David Shenk's Giftedness Controversy
David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us, to be released next year, has created a blog of the same title for The Atlantic magazine. The Genius in All of Us focuses on initiating and perpetuating a research-based conversation about the nature of giftedness and the institutional responses that are filtered through gifted education. Many will find Shenk’s research and resulting conclusions controversial. Some will find him threatening to their view of giftedness; others will find his views heartening. But this controversy is what makes him interesting, creating potential for field-enhancing questioning and discussion.
Shenk hopes to post blog entries several times a week and is off to a good start with the following titles:
Some of the broad areas he plans to cover in the future include:
- How brains work
- Where child prodigies come from
- What nature/nurture really means
- The creative process and work habits of high achievers
- The roles of parents, schools, culture, and technology
I am curious to see where Shenk goes with all of his ideas—if he makes convincing arguments for his view of intelligence, what implications this will have for future research in gifted education, and what suggestions he will make for parents and educators.