“[Gifted] children have no greater obligation than any other children to be future leaders or world class geniuses. They should just be given a chance to be themselves, children who might like to classify their collections of baseball cards by the middle initials of the players, or who might like to spend endless afternoon hours in dreamy reading of novels, and to have an education that appreciates and serves these behaviors.” - Jane Piirto, Talented children and adults: Their development and education (Merrill, 1999)
School is not yet in session in our neck of the woods, and I am thoroughly enjoying the last couple of weeks of having our soon-to-be-college-sophomore home for the summer. One ritual we are indulging in is watching daily episodes of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My son reminded me this morning that Joss Whedon has referred to Buffy as “My So-Called Life meets The X-Files.” It is this ability to make connections between and create novelty from what is seemingly unbridgeable that sets the creativity of someone like Joss Whedon apart from others.
How can we nurture that ability in our children?
“I cannot believe that you of all people are trying to Scully me.” ~ Buffy, “The Pack”
In “Creativity as an Elusive Factor in Giftedness,” Joyce VanTassel-Baska lists these as some of the traits commonly seen in creative adults:
- An array of interests. These individuals have a broad information base established through personal interest that then allows them to make connections across areas of knowledge to a greater extent than their peers.
- Open to novel, complex, and ambiguous stimuli. Creative individuals remain child-like in their perceptions of the world, genuinely curious, and willing to explore new and different avenues of investigation.
- Capable of defocused attention. This characteristic relates to the ability of creative individuals to scan the environment for data or stimuli that might fit with their work. This ability may be analogous to the synectics process in creative thinking where students are encouraged to describe relationships between two seemingly disparate objects like a doorknob and a plate.
- Flexible in respect to cognition and behavior. Creative individuals remain playful with ideas and their manifestations rather than rigidly locking in on a line of thought.
My experience is that young people who display these traits face a lot of pressure to bury them. Rather than pursue an array of interests, they are urged to focus on a particular and preferably practical area. Rather than scanning their environment for relationships between disparate objects, they are counseled to stick to the task (or major) at hand. Rather than remain playful or childlike in their approach to learning and life, they are reminded to take their education and themselves more seriously.
What is lost in the meantime are the very traits that can lead them, as Joss Whedon did, to synthesize knowledge and see unique combinations where others see only mismatches.
I loved this blog post, Gifted Children and the Pressure to Achieve, that I read last week:
“My children do not go at life full-tilt. I have never had to deal with the “over-scheduling” problem. So far, they haven’t shown any interest in becoming either the Young Scientist, Young Writer or Young Musician of The Year. In fact, they seem like pretty normal kids and sometimes, in the company of the parents of other gifted children, I can’t help wondering…am I an impostor?”
The author, Catherine Riordan, goes on to write that while “some of our children no doubt need a little prodding and cajoling, we must remember to listen to them. We must support them to do what they want, not what we or society feels they ought to be doing.” Her perspective, while not always easy to maintain, is invaluable.
On a final note, another thing I love about our son’s being home for awhile longer are the fun resources he finds and shares, such as this 7-minute “Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris.” Enjoy the creativity!
Joss Whedon Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
I’m a huge Joss fan. Sometimes we place too much emphasis on academic achievement and look only at grades as a measurement for future success. I can’t tell you how many of my sons’ “gifted” friends weren’t smart enough to get the dumb humor mixed with the sharp in “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog.”
Dawn Marie, I didn’t learn of Joss Whedon’s work until about three years ago (when our son discovered him), and I became an instant fan. He is a huge hit with some of my son’s college friends, as well, who get together regularly to marathon episodes of Buffy, Angel or Firefly. It’s a good way to meet similar minds.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Oh, I love, love, love Joss Whedon! This is another wonderful post. We live in such a scheduled society and I have friends who think it’s their duty to put their ‘gifted children’ in as many scheduled activities as possible. While they are involved in sports, I’ve seen the best creativity come out of my children during free, unstructured time where they make up their own games. The ability to figure things out on their own and create is way better than an extra hour of ‘insert various lesson here.’
Isn’t Joss Whedon amazing!! We recently watched the Buffy episode about mothers and daughters (“The Witch”), and I was, again, amazed by how well he taps into the human drama in ways that are insightful and immensely entertaining (and laugh out loud funny).
I really feel for parents these days. There is so much advice out there that encourages them to overschedule, especially if their children are gifted or show unusual abilities. It’s parents like you who show them a different way.
Snap…I love your post too! It is indeed difficult to maintain the perspective when everyone is telling you to get high grades and focus and make something of yourself. If you are constantly skimming, dipping in and out of things, going off on tangents and making odd connections, it is usual to be told to calm down and focus. But where’s the fun in that! .
Catherine, I’m so glad to have found your blog! It’s parents like you who help others to maintain that perspective. Thank you!
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Lisa, I enjoyed reading this refreshing post. As a teacher of academically gifted students I understand the importance of nurturing the creative side of our children, of listening to them, and of enjoying the usually unique humor and amazing ability to make seemingly disparate connections. At the same time I think there is a great need to understand that the characteristics that you describe, that Joyce VanTassel-Baska lays out so well, often don’t serve theses same people very well in terms of getting on with life. While it contributes so much to who they are, those same qualities can also cause stress for highly gifted/highly creative young people in a world that can be unkind and demanding. As teachers and parents while we don’t want to have our children bury these traits, we do have a role in helping them to understand themselves and in helping to use their qualities to their own advantage. It becomes a balancing act, but one that the young person needs to take on and understand, rather than one that the adults and society around him/her need to impose. Thus the need, I believe to continue to fight for special funding and programming to serve this small population of young people.
Thanks for your post. You have a great blog.
Betty, thank you very much for your kind words about the blog and for your valuable insight and reminders about balance, which I did neglect to address in this post. I completely agree. It’s one of the reasons I wrote a book addressed to gifted teens themselves, discussing why and how to take responsibility for their education.
I am happy to have found your blog! Although I teach students who are a bit older (18-22), your resources and ideas are inspiring as I, too, get ready to go back to school. Your students are lucky to have you as a teacher.