When Smart Kids Fail

Friday, May 13, 2011 - 22:40 in Psychology & Sociology

Bright people run into two curses in life that others mistake as blessings.  The first is that many tasks come easy to them.  The second is that they can do okay for a long time without experiencing failure or set-backs.  Both of these lead to a life of underachievement. In "Patterns of Underachievement in Gifted Students", Carolyn Coil ( notes 3 patterns where smart kids dive into underachieving:  1) Does well in early grades, then underachieves more as they get older  2) Sporadic up-and-down pattern  3) No effort to go beyond the minimum read more

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