What Can Gifted Kids Learn from American Idol?
Few people would classify the hit television show American Idol as educational programming, but it is. It can help us teach our gifted children some very important lessons in life. Lesson 1: Talent isn’t everything Gifted kids often think that because they are smart or talented, they will have a smooth path in life and get whatever they want. More often than not, they have gotten this idea because they have not been challenged sufficiently in school. The work they are asked to do is easy and can be done with little or no effort. They may skate through school, getting high marks without having to do much to get them. They learn things quickly and easily and often believe that will be true of everything they encountered in life. Watching a season of American Idol from start to finish shows that talent isn’t everything. Although the initial auditions include people who don’t have much talent, they also include plenty of people who do, but who do not make it to Hollywood, the next level of
