Prescient … and Not Always Accounted For: The Wisdom and Foresight of George A. Roeper

When George A. Roeper enlisted the aid of Dr. A. Harry Passow and other leaders in the field to help George convert his Michigan independent school to focus on gifted children in 1956, there was only one other elementary school in the country at the time devoted exclusively to gifted child education. Though his wife and school cofounder, Annemarie, later became quite well known in the field, George also wrote and spoke extensively about gifted children and their education. Those writings and speeches were rarely published but have been preserved in The Roeper School Archives. In this first in-depth examination, George’s writings display insight and prescience about the challenges and rewards of educating gifted children, touching on problems that still preoccupy the field, such as inclusive identification and motivation, all rooted in his humanistic point of view.     

Learning and Creativity

Creativity was an enduring interest for George Roeper. For him, gifted children represented the divergent thinkers who could change the trajectory of the world. In this 1962 presentation to parents at the school, he discussed his findings about the differences between intelligence and creativity—how they overlap, how they differ, and how they are assessed. As an active educator, George was unable to contribute as much in formal publications as he might have. Presentations such as this one are our best view into the depth and insight of the man. As a contemporaneous account, it also gives us a view into attitudes in the early years of gifted child education.     

Interdisciplinary Exploration Supports Sternberg’s Expansion of Giftedness

Robert Sternberg’s (2017) Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) framework provides a helpful way to align gifted education with the complexities of 21st-century socioeconomic and cultural environments. The recommendation that we shift away from pseudoquantitative precision in conceptions of giftedness aligns with similar recommendations in other fields including political science, economics, and mathematics. The emphases on ethics and wisdom are reinforced by analyses of the need for more ethical awareness in societies. These analyses arise from research and theory in other fields, including ethical philosophy, political science, economics, history, sociology, and journalism. These transdisciplinary similarities are interpreted to be conceptual triangulation supporting the importance of Sternberg’s model as a catalyst for the development of more holistic conceptions of giftedness and talent.     

I Agree—Well,Mostly!

In this essay, I reply to my five commentators in the October 2017 issue of the Roeper Review to my July 2017 article: “ACCEL: A New Model for Identifying the Gifted.” I respond to each in turn. I end with the question I believe most important for those of us interested in giftedness to confront at the present moment.     

Does ACCEL Excel as a Model of Giftedness? A Reply to Commentators

In this essay, I respond to commentators on my article on the Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model for understanding giftedness. I cover a number of topics that arose in or out of the commentaries, in particular, systems inertia; toxic leadership; teaching for creativity; flight from reality; the role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in teaching for wisdom; the developmental nature of giftedness; making a positive, meaningful, and enduring difference; IQ as a diagnostic tool rather than as a gatekeeper; meeting the needs of marginalized young people; teacher education; and retrospective studies. I conclude that the differences among all of us in this symposium are small and that we all agree that a model like ACCEL—whatever its exact terms—is needed to move the field of giftedness beyond a preoccupation with abilities, narrowly defined.     

建国以来个性发展与个性教育的研究分析

梳理建国以来个性发展与个性教育研究成果,明确不同时代个性发展的特定内涵,了解个性教育理论研究深化的学理和思路,是有效实施个性教育,摆脱教育平庸,推进素质教育改革的关键。     

论人的个体道德生活和社会道德生活

道德生活是社会稳定和个体发展的基础.人的道德生活表现为个体性(内在性)和社会性(外在性)两方面,从疏远走向整合是两者历史发展的路径.在多元化、民主化社会的今天,德育更加凸显人道德生活的主体,培养具有独立、自主、创造、践履的道德健康人,不断提高生命的质量.     

个性发展与个性教育之探讨

随着时代的发展,社会越来越尊重人的个性发展。本文就教育如何对学生进行个性教育,促进学生的个性发展做了探讨。     

文学隐喻的"天才"与天才儿童教育

关于天才儿童教育的争论除了源于教育理念本身的差异外,还有一个隐蔽的重要原因,那就是“天才”这个词在我国的社会文化生活中代表了两种截然不同的概念一是文学隐喻的“天才”概念二是专业研究的“天才”概念。两种概念的交叉混用导致人们种种不正确的教育观念和行为,严重阻碍了我国天才儿童教育发展的进程。本文拟对“人人都是天才”、“培养天才”这两个隐喻表达在教育中的错误理解和消极影响进行分析,以澄清“天才”的两种概念及天才儿童教育的专业内涵。