The Parenting Buzz : Are Gifted Kids Smart? And Other Education Musings

The Buzz today is about Smarts – book smarts, game smarts and political smarts.

Book Smarts – Here’s the low-down: praise a child on his or her intelligence and that child will believe that he or she is naturally gifted. When that same child is faced with a task that isn’t innate or can’t easily be mastered, he or she will balk. Praise a not-so-bright child on effort, and that child will step up to the plate and thrive in tasks that are outside his or her comfort zone. (Also, check out the dialogue on the subject over at ParentDish.)

Game Smarts – Chess chases away dyspraxia. A young boy diagnosed with speech dyspraxia, (a neurological immaturity/impairment which impedes the way a brain processes information, making communication difficult) took up the game of chess. Learning how to play chess, with its emphasis on forethought and planning moves ahead of time, helped this boy exercise the part of his brain that was causing the dyspraxia. The training (and speech therapy) has helped him master his dyspraxia and become an award-winning chess player.

Political Smarts – Billionaires Bill Gates and Eli Broad announced a joint initiative to push education higher on the agenda of the 2008 presidential race. Educational reform appears to have taken a backseat in the race to the White House in favor of other political hot buttons such as the war in Iraq, terrorism and health care. The purpose of the $60 million project, called Strong American Schools, is to compel presidential candidates to give the issue of education reform more prominence in their political platforms. The non-partisan initiative will include television, radio and internet ads and will likely rank as one of the most expensive single-issue initiatives in a presidential race.

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