The Place of Gifted and Talented Teens amidst Society

"All teenagers are up to no good- they swear, play acid rock music, and idly laze about with friends. They drain society of it's resources" (Charlin, 1964). Gifted and talented teens are a minority in society and especially among their peers. These teens are not well understood in the teen world. Gifted and talented teens must live among sneering peers and rude people. They must take remarks which are degrading and hurtful without seeming proud. These teens are unusual people who are trying desperately to fit into the societal norms. Being teens, the process is especially difficult. Everyone has met the anti-teenage adult. These adults are not uncommon in society. They are biassed towards all teens. At the mere mention of anything positive which a teen accomplishes, or at a teenager's intelligence, these adults instantly sneer. To them the idea of a good teen is like the Santa Claus myth- very enticing, very desirable and very impossible. Why are some of society's adults like this? Well, perhaps they have only experienced bad teens. Perhaps they have raised bad teens who were the very pictures of tyranny. Perhaps they themselves were bad teens and they think that everyone is the same as themselves. Perhaps they live solitary lives at home seeing no one but gossipers, watching nothing but TV and reading nothing but the teen crimes in the paper. Perhaps they have never been to a community event such as a talent show, fund-raiser, youth group or volunteer organization. But these anti-teenage adults are not the only obstacle in the life of the gifted. The students with whom the gifted teen studies drastically effect them. These average students may not be stupid but they are in no way as talented as the gifted student. They have less motivation and interest in school than the gifted. Often these teens are secretly jealous of the gifted student. They see the talented student succeed on every assignment, gain the admiration of teachers and win countless awards. This leads to frustration, fighting and the ousting of the gifted teen from the group. Such events are very difficult for the gifted and talented. They are aware of their genius but do not want to seem above their peers. They want to have friends but many of their hobbies and interests do not match the norm. They see the negativity of drunken raves, the wasted time of "hangin around" and they despise teens who complain about school, body image and other superficial topics. Gifted teens therefore have great difficultly in making conversation with peers. Everything their friends talk about is foreign to them. How can they discuss how great the last party or dance was when

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