Debunking the myth of the GEP label

A p6 girl, whom I shall call HL, wrote a comment on one of my blog posts. We exchanged a few emails and I found her to be a very sweet, mature and unassuming 12-year-old. She told me she loves to write and sent me a link to her blog, where she posts her compositions and other written work. Let's just say I was very impressed - she writes lucidly and expressively, her command of English is masterful for her age.

Academically, she's doing very well too, topping her cohort in her neighbourhood school. Yet she seems to feel that she isn't top A calibre because she's not a GEP student.

I find this mindset to be quite prevalent. I have a close friend with two very bright daughters who are not in GEP. I think they're doing marvellously well in school but she's worried about letting her elder daughter (p5 this year) apply for a top secondary school because she's afraid her daughter wouldn't be able to cope next to the GEP kids.

Lilian and I were just discussing a few days ago that the GEP label is very powerful. People have this misconception that GEP students are super kids of some kind - like they can calculate complex maths formulas in the blink of an eye or maybe write Shakespearean sonnets in a single bound. They're believed to be brighter, faster, sharper, just better all round.

If there is one trait that I think gifted kids have, it's the ability to think more laterally and conceptually than other kids their age, that's all. That's why the GEP syllabus works for them, because the programme challenges their minds to delve deeper into a wider spectrum of subjects.

Ability is not so simplistically defined in a linear format. Achievement in school depends on so many factors, including aptitude, attitude, accuracy, speed, home environment and most importantly, hard work. Gifted kids certainly don't have dibs on all these traits. I've met GEP students who are so slow that finishing a paper on time is a feat in itself. I've seen others who are so blur that they struggle to follow instructions. And then there are the unmotivated who constantly perform below par. GEP kids are certainly not always whizzes in every subject, though often they may have special talents in one or more areas. Lesley-Anne, for example, has a gift for languages (my own assessment anyway!) but she has to work much harder for maths.

The unrealistic label of GEP kids is unhealthy in so many ways. What happens is that mainstream teachers, parents and kids themselves, identify the GEP kids as the target to beat because in their minds, that represents the pinnacle of academic achievement. And if they manage to achieve this goal, I sometimes hear this flippant refrain (or something to the effect): "GEP so special meh? Mainstream also can beat them!"

For mainstream students, the label can create a psychological barrier and give them a false diminished sense of their own abilities, like in the case of HL. I feel she's very capable of doing better than some GEP kids in the PSLE but she first needs to believe that she's not inferior to them. (HL, if you're reading this - I hope you know how talented you are!)

For GEP students, the label creates the pressure of having to perpetually live up to the super kid image and not "let the mainstream kids overtake you". Don't believe me? Lilian sent me this blog post by an RGS girl. She's a GEP student and she found herself trapped in the stress of unrelenting competition and comparisons between GEP and non-GEP. Her anguish is evident. It was written back in 2005 but I think it is still relevant, even more pronounced, today.

In this competition, no one wins. In the same way that when siblings are constantly pitted against each other, all you get is intense sibling rivalry. No one is happy for the other's achievements and no one is willing to help the other. All you get is a bunch of unhappy people constantly trying to outdo each other.

If we will stop obsessing over others for a minute, whether out of pride or insecurity, and just focus on bettering our own achievements, maybe we'll even be able to *gasp* enjoy the process.