Grade Skipping in Gifted Education

徐云婕

Abstract： Grade skipping has been heatedly discussed with the development of gifted education. Experts and scholars are trying to do find out the better way to cultivate those gifted children， to develop their potential， and make full use of their talent. Although grade skipping has long history， there is no certain comment about whether it is benefitial to the gifted children.

Keywords： Grade Skipping Gifted Education develop potential

Giftedness， known as people with special outstanding talent in specific a domain or domains， makes up about top ten percent of whole population. Therefore， experts and scholars are trying to do find out the better way to cultivate those gifted children， to develop their potential， and make full use of their talent.For the implementation of giftedness， special programs have been popped up to help provide gifted students with enough support of advanced knowledge. In the development of programs， there are also different methods to educate giftedness， basically divided into enrichment and acceleration.

We could identify giftedness not only by their outstanding academic performance， but also the other aspects of intelligence. In terms of quantitative measurement of giftedness， IQ test is one of the most effective ways to distinguish people with high intelligence， which is inborn. However， because of the multiple intelligences theory， people with high IQ may have weakness in other aspects； while there are also some possibilities that people could development their intelligence in life long time.

Without any doubt， approaches for gifted education are essential to enhance their understanding of the world， especially for someone cannot be satisfied with experience and knowledge accumulated in daily life and curricula in school. The acceleration option usually provides gifted children with shorter period of time， or advanced curricula. Giftedness has the right to choose the order of curricula， when they are prepared for higher level of knowledge.

For the first place， grade skipping could be regarded as a reward to those gifted students， awarding them for performing excellent in a particular field. More importantly， skipping grade could gain a shorter period of learning， as well as more time to experience life. In that case， learning senior curricula indeed brings out the enjoyment of studying. If one treats his or her work as much easier than it takes， he or she may lose interest and pride of task. Under that circumstance， they probably cannot build up the correct self-expectancy and self-efficacy.

Apart from motivation and time saving， gifted students could also benefit from grade skipping because of Pygmalion Effect. When students have the right to skip the grade， they may have the honor of being smarter and talented， so that they could develop their potential to be better.

Last but not least， skipping grade is important to improve ones social capabilities. Students skipping grades have to engage in new life with seniors， with different value of world， which is beneficial because gifted students could fill in the gaps much earlier than their peers.

Taking all factors into consideration， grade skipping is an effective way to save time and develop potential of gifted students. Thus， this is the trend nowadays in gifted education， and leads to heated discussion.

Not only because of they have academic gaps compared to senior peers， they have little experience in studying， or they may have not find the best way to accumulate knowledge. The outstanding performance only shows their talent， but not the proper way of learning. In that case， gifted students need more practice and experience to study with seniors.

One of the most serious issues in grade skipping is friendship， or psychological gap. When comes to staff in daily life， it is hard to make friends or even talk with seniors. Because of the psychological gap between classmates， they probably cannot make friends from the bottom of their hearts. For those with friends learning together， it may bring out some positive influence to encourage them to try harder， but there is also possibility that peer effect is negative. Therefore， isolation may cause a series of mental problems as depression and anxiety.

Also， if the gifted children cannot deal with the fact that they have talent in specific area， they may feel arrogant and over-estimated towards themselves， which would lead to negative consequences. Sometimes， in order to reach the standard of senior grade， gifted students only focus on what they are good at， but ignore the development in all perspectives， such as music， art， and general education. Thus， one with significant preferred subject will be willed out by the society.

I have believed that everything needs to follow the rules of nature， including the development of gifted children. Children with talent are indeed smarter than other peers in specific field， but it does not mean they are psychologically mature enough to hold things as seniors， or better in other areas.From other perspectives， children have the right to enjoy their childhood. Gifted children are not robots， or learning machine.

More importantly， growing up with friends is one of the best memories to me. Skipping grades means you have to lose time staying with your friends at the same age but making efforts to reach a senior criteria. Once you come to regret what you are doing in adolescence， there is no possibility to make up the precious time with your peers.

As far as I am concerned， I highly recommend that gifted students could develop their specific talent after school， without the limitation of academic curriculum or main-stream education. if possible， gifted children could also try to open eyes and do more exploration in life. Someone with technical talent could explore the structure of domestic appliances instead of studying computer science. Albert Einstein has not entered university in advance but good at keeping curiosity to all staff. There is more than one single way for talented students to develop their potential apart from skipping the grade.

In order to avoid the disadvantages of grade skipping， some parents would rather use a strategy holding their children back， which means they deliberately postpone the time of studying year. However， not skipping grades does not mean deliberately postponing the time of entering school， but following the natural rules and respecting childrens choices. No matter what kind of students you face， gifted or ordinary ones， the most important thing is trying to help them to develop potential， instead of pushing them in a certain direction.

References

[1]Colangelo， Nicholas， et al. （2004） A Nation Deceived： How Schools Hold Back Americas Brightest Students， University of Iowa， Volume I

[2]Dweck， S. Carol （2007） Mindset： The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine. ISBN：9780345472328

[3]Gierus， Alex. （2012）. The Benefits of Skipping a Grade. Perfecting Parenthood.