> I'd be interested in the reaction of others in the group to
>
> >Vygotsky was critiquing the
> >attitude of looking at those children as having moral problems. He
> >argued instead that these were the children who were gifted and would be
our
> >future leaders.
Upon reflecting on my above comment I realized that it might say things that
I didn't mean. When I used the word "gifted" I ignored its political /
social meaning. For all the reasons phillip mentioned I was not using the
term "gifted" in the way that it is commonly used in education. By
"giftedness" I meant to imply it was something that we all had, similar to
creativity. Instead of only looking at classroom management as a moral or
behavior issue, we can also see it as the child communicating his/her
interests (creativity). My interpretation of what Vygotsky was trying to
say was along these same lines. The text was written in the 1920's when
things like creativity were discouraged. Vygotsky's continually attacked a
general view of "giftedness" or "disability. He saw both as being related
in that they were specific rather than general.
"...there does not exist any kind of giftedness in general, rather there
exists special predispositions to certain types of activity"
A child could be gifted or have strengths in one particular area, but that
no way meant he had strengths or "giftedness" in many areas. Vygotsky at
times questioned if a specific strength or "giftedness" was necessarily an
asset. For me, the stereotype of the absent minded professor comes to mind.
Again the intent of my comment above and my signature quote was intended to
convey a view of "giftedness" closer to the term creativity. One reason the
quote stood out for me was a story a Professor once shared:
She was observing a classroom and noticed a boy being reprimanded for not
paying attention. Instead of listening to the lesson of the teacher he was
looking out the window at the neat shapes of the clouds. The irony is the
lesson was on clouds. The teacher said something like "quit looking out the
window and you may learn something about clouds".
This is the context in which I interpreted the quote and meant by the term
"gifted".
Nate
NATE SCHMOLZE
http://www.geocities.com/~nschmolze/
schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu
People with great passions, people who accomplish great deeds,
People who possess strong feelings even people with great minds
and a strong personality, rarely come out of good little boys and girls
L.S. Vygotsky