How to spot a child genius | Economist
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Published 2019-06-19
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How do you spot a child genius? Gifted children tend to share three defining characteristics. First, they develop skills at a very young age. Mozart began composing music when he was just five years old. Second, they are self-starters. Srinivasa Ramanujan was constructing complex formulae and theories before he had even been taught basic mathematics. Third, gifted children can be near-obsessive in their interests. For William James Sidis, a writer, collecting hundreds of streetcar transfers was a sideline to learning eight languages by the time he was eight. He was accepted at Harvard University at the age of 11.
They would all have been good candidates for Mensa, an international society for people with the highest IQs. Its youngest member is just two years old.
But there can be drawbacks to being so clever. Members of American Mensa are three times more likely than the general public to suffer from allergies or depression and they are almost six times more likely to struggle with anxiety. And these are just some of the physical and emotional problems that gifted children in particular may face. Spotting those children is important but many of them are being missed.
In most programmes for gifted children students from poor backgrounds are under-represented. In 2015 one Florida school district took the rare step of screening
all children for entry into its gifted-education scheme. Admissions increased by 180% among poor children, 130% among Hispanics, and 80% among black pupils.
In other words, to spot a gifted child you actually have to look for them in all communities, not just the ones with the resources to spot their own.
The benefits can be huge when those “lost Einsteins’’ are found. The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth has been observing 5,000 gifted people since 1972. All of the children had test scores high enough to get into university when they were just 13.
In adulthood the first 1,650 participants went on to publish 85 books, more than 7,500 articles, and have collectively secured 681 patents.
One-third of the group earned a doctorate- that is 17 times the national average. Society, too, can reap the rewards when genius is nurtured. The founder of Google, the “Mozart of maths”, and Lady Gaga, were all discovered as gifted children.
The child geniuses who could transform tomorrow’s world are already out there. But will we spot them?
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All Comments (21)
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I misread the title as How to stop a child genius
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If they play Minecraft instead of Fornite.
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Being a genius means nothing if you don’t apply it. We should tell kids not that they’re smart. That they work hard.
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"Depression, anxiety" is what happens when you are smart enough to know how bad things truly are.
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Hmmm allergies, depression and anxiety? Omg I'm gifted!
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I have bad allergies and OCD but I’m no genius lol this is bs
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All the children watching this but don’t exhibit these traits are now depressed
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Whoaaaaa did you just throw Lady Gaga in here as an example of a child genius? Wouldn't have ever guessed that.
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Infact when I decided not to think of something too deeply, my anxiety stops. I wrote poems everyday, but when I decided not to do it everyday, I started to relieve myself from depression and anxiety.
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Genius can easily be sabotaged, it all depends on the environment that the child is exposed to and experiences, in my opinion!
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Every kid in comment section: OmG this is me!!!1!1!
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I must say, the Economist's youtube videos tend to be very shallow
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“...Will we spot them?” Of course, especially in Irvine, Orange County, California, USA, where in elementary school, 1 out of 4 children is a genius, every week there is a designated gifted student in each class, and everyone wins a trophy at the end of each school year — regardless of race. Thank you!
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The Economist: Your presentation assumes that intelligence and MENSA scores are the same thing. But there are many kinds of intelligence, and MENSA does not measure all of them. Vincent Van Gogh would NOT have scored well on a MENSA exam, but his works sell for more than any other artwork.
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Please. In every "parent's" eyes their kid is a genius. Every single one that made that kid purposely. So give me a break.
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whoever did the motion graphics for this video is a real genius
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I started being a disapointment as soon as i was born i must be really geniusing
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I've always considered myself smart and creative. At the age of 5 I knew what I wanted to do and I'm working towards it now. I'm not entrepreneurial, I didn't compose music when I was 5 but I've always been very passionate about what I wanted to do. I've only ever had like one good friend and people used to make fun of me but I think all of this is normal in people, I dont think it makes me a child genius
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Bright Child Knows the answers Is interested Is attentive Has good ideas Works hard Answers the questions Top group Listens with interest Learns with ease 6-8 repetitions for mastery Understands ideas Enjoys peers Grasps the meaning Completes assignments Is receptive Copies accurately Enjoys school Absorbs information Technician Good at memorization Enjoys straightforward sequential presentation Is alert Is pleased with own learning Gifted Learner Asks the questions Is highly curious Is mentally and physically involved Has wild, silly ideas Plays around, yet tests well Discusses in detail, elaborates Beyond the group Shows strong feelings and opinions Already knows 1-2 repetitions for mastery Constructs abstractions Prefers adults Draws inferences Initiates projects Is intense Creates a new design Enjoys learning Manipulates information Inventor Good guesser Thrives on complexity Is keenly observant Is highly self-critical Here I copied and pasted this from the Gifted Programme Website. See if any of this resonates with you. I find that my gifted peers and I have a certain subject we excel, typically meaning receive a 90 and above in that subject. For me it’s science. I was accepted later than most children because my behavioural issues and autism got in the way of my potential. When I got over all those issues I eventually got. Even if you aren’t certified as a gifted child, I can assure you that you have one or more of these in common.
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I don't understand what gifted even means, hard work betrays none gifted or not. So please scientist, don't go chopping up their brains.
