Why gifted and creative kids fail in schools

Many parents of highly gifted kids know that school can be a rollercoaster ride for both their child as well as themselves. Highly gifted kids are also called orchid children, who might thrive if they grow in the right climate or they might just as well wither away.

As a parent of two gifted children I have been watching their school career in astonishment and bewilderment.

My older son was able to read at the tender age of two:

as well as being able to learn very quickly almost anything he was interested in:

My younger son has always been less theoretical, more practical and less widely interested in learning abstract concepts. Initially interested in technology and not in books he nevertheless learned to read with the help of books that interested him (trains, etc.).

My older son has hated school from Day 1. Refusing to do the tasks at school as well as his homework. He would rather cry for an hour than do work he could have finished in a few minutes. His grades have always been average to bad.

My younger son despite not being such a super-learner has found school very easy so far. He does most of the work the teacher gives him in less than half the time and then leans back in his chair. When the teacher offers him more work or more challenging work he politely refuses.

What account for the difference in academic success in not the boys` intelligence, obviously. It is their personality. Both children are introverted as the majority of gifted kids, but there is a crucial difference:

My older son is INFP, which means that he has a very creative intelligence with strong interests in languages, writing, stories and history). His strength Is finding patterns in areas concerning the humanities, but is not considered gifted in our school system.

My younger son is INTJ, which means he is interested in science and technology and his intelligence is way more structured and follows rules. His strength is understanding rules concerning technology and the natural world. He is considered gifted in our school system.

It is mostly these creative kids who fail in schools. What's more, not all gifted kids are math whiz kids. The might be interested in reading and history instead. Very logical kids, on the other hand, might struggle with language learning and learning to read. 

The injustice here probably seems obvious to most readers. However, this is one thing that many teachers completely fail to understand at school.  Spotting a gifted child might be very hard. Here are some signs to look out for:

• high degree of introversion (not all gifeted kids are introverted, though)
• highly sensitive kids (might be depressed or bipolar)
• outcasts and victims of bullying, consider themselves "different"
• clumsy or dorky kids (might be bad at sports and/or crafting)
• extremely reluctant to do tasks they consider boring or futile
• reluctant to make small talk and talk about banal things
• highly socially minded (fight for environmental and social issues, protect underdogs)
• absent mindedness (remeniscent of ADHD)
• often might seem childish or clownish
• are often emotially behind their developmental age and cry easily
• have a good sense of humour, which might be rarely visble, however
• uncoventional thinking and little respect for traditions
• often like fantasy and science fiction

dedicted to my son, Andrej

dedicated to Sir Ken Robinson, one of the most inspirational people in the education space