The effort exerted into maintaining the demands of school and personal life will eventually take a toll on these “gifted” students, regardless of how “advanced” they might be. They are, therefore, highly encouraged to pursue extracurriculars and leadership positions, piling even more onto their schedules. “Gifted” children are also seen to be exceptional in areas of social interaction. The pressure goes past academic success too. This perception of self-sufficiency discourages “gifted” students from admitting that they are having trouble because they feel like they have to meet unrealistic expectations of self-sustainment. In addition, according to a study by Cambridge University, “Many educators do not recognie or meet the needs of gifted students as there is a false perception that they can look after themselves.” These classes will learn much of the same material as the non-TAG classes but are usually faster-paced and more in-depth, requiring students to scramble to keep up with what’s being taught. Your first thought upon hearing all this is most likely something like, “why don’t the students ask their teachers for help?” However, even though they are structured differently than their elementary school predecessors, middle and high schools still place “gifted” kids into special, “TAG level” classes. As they get older, seeing themselves not achieve these goals creates intense feelings of failure, anxiety and depression. Now met with more complex course material, “gifted” students found themselves unequipped to handle actually struggling in school, leading to overwhelming - sometimes debilitating - mental health impacts.īecause of all the praise that “gifted” kids receive from adults from a young age, most develop a sense of obligation to succeed and live up to the “potential” they were told they had at a younger age. However, as they transition to middle and high school, the material they were learning began to match their abilities, and it may even surpass them. As a result, many “gifted” students grow accustomed to earning high grades with little-to-no effort. This practice was backed by the straight As of success in educational material that was easier for the “gifted” kids.Įxceptional grades are commonplace for elementary school TAG kids because the material they are learning is not as advanced as they are at that time. The program neglected to teach helpful study habits, instead focusing on simply telling students how smart they were. When the time comes for “gifted” kids to leave the programs of kindergarten through fifth grade, they soon face the negative side of the TAG program.Ī recurring theme amongst many of the “ex-gifted kid” social media posts is how the TAG program failed to set students up for success later in their education. While the TAG kids get to build relationships with their other “gifted” peers, they inherently miss out on opportunities to form relationships with the rest of their classmates.įeelings of being “inferior” to “gifted” kids can also lead to self-esteem problems in students who did not make it into a TAG program. There is a distinct divide between the two groups, which might come from the practice of openly calling one “intellectually and socially advanced” compared to the other. They are, to put it simply, different.Īs a young child, these ideas are internalized and cemented as irrefutable facts.īefore they even leave elementary education, these ideas can oust “gifted” kids from their classmates who didn’t make it into the program. They excel in school and social settings alike. The ideology surrounding “gifted” kids throughout the elementary school years is one of continued accreditation. Still, over the years, a rising number of “ex-gifted kids” have been taking to social media platforms such as Tumblr and TikTok to shed light on what happens after students leave the elementary TAG programs. Special treatment for being more intelligent than your classmates might seem great from an outside perspective.
The program champions unique learning opportunities for students who score high enough on the test, lauding them as “exceptional” and “advanced” in academic, creative and social facets.įollowing the test, the students who scored high enough to be considered “gifted” are placed in different classes and told that their “advanced abilities” make them “exceptional” in the eyes of the education system.įrom that moment on, “gifted” will be a label that follows them until their high school graduation.
Many students will remember this program from their elementary school years as a single test that could be taken as early as kindergarten and would determine the fate of their elementary and secondary education from that point on. T.A.G., Talented and Gifted, Challenge, SAGE, MILE the “gifted” program goes by many names.
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