Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Argument - Potential
When discussing late bloomers and super achievers Shenk introduces a study done by Lewis Terman. Terman believed that the "most successful children were endowed with elite genes" (91). However, the results showed that none of the early achievers grew up to be adult super achievers. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that "children who grow up surrounded by praise for being technically proficient...often develop a...aversion to stepping outside their comfort zone" (92). What does this quote tell us about GxE? Does having early success allow for easier transition into adult genius? What are some of the qualities that super achievers have and are these qualities innate? Use quotes from the book to support your reasoning.
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It is a common misconception that children who are born into intelligent families and thus deemed genetically gifted are bound to be prodigies. After Terman's study, however, it was found that the top 5 percent who scored 180 or above on their IQ test "were not as remarkable as...expected" (Shenk 91). There are many reasons for their early success but failure as of late, most of which take into account the GxE model. To begin, the "attributes necessary for high child achievement are simply not the same as those that drive adult achievement" (Shenk 92). As a result, these children who are gifted at an early age become accustomed to getting everything easily. As a result, they are showered with praise and rewards, and are used to such customs and therefore do not practice. In a sense this can be seen as habituation, or "a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no new information" (Campbell 1125). As a result of their habituation to gifts and praise, they never work for things and eventually fall behind other children who studied hard every day. In fact "experts say the road from kid genius to adult dud is a well traveled one" (http://articles.cnn.com/2007-12-10/living/a-mathematics-notable?_s=PM:LIVING). This phenomenon gives rise to the fact that practice determines one's future. "When individuals deliberately push themselves beyond the zone of relative comfort and engage in sustained strenuous physical [or mental] activity, they induce an abnormal state...[which] trigger the activation of dormant genes" (Shenk 69). Without this practice these child prodigies will never be able to grow and advance in their life. It may be argued that the child prodigies already have these genes being expressed, but in reality, as time goes on others will adopt a practice routine in which they excel beyond the abilities of the child prodigies and leave them behind. In terms of qualities that "super achievers" have, often times a prodigy has a " mixture of child and adult qualities that so often marks the prodigy's profile both intellectually and emotionally" (http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10185.aspx). Often times the brains of child prodigies develop extremely quickly at early ages. This is similar to imprinting, discovered by Kondrad Lorenz, in which there is "a critical period, or a limited developmental phase when certain behaviors can be learned" (Campbell 1126). This can be viewed as a positive towards being a child prodigy. However, in the long run, earlier success does not always allow for easier transition into adult genius. Instead many factors go into it such as "reading early and often...[and] nurture and encouragement...and setting high expectations...[and] embracing failure" (Shenk 47). These ideals are what determines whether or not a child is successful. Although there are many instances of child prodigies succeeding, it is only when these children push themselves and continue to utilize their knowledge instead of being lazy.
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