Tim Curry, giftedness/labelling and condescension
[email protected]
In a message dated 01/11/01 8:28:26 PM, [email protected] writes:
<< Can you believe that's Tim Curry (of Frankenfurter fame) doing the
voice for Nigel? >>
There was a cartoon version of Peter Pan some years back (8? 9?) in which he
did the voice of Captain Hook, and got an award, I believe.
-=- FWIW, I was considered "gifted" as a child, and went
through all the g/t programs in school. I do not feel that the label served
me well personally, although it did get me out of some boring classes and
give me more time to "goof off" :-). My husband OTOH, was
labeled a "slow learner"-=-
Same. My: "High IQ" and all the accompanying pressure and BS from parents
and teachers and counselors and principals. Husband: Profoundly average,
at which point official people started kinda ignoring him and being satisfied
with very little, and not expecting anything special. He's now a hotshot
engineer, very well respected by his co-workers and making good money. I'm
a... housewife. <g>
<<it took
him the better part of 20 years to get past the negative labeling and see
himself for the truly talented individual that he is.>>
Keith's still not quite over it in some ways.
<< No-one
on earth is truly "gifted" in everything, thus most people have gifts in one
area or another. >>
I don't know... I have a couple of friends who are way up there on all of
Gardner's 7 intelligences, and one even on the nature, #8 of 7 <g>. I
myself, on the other hand, am greatly lacking in more than one area (not the
areas school measured...).
<< It was interesting to
watch it play out, as many of these "gifted" people had never dealt with
other people as peers in their lives. Many of them had few social and life
skills.>>
I wonder if the "gifted" personnel department and management of Microsoft
will figure out that among those thousands of applications are also some
people, like the friends I'm thinking of above, who can score well on tests
AND who have inter- and intrapersonal skills, AND physical strength and
agility, AND musical talent (and therefor a different kind of creativity),
and that hiring well-rounded people would save them a lot of management grief.
I (and many of us) could go on and on about the problems of labelling people
"gifted," and those who prefer the setting-apart label could ignore it.
Condescension is a necessary part of that, and to express the wish that it
all works out for us comes under that, I think. Every time a child is told
he's better than others, a fairy falls down dead. Not really, but his
ability to connect with other people who either have scored lower on a test
(big deal) or didn't read early (same on the big-deal scale--do early walkers
become olympic runners?) or whose parents have chosen to avoid testing and
labelling altogether is impaired further as he is further set apart.
<< Can you believe that's Tim Curry (of Frankenfurter fame) doing the
voice for Nigel? >>
There was a cartoon version of Peter Pan some years back (8? 9?) in which he
did the voice of Captain Hook, and got an award, I believe.
-=- FWIW, I was considered "gifted" as a child, and went
through all the g/t programs in school. I do not feel that the label served
me well personally, although it did get me out of some boring classes and
give me more time to "goof off" :-). My husband OTOH, was
labeled a "slow learner"-=-
Same. My: "High IQ" and all the accompanying pressure and BS from parents
and teachers and counselors and principals. Husband: Profoundly average,
at which point official people started kinda ignoring him and being satisfied
with very little, and not expecting anything special. He's now a hotshot
engineer, very well respected by his co-workers and making good money. I'm
a... housewife. <g>
<<it took
him the better part of 20 years to get past the negative labeling and see
himself for the truly talented individual that he is.>>
Keith's still not quite over it in some ways.
<< No-one
on earth is truly "gifted" in everything, thus most people have gifts in one
area or another. >>
I don't know... I have a couple of friends who are way up there on all of
Gardner's 7 intelligences, and one even on the nature, #8 of 7 <g>. I
myself, on the other hand, am greatly lacking in more than one area (not the
areas school measured...).
<< It was interesting to
watch it play out, as many of these "gifted" people had never dealt with
other people as peers in their lives. Many of them had few social and life
skills.>>
I wonder if the "gifted" personnel department and management of Microsoft
will figure out that among those thousands of applications are also some
people, like the friends I'm thinking of above, who can score well on tests
AND who have inter- and intrapersonal skills, AND physical strength and
agility, AND musical talent (and therefor a different kind of creativity),
and that hiring well-rounded people would save them a lot of management grief.
I (and many of us) could go on and on about the problems of labelling people
"gifted," and those who prefer the setting-apart label could ignore it.
Condescension is a necessary part of that, and to express the wish that it
all works out for us comes under that, I think. Every time a child is told
he's better than others, a fairy falls down dead. Not really, but his
ability to connect with other people who either have scored lower on a test
(big deal) or didn't read early (same on the big-deal scale--do early walkers
become olympic runners?) or whose parents have chosen to avoid testing and
labelling altogether is impaired further as he is further set apart.