Child Prodigy Essay

chela Prodigies A Blessing or a Curse? boundary Essay Mona S. November/28/2012 sister Prodigy A Blessing or a Curse? A tyke foretelling is an individual, who at a rattling early age (mostly under the age of 10) is a eclipse of unrivaled or a couple of skills or arts. These individuals or children unwrap expert ability or a deep grasp of the basic principle in a field usually simply undertaken by adults. employ a specific enclosure which expresses or defines a child portent toilette change attitudes represent towards such(prenominal) individuals such as empower, talented, superior, quick learner, able student, bright, exceptional, and crimson genius.Although in that location argon many cost apply to define a child prodigy, the most accepted and preferred terms used atomic number 18 dexterous or exceptional (Laycock, 1957). Barbara Clark (1997) identifies a child prodigy as an exceptionally sharp individual who seems to have assorted value structures, whi ch usually allow them to cope with the conflict or difference they find between their perception of life and that of the average person. According to D. Feldman (1993), a child prodigy whitethorn have a reasonably tall, however non necessarily exceptionally high, IQ.Prodigies tend to be unusually strained, determined, and highly motivated to reach the highest levels of their fields. They ar often marked by cracking confidence in their abilities, along with a naive sense of these abilities. doubting Thomas & Crescimbeni (1966) refer to the knowing or child prodigies as individuals that have an IQ of 115 and higher. However, that could further be implied to highly intellectual individuals as thither are many different forms of child prodigies.I am interested in child prodigies for many reasons as it constitutes a huge role on how they are raised and how they socialize with others. To others a child prodigy big businessman be a blessing but to child prodigies it is a gadf ly depending on how they are treated. hither are near reasons as to wherefore it is perceived that steering Most child prodigies are denied from having a everyday and healthy childhood e extraly by their parents as they want them to focus on improving their gift and some measures it happens for the childs avouch benefit or in other cases to be used to accomplish fame and fortune.It strength be a good thing, especially for child prodigies that are gifted in the arts field, to improve and approach pattern on it for hereafter use but it must be wear thine in a healthy and proper agency so that children keister have a childhood which would serving them interact and engage within a alliance in a normal and functional way, however, denying child prodigies from having a normal, play balanced childhood might ultimately turn out pitch-black as they result not know how to engage or suffer in an acceptable behaviour within their society and it would probably father them to d evelop a non-friendly, egoistic, and obnoxious attitude towards others as they hope they are give way than the rest. This might cause their proceeds to brake or be unrealised for many reasons that I will expand on throughout this essay. And there is overly the widespread belief that young geniuses are pushed and nudged to extremes by one or both parents. Von Karolyi and Winner (2005) believe that the talented train and practice extensively, and this practice is necessary for the development of mathematical operation. However, thoughtful practice is a very special form of activity that differs from mere companionship and mindless drill. contradictory playful engagement with peers deliberate practice is not inherently enjoyable.It also differs from successful performance in front of an audience, which is rewarded with applause, praise and receiving prizes. According to Yoga (2008), parents who care or hope that their child is a prodigy need to reconsideration that whole noti on especially collectable to the recent reports that have been portrayed within the media about child prodigies. When a child receives a write up for excellence, originality, and brilliance for their gift, parents become so pleased with the childs performance and deny any involvement and although this might cause the child to get delighted with their successful outcome, they face the difficulty of defining their give contributions and would eventually acquire experienceings of doubt and ambiguity about their own abilities.What makes things worse is that parents standards cargo hold increasing after each accomplishment which causes new projects difficult to array and this would only make the child feel that their finishing product will never be good enough therefore causing them to dissolve simple tasks where they will not worry about failing in. object setting may become defensive, aimed at protecting against feelings of failure or low ability (Covington and Beery, 1976). C om darlingition encourages and motivates gifted children to perform to the best of their high ability, and the recognition they receive for their successes provides the motivation for continued competition. However, there are some negative side effects of extreme competitiveness. tike prodigies have to deal with a lot of stress and pressure on their performance because of the expectations that the people approximately them have of them and from the repeated adult praise such as macrocosm perfect, best, or the smartest. The world imposes adult expectations on them, and they are really only children. The contend of allowing and encouraging gifted children a childhood remains the challenge to the parents and teachers of such children. In my opinion, too many children are pushed too in short into a world that they shouldnt really be expected to live in. Its up to the parents to shelter them from harm, and gently show them or bring them to the real world and its negative side with cl ear and loving understanding.I dont know any child prodigies personally, but I am guessing that for a long time they live in a protected bubble where everyone thinks they are special for their talent and not for universe a person, when they grow up there talent is not as noticeable anymore and therefore their novelty appeal has worn off, they are then expected to live in the real world with no understanding of what it entails and how to interact on a social level. Parents would unintentionally be treating their gifted children differently from their normal children which would only cause sibling contention which can be minimized and adjusted but will not disappear. Usually sibling rivalry occurs due to the competition for parents attention and sometimes their resources.Cornell (1986) prove that non-gifted siblings of gifted children were less fountainhead-adjusted than a control group of other non-gifted children. rough child prodigies feel authorise to special treatment yet rarely get it. This could embroil being excused from certain activities or classes to be given the opportunity to movement on their gift. By receiving such special treatments child prodigies could deliver in two paths, one of which they are being bullied by others due to their special treatment. Gifted children today experience many disruptions in their lives. Some of these disruptions are relatively unique to them, such as needing to hide how well they do at inform as a means to capable into an anti-intellectual school environment (Coleman & Cross, 2001).All children are affected adversely by bully, but gifted children differ from other children in significant ways, and what they experience may be qualitatively different. The personality traits and interests of many gifted children may make them targets of bullying by their classmates. At the same time gifted children may be more susceptible to the emotional damage that bullying can inflict. Usually the bullying will occur ve rbally in order to avoid a lot of trouble from physically abusing their targets and would include segregating the gifted child from peers and other activities, whether it is within class or outside. The gifted children would be called names such as teachers pet or smarty-pants. These days bullying can be done very easily that it would spread virally, i. e. cyber bullying.Some gifted children tend to be more indistinct than other gifted or non-gifted children due to lack of socialization if parents affirm on them practicing their gift all the time for their futures saki therefore they might keep it to themselves about being bullied and sooner or later without examineing help, or even though they do seek for help they are ignored by the adults within the society who believe that the bullying will eventually stop which it does not, it might cause the gifted children to commit suicide as they are tired of the endless bullying. sometimes the bullying can also cause the gifted child t o feel hatred or lose interest in their gift and would not want to engage in such activities again. The same thing can happen if the child is forced to practice their gift all the time, such as the piano, and is denied their childhood or exemption and is treated as a tool for fame and success.Another path the child prodigy could fall under would be self-social segregation where the child prodigy would not want to spend time with the other normal children as they view themselves to be way better than others. Sometimes, when denied the access for special treatment, it might frustrate and cause them to be even more aggressive, driven, and overachieving than they are by nature. As the child is dehumanised and instrumentalized or taught to ignore reality and to occupy the parental fantastic space, such an wretched child feels almighty and all-knowing, perfect and brilliant, worthy of adoration and entitled to special treatment. The empathy, compassion, a ealistic assessment of ones abil ities and limitations, realistic expectations of oneself and of others, personal boundaries, team work, social skills, pains and goal-orientation, not to mention the ability to postpone gratification and to work tight to achieve it are all lacking or missing altogether. elicit or gender differences do matter in accordance to being gifted. Reis and Callahan (1989) emphasize the importance of distinguishing between sex or gender differences, i. e. relating the biological and the sociocultural differences. The possibility of gender differences in interests, and perhaps even in cognitive activity, which would lead girl and boy prodigies toward different domains for study and mastery. These differences might also be biologically based to some extent they are undoubtedly heavily patterned and reinforced by cultural values.Whatever their origins, it appears at first blush that girl prodigies are better represented in some fields than others, and further exploration of why this might be the case is in order. When we know more about such relationships, we may understand more about gender differences or at to the lowest degree individual differences in the development of specific talents. Why prodigies are found in some fields and not others, and whether certain fields curl more children of one gender than the other, is a matter for further attention. cosmos gifted or a prodigy also differs on what socialization you are from, i. e. if a specific culture views you as a prodigy or not, as well as your socio-economic status because they might be rarely identified or described as gifted or talented if they are from a poor rural area.Peers of economically strip or culturally different gifted children usually do not place a huge value on school achievement. Family, cultural, and actors line differences and testing circumstances must be considered as values and beliefs can affect ability testing. An understanding of different cultures is an important factor in both id entifying who is gifted and how to set up a program that would help nurture their gift in a non-smothering manner. According to Bernal, 1979 Bruch, and Curry, 1978, an interesting way to find such gifted people in these cultures would be to brook with students named by peers as out-of-school leaders who can explain characteristics of culturally valued giftedness within their own peer culture.Overall, I would like to render that child prodigy might be something good but only if the child was handled with care and love and given a lot of freedom of choice and opportunity to pursue their dreams otherwise they would be perceived as tools or mini adults with no mind or will of their own that are forced to do what pleases others. Brainstorm/Web Chart Here is a Brainstorm of ideas or a web chart of my term topic paper Child prodigy A blessing or a curse References Bernal, E. M. (1979). The education of the culturally different gifted. In A. H. Passow (Ed. ), The gifted and the talented ( pp. 395-400). Chicago National Society for the Study of Education. Bruch, C. B. , Curry, J. A. (1978). Personal Learnings A current synthesis on the culturally different gifted. Gifted Child Quarterly, 22, 33-32 Clark, B. 1997). Growing up gifted Developing the potential of children at category and at school. Upper Saddle River, N. J Merrill. Cornell, D. G. , Grossberg, I. N. (1986). Siblings of children in gifted programs. daybook for the Education of the Gifted, 9, 253-264. Coleman, L. J. Cross, T. L. (2001). Being gifted in school An introduction to development, guidance, and teaching. Waco, TX Prufrock Press. Covington, M. V. Beery, R. G. (1976). Self-worth and school learning. modern York Holt. Feldman, D. H. (1993). Child Prodigies A Distinctive Form of Giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 37, 4, 188-93. Laycock, S. R. (1957). Gifted children.Toronto The Copp Clark Teachers Handbook Series. Reis, S. M. , & Callahan, C. M. (1989). Gifted females Theyve come a long wayor h ave they? Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 12, 99-117. Thomas, G. I. , & Crescimbeni, J. (1966). Guiding the gifted child. New York Random House. Von. Karolyi, C. and Winner, E. 2005. Extreme giftedness. In Conceptions of giftedness, Edited by Sternberg, R. J and Davidson, J. E. 377394. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. (2nd edn) Yoga, S. S. (2008, April 14). Child prodigy Two sides of genius. The star online. Retrieved from http//thestar. com. my/lifestyle/story. asp? file=/2008/4/14/lifefocus/20902655&sec=lifefocus