break it up! "

But there is no breaking up to be had. In fact, what she finds is the exact opposite.

As the students part to let her through, we see some of them holding up signs and smiling. Then we see a man down on one knee.

Watch:

@lilythern

#fyp #touchingmoment #middleschoolersbelike #loveit

How fast was that adrenaline switch from fight-or-flight to genuine joy? Seriously, the fearlessness with which she ran into that room is as heartening as the proposal itself.

People in the comments loved it:

"She is so strong. She was running towards the chaos to stop it with her bare hands. What a fighter. This is the best proposal ever."

"That was the 'Not in my school!' run! 😂😂😂😂 "

"Fearless teachers are the ones that deserve the most respect."

"Don’t marry her, she has to join the Avengers."

The students were clearly thrilled to be a part of the sweet proposal , and the teacher's immediate and enthusiastic "yes" made it all that much sweeter.

Definitely a moment none of these students—or their teacher—will ever forget.


This article originally appeared on 4.12.23

From Your Site Articles
teachers
Trending Stories