intelligence

The chapter this week made me think about gifted programs that are common in many public schools and their merit. As is shown by the text there are many different forms of intelligence and likewise intelligence changes, or at least is very hard to concretely measure. A child who performs at a high level academically in 3^rd grade, around the time often that children begin to be selected for such programs, might perform very differently in just some years. Rates at which children excel, learning gaps ect. Vary so much. The study that I read yesterday for our discussion pointed out that academic success often has more to do with emotional discipline than intelligence. Which certainly seems to make sense to me. Its really a very complex subject, especially when one begins to consider the cultural aspects that effect our use and acquisition of different kinds of intelligence. This points out to me that at a young age, gifted and talented programs should not be used until the students leave middle childhood and become more developed in their habits and have fully formed basic knowledge/skills.