Gifted students are not perfect. That is a really good quote to represent gifted students. There are many ups and downs of being gifted. Myths and truths exist also.
Being gifted makes me feel special and there are many ups about being in the gifted program. First, I get recognized for being gifted. This helps me be happy for knowing that I am one of 10% of the students in the gifted program in 8th grade in my school. My pride feels really great, also. Next, my parents are really proud of me for being in the gifted program (ROGATE). This makes me excited because it is really hard for my parents to be appreciated with my work because of high expectations. My parents are also proud of me because taking a gifted class means I get seven extra points on my GPA (grade point average). That is another up of being in ROGATE. Any number of extra points on any grade is helpful for me. Even if it one point or seven points. There are many, many more ups to being gifted and I am very happy that I am in the gifted program at school.
In addition to ups, there are also a lot of downs to being gifted. First, there is a pretty big chance that I (gifted students) will be teased for being in the program. For example, other students make fun of me by saying that I am really smart so I am a nerd. I know how to handle this so I can take it, but some people cannot and get teased a lot for being in the gifted program. Next, many parents including my parents have really high expectations for us so that causes parent pressure. Parent pressure is really hard to deal with and is one of the most hardest parts of being a gifted student. Parent pressure is really hard because they expect me to get the highest grade possible on everything and that makes me feel really down because even if I get a 99%, my parents might say "why didn't you get a 100%? You should do really well because you are in ROGATE''. Another down to being gifted is that many gifted students may fall back in other classes. This is because the student may concentrate a lot on this one class and slack other classes. This hasn't really happened to me, but it has to my friend. She got almost the best scores in the gifted class, but got poor scores in other classes, such as math. Being gifted does have its downs which many people do not expect.
Myths about gifted students also exist. However, there are truths to go with those myths.
For example, many people think that if a student is gifted, they excel in everything. This is not true at all. That is just like my old friend. She was amazing in the gifted class but when it came to math, she wasn't doing very well. The real truth to that myth is that students with bad grades can be gifted. Many gifted students often have a fast learning pace so they get bored in the regular classroom. This causes them to lose interest and the they don't pay attention in the class so the fall back and receive poor grades.
The next myth about gifted students is that all teachers like gifted students. This is definitely not true. Usually teachers will like most students that work hard in class and don't disturb the class. The truth about this is that most teachers don't even know who in the class is a gifted student and who is not unless they actually check the student's schedule. Another thing about teachers is that even gifted students need good teachers to learn or they won't really be able to do a lot of things. Just like a person needs a good coach to teach them about a sport and they can't learn the sport without a good coach. Teachers do not like students more just because they are in ROGATE.
Another myth about gifted students is that children with any type of disabilities can't be gifted. This is not true at all. Most of the times, a person can't tell if another person has a disability or not. The disability is usually masked underneath their bodies and look and act like an average human being. Any student with a disability can be gifted and in ROGATE.
In short, there are many ups and downs of being gifted. Even myths and truths. This is why everyone has to be careful of not falling into traps and believing myths about the gifted program and gifted students. All in all, gifted does mean perfect!
I can tell you have a very solid understanding of what it means to be gifted. You did a very nice job describing and linking.
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