Response To Giftedness

Some of the responses to giftedness in Western cultures include the following:

• Differentiated training was practiced in ancient Sparta.  Military skills were so valued that at age 7, all boys received schooling and training in the fine arts of combat and warfare. Giftedness emerged and was fostered in terms of fighting skills and leadership.
• In Athens, upper-class Greeks sent their boys to private schools to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, literature, history, the arts, and physical fitness. Older boys were taught by sophists (professional teachers) in the subjects of mathematics, logic, rhetoric, politics, grammar, and general culture.
• Plato's famous Academy selected both young men and women, based on intelligence and physical stamina rather than social position.
• Roman education emphasized architecture, engineering, law, and administration.  Both boys and girls attended first-level.  Boys and some girls attended second-level.  Higher education of the day was reserved for boys.
• The European Renaissance (1300-1700) produced remarkable art, architecture, and literature.  Strong, wealthy governments and churches rewarded their creatively gifted with some wealth and honor (Michelangelo, da Vinci, Bernini, Dante).

The Far East, Early China (Tang Dynasty-618 A.D):

• The Tang Dynasty valued gifted children highly.  Child prodigies were sent to the imperial court, where their gifts were recognized and cultivated.  The society accepted a multi-talented concept, valuing literary ability, leadership, imagination, reading speed, memory capability, reasoning, and perceptual sensitivity.

Early native America to present:

• The people native to the Americas have always valued the gifts that every child and individual possesses. The elders recognize and cultivate the gifts in children early in life so that as the children grow and develop, so do their strengths or gifts. They become the contributors to the people’s life ways, as have their forefathers.  

Early European America:

• In early European America, concern for gifted individuals was virtually nonexistent. Some accommodation was made for those displaying academic achievement and whose families were wealthy enough to afford higher education.
• Passage of compulsory school laws made education available to all children, but no special programming was provided.