The extent to which academic instruction should be a major goal of the curriculum for preschool and kindergarten children is a constant topic of debate among the many parties concerned with early childhood education. The main argument presented in this report is that the traditional debates in the field about whether to emphasize so-called free…

In this article, conceptions of creativity in giftedness and their implications for education are reviewed. First, the definition of giftedness is examined taking into consideration the difference between intellectual giftedness and creative giftedness and the difference between potential and talent. Second, the nature of creativity based on the…

Over the past 30 years, research on how college impacts student development has continually pointed to the peer group as perhaps the dominant change agent during the college years. A college student's peers act as a reference group, or an environmental source of sociocultural norms in the midst of which a student grows and develops (Clark & Trow,…

If schools were strongholds of intellect, the most academically able would be stars. Gifted kids often have trouble with school; academically uninterested kids enjoy cult-hero status; and the humanities are undervalued. Schools' purpose has been to train future employees and consumers, not create intellectual citizens. (MLH)