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Nurturing the Life of the Mind:

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As a nation, the United States does not place a high value on intellectualism. ... their content area, as well as the liberal arts (making them more well-rounded. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Nurturing the Life of the Mind:


1
  • Nurturing the Life of the Mind
  • If Schools Dont Value Intellect. Who Will?
  • By Kathleen Vail
  • American School Board Journal

2
What Does Gifted Mean?
  • 1. Having great special talent or ability.
  • 2. Having exceptionally high intelligence.

3
Gifted Students Have Been Overlooked for Years
Why?
  • As a nation, the United States does not place a
    high value on intellectualism.
  • Public heroes are singers, actors, athletes,
    socialites, etc.
  • We value looks, money, youth, and popularity.
  • Intellect is resented as a form of power or
    privilege. Professor Richard Hofstadter, from
    his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

4
Gifted Students Have Been Overlooked for Years
Why?
  • Hofstadter states that since the founding of the
    US, we have been trained to reject anything that
    smacks of elitism because of our Democratic
    and populist urges.
  • Basically, we have been taught that everyone is
    created equal, and intellectualism goes against
    that.

5
Why Is America So Afraid Of Intellectualism?
  • 1995 Public Agenda Survey
  • Polled Americans to find out how they view
    intellectualism.
  • 7 out of 10 people polled said that, people who
    are highly educated often turn out to be book
    smart but lack the common sense and understanding
    of regular folk.

6
Why Is America So Afraid Of Intellectualism?
  • 1995 Public Agenda Survey continued
  • Cincinnati woman polled said, If everyone were a
    genius, it would be a dull world.
  • 7 out of 10 people said that they would be very
    or somewhat concerned if their child earned
    excellent grades but had only a few close friends
    and seldom participated in social activities.

7
How And Why Are Gifted Students Being Overlooked?
  • Homework is being discouraged and/or limited
    because parents complained that homework was
    interfering with their childrens extracurricular
    activities.
  • Staff members dont want other students to
    ..feel bad about not being selected.

8
Why Have We Been Teaching This Way?
  • We have been too concerned with making sure
    children feel like they are equal with their
    peers intellectually
  • We feel like we need to entertain children,
    instead of engaging them in challenging,
    meaningful activities which develop critical
    thinking skills.
  • In the interests of being more inclusive, weve
    backed away from making demands on students.
    Carol Jago, Director, California Reading and
    Literature Project, UCLA.

9
Why Have We Been Teaching This Way?
  • Because information is changing so quickly.it
    makes more sense to teach students how to find
    information than to impart it to them.
  • We cannot just give the students the answers, we
    have to make sure they can also understand and
    apply the information they are finding.
  • We rely too heavily on memorizing and reciting
    facts.

10
How Can We Change This?
  • Teachers MUST serve as role models to students!
  • Teachers should continue to learn as much as they
    can about their content area, as well as the
    liberal arts (making them more well-rounded.)
  • Teachers must take part in continuing education.
    (Now mandated by law)

11
How Can We Change This?
  • Stop treating gifted children as if they are
    bored troublemakers.
  • Provide gifted students with curriculum that
    matches their intelligence.
  • Make accommodations to lessons as-needed to
    challenge gifted students.
  • Stop allowing gifted students to be ridiculed for
    being intelligent.

12
Closing
  • Without the ability to think critically, to
    defend their ideas and understand the ideas of
    others, they (students) cannot fully participate
    in our democracy.

13
Bibliography
  • Vail, Kathleen. Nurturing the Life of the Mind
    If Schools Dont Value Intellect, Who Will?
    American School Board Journal January (2001).
    www.asbj.com.
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